Senior Dance Project Was a No-Brainer

Senior dance project was a ‘no-brainer’ Success of Isaacs’ ‘Aging Creatively’ class leads to ‘The Door Is Open’ By JANICE STEINBERG Special to the U-T 8:49 a.m.March 17, 2012Updated10:02 p.m.March 18, 2012 Last February, shortly after she turned 67, Jean Isaacs launched an experiment: Her San Diego Dance Theater began offering a modern dance class for seniors. Called “Aging Creatively,” the weekly class is taught by dancer Yvonne Gagliardo, who’s 57. And it’s turned out to be a hit; a year down the road, it draws a core group of about 20 students, age 59-84. Isaacs discovered that the older students had a wide range of talents. “One woman played violin,” she says. “Kay O’Neill is an opera singer. Leslie Carter is a writer and trained as an actress. Then there are the dancers like George Willis and Sharon Hancock.” From there, Isaacs says, it was a “no-brainer” to imagine putting the seniors onstage along with her San Diego Dance Theater. The result is “The Door Is Open: An Intergenerational Dance Project,” which premieres at the Saville Theatre in May. The evening-length show — a first for Isaacs — features 14 of the “Aging Creatively” students along with the eight professional dancers from Isaacs’ company. Among the sections are three senior-professional duets: Former ballet dancer Bill Murray will perform with company member John Diaz. Edith Jonsson, who has a background in classical Indian dance, is paired with Anne Gehman. Then there’s Fang Lin, who’s doing a duet with Minaqua McPherson. “Fang Lin is a retired Navy physician,” Isaacs says. “She was walking by after volunteering in the NTC clinic, and she looked up and saw this building, Dance Place, and she’d always wanted to dance, and she’s in class every day now.” All of the seniors have stories, and woven into the show will be videotaped interviews with five of them. The videos, as well as a photographic projection, are being done by Kira Carrillo Corser. Corser, an award-winning photographer and videographer, is working with the project under a Creative Catalyst Grant from the San Diego Foundation. Isaacs is excited about putting the seniors into her show, but what she finds really heartwarming are the connections that have happened behind the scenes. “Christmas week, nobody comes to class practically. All the other classes were really tiny. But the seniors class, everybody was there. … They have built a community.” sandiegodancetheater.org Janice Steinberg is a San Diego dance writer. © Copyright 2014 The San Diego Union-Tribune, LLC. An MLIM LLC Company. All rights reserved. Print page