September is always an exciting month in Artivist-land.  The Artivist Process and rehearsals start ramping up as we move toward our November show.  Parkinson Association of the Rockies has its annual e3 Conference, which we present at every year.  This year, we’ve been invited to perform at the Dancing with the Broomfield Stars event on September 26.  Earlier this week, Margie and I led the Westminster Parkinson’s Support Group in a Reconnect demo class, and next week I’ll do another Memory Cafe Reconnect class in Denver.  Add in the 7 weekly Reconnect classes and two classes for the Boulder Dance for PD program, and that is a lot of DANCING!

My favorite part of September, though, is celebrating Reconnect’s “birthday.”  8 years ago this month, we had our very first Reconnect class in Denver.  It was my uncle Wayne, my mom Jan and me.  Our playlist included songs that we still dance to every single class: All my Days, Howlin for You and Dog Days are Over.  Even though we were disappointed no one else came, we could feel the magic right away.  We knew we were on to something, and we knew we had to keep going.  My grandfather Ernie Gilbert knew it too – he became our patron those first couple of years so we could keep having class, keep developing the Reconnect approach and slowly grow the class.

All those years ago, it would have been hard to imagine that we would have the packed calendar of classes and community engagement that we have now.  We have built an amazing community of dancers – with a beautiful foundation of support from their families and Parkinson’s and Dance leaders/advocates.  With each new dancer that comes to class, our tribe grows and the magic we generate shines even brighter.  The Reconnect dancers come to class (many of them twice a week!) with open hearts and a deep curiosity of what is possible for their bodies today.  Some have deepened their relationship with dance by joining our company and exploring their identity as performers and storytellers.

COME DANCE WITH US THIS SUNDAY and celebrate these wonderful humans and this incredible program.  I could not be more proud of what we created here and love having the opportunity each year to raise a glass to all the folks who have made it possible.  And, hey, we are only just getting started.

Yours in Art and Action,

Sarah Leversee, AaA Artistic Director & Reconnect Teacher

Reconnect 8th Birthday Celebration