Golden
Years Dance Program
The
Mission Statement
Co-founded by Pat Hall and Hattie Gossett, Golden Years Dance (GYD)
is a non-profit, comprehensive dance and exercise education program
specially designed to meet the needs of adults over 50 of all physical
abilities. Emphasizing the health and benefits of dance as well as the
fun and art benefits, GYD is committed to providing low-cost, high-quality
learning experiences in the South Bronx, Harlem and other under-served
communities.
The
Program
Fully active over
50 adults can get an exciting, safe dance and exercise workout at the
Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD) in the Hunts Point area of the
South Bronx. GYD will travel to senior centers, nursing homes and assisted
living facilities to present classes for the partially active and wheelchair
bound. All classes focus on movement styles from traditional Latin-Caribbean-American
cultures presented within a contemporary context. Ms. Hall has sucessfully
implemented the GYD program in three nursing homes in Brooklyn and Long
Island.
The
Co-Founders
Pat Hall/GYD
Education Coordinator. For nearly 25 years Ms. Hall has forged a high
standard of excellence in the international dance world. As an acclaimed
dance educator, choreographer and dancer, she has toured throughout
the USA and Europe, West Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, and Latin America.
As an educator, Ms. Hall brings the joy of dance to people of all ages
and levels of ability, from pre-K through geriatric. Current involvement
includes teaching dance for semi-able and wheelchair-bound elderly at
the Menorah Home & Hospital, for graduate and undergraduate students
at New York University and for adults at the Mark Morris studios and
serving as a dance education consultant with the New York City Department
of Education and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Hattie
Gossett/GYD Business Coordinator. Since her teen years, Ms.
Gossett has been an avid dance student. Her Golden Years Dance involvement
grows out of being over 50 and wanting to take dance classes geared
toward older adults. A founding editor of Essence magazine, she has
worked in the corporate world and the arts management world since the
1960s, building expertise, which prepared her to take on the marketing,
development and other business aspects of GYD. Acclaimed poet and author
of "Presenting Sister NoBlues" (Firebrand Books), she serves
as development associate for Seniors Helping Seniors, Inc.
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