Providence Village members were treated recently to a Dance for All People (known as DAPpers) demonstration class of the arts in healing. Led by Rachel Balaban at Hamilton House, the group experienced an hour of movements to exercise the body and inspire the spirit using music and dance.

A gentle warm-up, then rhythmic and graceful movements, both seated and standing, provided good will and physical energy. By the end of the hour everyone was smiling and chatting amiably. The session finished with a round of “elbow bumps,” a concession to the Coronavirus emergency and social distancing. 

Members of Hamilton House, the Providence Village and The Village Common are invited to attend DAPpers classes at Brown University. Classes are currently suspended, but Rachel welcomes new participants when they resume. 

Rachel is an Adjunct Lecturer in Brown University’s Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies and is co-founder and co-director of Artists and Scientists as Partners (ASaP) at Brown. She has a personal commitment to helping all people access their vitality and health through dance. She offers classes in five locations including Brown University; Newport County YMCA; Connecticut College; Dartmouth (MA) Council On Aging; and Golden Pond Assisted Living in Hopkington MA.. She is Dance for Parkinson’s Disease Coordinator for Connecticut and Rhode Island and regularly teaches People with Parkinson’s and their caregivers.

Dear Providence Village members and volunteers! You are called upon to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and submit a piece of writing to a newsletter feature we're calling The Occasional. Do you have a favorite quotation that has inspired you or gets you through the day? Would you like to share a special encounter you'd had with a Village member or volunteer? Have you reflected on this stage of your life, or returned to a special memory? We hope to print your piece in Providence Village section of the Village Common newsletter.

Please send your brief composition (about 300 words) to John Harkey (johnjarrottharkey@gmail.com) or mail to him at 90 Larch, Providence, RI 02906. Submission deadline: first of each month. We'll work with you to edit for clarity and brevity.

BARRINGTON VILLAGE
By Allan Klepper  

A growing movement across the USA
Helps aging seniors in their homes stay.
BARRINGTON VILLAGE has no street address,
Won’t find it on maps or with GPS.
A new local virtual community:
Volunteers and members acting in unity.  

Our volunteers will all have been vetted,
So contacts with them not be regretted.
Offering rides and technology support,
Home safety and home tasks of a sort.
Promoting friendly social connections
And hints to avoid mis-directions.
Help with urgent resource navigations
To connect with proper service locations.  

Most members are seniors now retired.
Volunteers may be members, but not required.
If interest spurred, please don’t hesitate
Just contact us and we’ll make a date
To discuss details; all the ins and the outs,
And eliminate any of your doubts
Affiliating with this new operation,
And contributing to its successful creation.
 

Barrington Village  (401) 400-5599
barrington@villagecommonri.org

Although the coronarvirus has put a stop to all of our group activities, one of the bright side of hunkering down is that most of us have plenty of time to read, a real pleasure for many of our members.

With that in mind, Providence Village book club will start meeting again as soon as it is safe or perhaps through an online meeting, conference call or other format. Until then, here’s the list of books we’d selected to read through July. Although libraries are closed, Books on the Square has parking lot pickups and for those not in the area, Riffraff Bookstore and Symposium Books deliver in Providence. Enjoy, and we will see you when it’s safe or through technological methods.

April:  American Nation by Colin Woodard  
May:  Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively  
June:  Happiness As Such by Natalia Ginzburg  
July:   Agent Zig Zag by Ben MacIntyre