The Elders Ensemble of Prometheus Dance

The Elders Ensemble of Prometheus Dance is a group of eight post-professional dancers ages 60-90. Formed by Artistic Directors Diane Arvanites & Tommy Neblett, they perform original dance/theatre pieces that tell of bittersweet stories of their lives as dancers, daughters, mothers and friends through movement, theatre and text.

The Elders Ensemble has been performing throughout the Commonwealth at theaters and venues for the general public since 2004 and has received a Gold Star Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for outstanding arts programming in the state. They have presented work at the State House in Boston for Transforming Violence (a celebration of the transforming power of art), Spoke of the Hub in Brooklyn, NY, The Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, The Oberon Theatre, annually at the Dance Complex, for Dance Month’s Tuesday’s at Noon, for a Governor Deval Patrick fundraiser, and at the Boston Conservatory.

During August of 2010 the company was in residence at the Yard, an artist colony on Martha’s Vineyard, where the elders participated in workshops and began creating one of their signature works entitled Parish Blues. The Elders Ensemble provides free outreach performances at senior citizen community centers, healthcare, rehabilitation and assisted living centers for seniors who cannot travel to our concert venues.

Dance has always been considered a young persons profession, but we limit ourselves when that viewpoint is taken. The Elders Ensemble moves us beyond those limitations by creating and performing movement that is physically challenging, emotionally provocative, and motivated by human history. It was formed to provide audiences and artists alike with a venue to express and experience the grace and depth of artistry that only elder dancers possess. Not only is this physically and spiritually beneficial for the performers, but audiences realize that youthful prowess is only one aspect of dance, and that the emotional weight and wisdom of the soul can only be obtained and expressed through the experience of living. The Elders Ensemble of Prometheus Dance is just that sort of opportunity. Several of the dancers studied with the founders of the modern dance movement (Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, Anna Sokolow, Jose Limon, Alwin Nikolais) and are a living link to the origins of the dance form.

The Dancers

Joan Block, Eleanor Duckworth, Karen Klein, Julie Laevitt, Jennifer Lin, Sue Penney, Vicky Steinitz, Eliza Malouk

Places the Elders Ensemble Performs

The Yard Artist Colony (Martha’s Vineyard); Spoke the Hub, Brooklyn, NY; The Boston Conservatory, The Dance Complex, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Outside the Box Festival (Boston Common); Oberon Theatre, Cambridge, Transforming Violence, The Boston State House (invited back for 2nd performance)

Retirement Complexes / Assisted Living Residences: Lasell Village, Newton; Orchard Cove, Canton; Cambridge Homes; Standish Village, Boston; Fuller Village, Milton; Brookhaven, Lexington

Senior Centers: Arlington, Belmont, Brookline, Ipswich, Milton, Needham, North Cambridge & Central Square, Somerville, Sudbury, Wellesley

Other Venues Arlington Town Hall; Boston Alzheimer’s Center (invited back for 2nd performance); Cambridge Multicultural Arts Cen- ter; Lynn Arts Exchange; Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, Brookline; Wheaton College; Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University, The Boston Conservatory