By CAROLYN BROWN
For the Advocate
When daily life seems to be speeding up, who wouldn’t love to learn “how to embrace the nuances of our experience, the beautiful and the ugly, with grace and reverence?” Or share a “cathartic experience of transcendence” in a safe and inclusive space? This is what dancer and choreographer Madelyn Farr hopes older adults can achieve with her new class, “Dancing with Sensuality,” held weekly at 33 Hawley in Northampton.
Madelyn Farr teaches a class called “Dancing With Sensuality” at the Northampton Center For the Arts. CAROL LOLLIS / Staff Photo
The classes, limited to 12 participants, aim to “awaken the expressive and emotive potential of older adults through the transformative magic of dance and music,” according to the event description.
“I see dance as the one art form that delivers us into the immediacy of our felt experience, a conduit that channels the fluidity of feeling to the surface,” Farr said.
Farr begins every class starts with a guided warmup, incorporating “movement that’s very, very evocative and is very accessible to even people who really don’t have dance experience,” she said. From there, the class turns into an improvised session in which each participant can dance according to their own emotions. Farr chooses her playlists carefully, always going for music that “moves the soul.”
“What I wasn’t prepared for after I launched for the first class was how close people reported feeling,” Farr said. “That was a surprise to me because I was really focused on the folks reaching a satisfying depth of expression … And what ended up happening is people reported that, but they also reported feeling an incredible closeness with their groupmates, because I’m using techniques that reinforce empathy in the group. It’s a very safe, non-judgmental environment that I foster.”
Farr wants potential new members to know that the class may be about sensuality, but that doesn’t mean it’s about eroticism or sex. Rather, “sensuality” is, to Farr, “the experience through the five senses” — things like “watching a gorgeous sunset, or listening to music that can move us incredibly, or tasting food that’s incredible.”
Farr, 73, has a long background in dance, including Egyptian, modern jazz, flamenco and Zumba. She previously worked as a licensed dance therapist and became a school counselor, “always incorporating the creative” into her practice.
She clarified her classes at 33 Hawley are not meant to be therapeutic, though “there are the therapeutic benefits.”
“What is present in whatever I do,” she said, “is I’m supporting folks to be able to improvise and to express from the core.”
Madelyn Farr teaches a class called “Dancing With Sensuality” at the Northampton Center For the Arts. CAROL LOLLIS / Staff Photo
“Dancing with Sensuality” actually started as an offshoot of the “Dancing with Joy and Sorrow” classes, which Farr has been teaching at 33 Hawley for more than one year, which likewise involve older adults dancing to release and express those specific emotions. Farr got the idea to work with older adults after taking part in performances with a group of other artists in 2022.
“We performed two shows, and the whole message was, ‘It’s never too late to create art, no matter how old you are,’” she said.
Farr said she was drawn to working with older adults because “We’re frequent travelers on the landscape of loss … But I feel like older folks also have a wealth of experience in terms of understanding the emotional nuances of being alive.”
Teaching these classes “feels like a life mission that’s being satisfied,” Farr said. Feedback from her students has been validating. Some students have reported that the classes have helped them open up emotionally. One student told Farr that she “absolutely craves this [class] for her well-being.”
“Yes, I have a dance background, but this is not your typical dance class,” she said. “It’s been a delight.”
“Dancing with Sensuality” is held at 33 Hawley in Northampton every Thursday through Dec. 11 (except Nov. 27), from 5:30 to 7 p.m., and is $125 to $250, sliding scale. To register for the class, email programs@nohoarts.org with your name, address and phone number.
For more information, visit nohoarts.org/dance/category/dancing-with-sensuality.
Carolyn Brown can be reached at cbrown@gazettenet.com.
