The School for Contemporary Dance & Thought (SCDT) will host “Across the Generations” on Sunday at the Hatchery in Northampton.
The performance features stories from the Storytelling Project, a collaboration between the nonprofit Northampton Neighbors and students in the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, performed by dancers between the ages of 11 and 18 years old.
As part of the class “The Epidemic of Loneliness: On Connection, Belonging and Public Health,” taught by Professor Gloria DiFulvio, UMass students have Zoom conversations with local elders in which they share personal stories and commonalities across generations. Those stories go into a public archive online.
SCDT Founding Artistic Director Jen Polins said the show includes a piece based on a story about the idea of “home is where the heart is”; a story about a 20-year-old from the 1970s who quit their job and traveled the world before opening a store, performed by a current 20-year-old; a story about connecting to the arts in middle school; and a story about a woman who became a marathon runner in her 70s.
This isn’t Hatchery’s first time collaborating across generations; they performed with the Young@Heart Chorus in 2024. This show is especially noteworthy because it will celebrate Northampton Neighbors’ 10-year anniversary.
That said, Polins sees this performance as “a first draft of what we hope will be a longer project and collaboration between UMass and Northampton Neighbors and SCDT,” she said. Existing stories that have a beginning, middle and end are useful for her as a way to teach students how to make dances.
“There’s a rhythm to the story itself, and there’s a rhythm to the movement material that we choose, so it feels like the tip of an iceberg, and everyone’s so enthusiastic about it and joyful,” she said.
Polins said she’s always eager to collaborate with other organizations.
“That connection to older folks that are being creative and making work and sharing just feels really important and inspirational,” she said.
The takeaway she wants people to get from this show, she said, is that “art is everyone, that we can work across generations, that it’s a powerful way to connect and combat loneliness and create empowerment – and to come to classes at SCDT!”
“Across the Generations” begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 2 p.m. in The Workroom at 33 Hawley Street. Tickets are $15 to $35, sliding scale, via 33hawley.org. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. For more information about the Storytelling Project, visit storyshareumass.org.
