– movement workshops: on one hand participants get to acquire knowledges and experientially explore the anatomy of the maturing body through touch, breathwork and movement (bones, muscles, fascia, ligaments, mental capacities in relation to the function of organs and bodily systems). Meanwhile, we map tools with which each body unfolds its mobility and expressive capacities. Two fundamental questions support the unfolding of the workshop: How do I listen to my body and its movement in the now, as if I was sensing it for the first time, like a blank canvas? How do I let go into movement, in order to listen to my anatomical body and unlock the archive of my embodied memory and expressivity? The aim is to nourish the awareness and sensing of the movement beyond pain and restriction, and on that ground support the personal acceptance and movement choices of the mature body, eventually reviving the daring and expressive confidence in the now.

– choreographic composition: furthermore we will be applying those explorations and tools into a choreographic research for the creation of a new dance performance. The anatomical explorations of movement and breath will lead to the creation of movement material circling around the topics of time, sensation, breath, restriction, giving in, silence, bodily memory, mental and physical endurance. The creative interaction of the group will be enriched by the sharing of autobiographical experiences around the experiences of change, decay, loss, acceptance and the ability of the body to insist and share to ensure the continuation of life. We dive into issues of performance and mobilize creativity amplifying the diverse and specific abilities of mature bodies to express on stage and immerse the audience into a scenic world, where the body communicates through the honesty of its movement motivated by its empathic ability towards self and others. The final performance will be activating the participation of the audience in the experience beyond a passive reception.

The participants may choose to take part only in the movement workshops or/and in the choreographic composition for the creation of the final performance. The project aims to offer a variety of inclusion and participation options, but also to create a community of creative exchange, where the participants can feed back to each other: those who take part in the movement workshops can act as an external eye in some rehearsals, supporting with their feedback, and those participating in the choreographic process as well informed by their interactions with their co-dancers in the workshops.

The project approaches the biological changes and the vulnerability of the body as a source of strength and empowerment of our psychosocial webs of care and mutual support, in order to reverse the equation between degeneration and exclusion of the maturing body. Instead the project ascribes a transformational power to our ability to accept the passing of time, to listen to the changes of our bodies and to treat them as new invitations with a deeper existential offset. Because the mature body reminds us not only of the fact that the human is fascinatingly resilient and insistent on living, but also that this insistence is a scream about the importance of our social bonds and coexistence, in order for the cycles of life to carry on. The project keeps drawing on the thread of the deeply humane and sensitive work in the collaboration between Dance Days Chania Festival and Polena in dance with and for mature adults, that unravels on the narrative pillars of the personal stories of the participants. This time, however, the project finds a kinetic offset, in order for the body to move the stories it has stored in its bones, muscles, mind, emotions.