MISSION
Through “Voices Not Forgotten,” Ashé is continuing its long-standing work with the seniors who use the Central City Senior Center at the Economic Opportunity Center (EOC). “Voices Not Forgotten” is cultivated by a team of artists, guided by Dollie Rivas, which includes choreographers Giselle Nakhid and Kesha McKey, theatre artist Derrick Deal, and Karel Sloane-Boekbinder as videographer. Working with the seniors at the EOC, this artistic team is developing a multi-media performance work (imagery, theatre and dance) that embodies reminiscences from the lives of these elders. In addition to being engaged with the development of the work, the elders themselves perform “Voices Not Forgotten.”
CURRENT PROJECT
The artists host biweekly workshops / rehearsals for 28 elders, ages 62 to 94, at the Central City Senior Center. The elders, affectionately called the “Movers and Groovers,” are actively engaged in the creation and performance of “Voices Not Forgotten.”
HISTORY
The Movers and Groovers presented a well-attended showings of the work-in-progress at Ashé’s Holiday on the Boulevard event on December 13, 2008, on May 23 at Ashé, for the Council on Aging’s Katrina Observance on August 26 and 27, 2009, at Holiday on the Boulevard in December 2009.
In the fall of 2009, several Movers and Groovers visited the Original Little 7 Players at the Porch to be interviewed by the youth as they collected research The Home of the Free and the Brave, their original play about Civil Rights history in America.
