A series of classes focusing on movement for older adults begins next month at the River Forest Community Center.
After a one-time class held during Celebrating Seniors Week in May 2017 drew more than 20 people, township officials wanted to offer a more expanded opportunity for movement for seniors. The first series of “Movement and Memory for Joyful Aging” begins Feb. 7.
“It’s healthy, and it’s also just a lot of fun,” said Carla Sloan, River Forest Township supervisor.
Led by instructor Gloria Araya, the class promotes movement for physical, mental and social benefits.
“It really created a connection with the group,” Araya said of the May 2017 class. “You are sharing movement with other people, creating community with other people.”
Araya said her gentle approach is “very much centered in the mind.”
“I involve motion with emotion, so to speak. How do you move when you’re happy? How do you move when you’re sad?” Araya said.
She also explores the habits of how we sit and how we move, and uses music seniors know and love: songs by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and more.
“Dancing, for some people, is intimidating. This is not about dance, it’s about movement, movement in life,” Araya said.
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Sloan said Araya’s class during last year’s Celebrating Seniors week was part of their effort to bring in exciting new events.
“Gloria did, indeed, spice it up,” Sloan said.
Cathaleen Roach, senior outreach coordinator for River Forest Township, said the class makes it easier and more fun for seniors to move. Frequent movement affects the brain and improves memory, she said, and seniors work on some repetitive steps and sequences.
“How exercise affects your brain is really the new frontier on this,” said Roach, who has been taking classes with Araya for years. Seniors of all ability levels are welcome, she noted.
The first six-part series runs from Feb. 7-March 14; a second series runs from March 28-May 2. The hour-long classes begin at 1:30 p.m. in the River Forest Community Center’s dance studio.
Each series costs $50, and is not limited to River Forest residents. Sloan said the township worked to subsidize the cost of the sessions, to make the class affordable for seniors.
The deadline to register is Feb. 1. For more information or to register, call 708-771-6159 or visit www.rfcc.info.
Caitlin Mullen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.