KAIROS Dancing Heart™: Vital Elders Moving in Community
Watch the video of our program by CLICKING HERE
Helping to shape the field of Creative Aging with our Choreography of Care™
KAIROS Dancing Heart™ is an award winning, evidence-based arts program and a best practice model for working with frail elders. We invite older adults and their family members and caregivers to help co-create a new vision of dance–one that is inclusive of all ages, all bodies, and many different ways of moving, exploring the “language of dance” through movement improvisation, the interweaving of dance and story, and the collaborative development of choreography that draws on their memories and life experiences. It is designed to to create a sense of community and well-being in participants of all ages, and from all walks of life. We bring KAIROS dancing heart™ weekly to long term care facilities, adult day cares, and senior community centers, working most often with elders diagnosed with dementia, where we see improvements in flexibility, energy, balance, memory and socialization of older, frail adults. We have received local and national recognition for our innovative KAIROS dancing heart™ model.
We are part of the emerging national field of Creative Arts & Aging, working alongside professionals in the arts, health care, social service and community development to raise awareness about the importance of creative involvement across the lifespan. Our culture is witnessing a paradigm shift in attitudes related to aging. We are moving away from a model that assumes the inevitability of declining health and isolation toward a strengths-based approach that focuses on potential, vital engagement, health maintenance and prevention, and continued connections to community.
Two Master’s Thesis have been written on the impact of KAIROS Dancing Heart™
The Importance of a Creative Dance Program for the Quality of Life of Long Term Care Residents
Importance of a Dance Program for Long Term Care Residents
Awarded the 2011 Rosalinde Gilbert Innovations in Alzheimer’s Disease Caregiver Legacy Award.
KAIROS Dancing Heart™ is featured in the November 2011 AARP Bulletin articleArtists Bring Creative Aging to Care Facilities
Enhancing Cognitive Fitness in Adults: A Guide to the Use and Development of Community-Based Programs, Springer Chapter 2011 Coming Alive: Kairos Dance Theatre’s Dancing Heart™ – Vital Elders Moving in Community Maria DuBois Genné M.S.Ed, Cristopher Anderson
In June, 2011, KAIROS dance™ was on TPT-Channel 2 for the Minnesota Original show. The segment featured Ida Arbeit’s Last performance. It aired on Thursday June 16, 2011 at 7:30pm. You can find it archived after the air date, by searching for the episode: Episode #240 MN Opera Resident Artist Program, Kairos Dance Theatre + Low
In May, 2011, KAIROS dancing heart™ and KAIROS dance™ were filmed for a national PBS special by Leo Eaton called Arts & The Mind. The documenatry is set to air in the September/October of 2012. Minnesota’s TPT air dates are Friday, September 14 and September 21 8 pm. Check your local PBS station for airing in your community.
In February, 2011, KAIROS dancing heart™ was featured on WCCO, Minneapolis, MN. You can see and read the story: Minneapolis Dance Company Helps Elderly Dance Again
In the Autumn of 2010, our Director, Maria Genné wrote an article for Animated, a magazine from The Foundation for Community Dance. Read her article HERE
In November, 2008, KAIROS dancing heart™ was featured on KTTC-TV, Rochester, MN. You can still read the story: Never Too Young to Dance
Watch “The Moment, with Ida“ featuring the late, great, Ida Arbeit.
Read about KAIROS dancing heart™ in the 2008 Fall issue of the LLI Review.
KAIROS ALIVE! is supported by:
- The George Family Foundation
- James R Thorpe Foundation
- MetLife Foundation Creative Aging Program
- Metropolitan Regional Arts Council
- Minnesota State Arts Board
- Target Foundation
- Kentron Foundation
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
