Music, Dance & Storytelling

Kairos Alive! founder Maria Genné, ’73, ’74, shares the healing powers of creative arts.

“I wanna dance; I wanna sing. I’ll bring my neighbors; we’ll do our thing. Dance together young and old; everybody’s story told.”

That’s the opening of the Kairos Clubhouse, a weekly two-way webcast viewed by about 150 intergenerational attendees. On this day in mid-April, the episode, sponsored by MTV, embodied Kairos Alive’s mission: to connect, uplift, and heal through the power of dance, music, and storytelling.

The show is the brainchild of Maria Genné, ’73, ’74, a dancer, choreographer, and educator who works with students of all ages. Before 1999, she primarily trained youth performers. When her mother moved nearby, Maria recognized the benefits of movement and storytelling for people of all ages and abilities.

That year, she started Kairos Dance Theatre, the first intergenerational modern dance company in the Twin Cities. She has been adding programs and positively affecting hundreds of lives ever since. But it almost didn’t happen. 

UND: An Open Classroom Pioneer

Maria began her college journey in Illinois but grew disillusioned with the rigid education program. She was ready to change majors when her advisor introduced her to the open classroom movement, where students learn at their own pace in a less structured environment. Maria learned that the University of North Dakota was a leader in this educational model. 

“They were literally changing the whole idea of educating,” Maria said.

She applied and was accepted into the UND College of Education & Human Development. She instantly knew she was in the right place. “I met all these education majors; we were a real mix of ages. We had all come to change the face of education.”

It was the early ’70s and leaders at UND believed that students needed to experience open education to effectively teach it. “I appreciated this freedom to start honing my skills,” Maria said. She designed and delivered programs, teaching dance on campus and at an early childhood program in Gilby, N.D. 

A Lifetime of Movement

“The best thing for me is that my life has been a combination of being a performing artist, a creator, an educator, and a healer,” said Maria, who is joined in her work by her family. Her husband, Cristopher Anderson, daughters, Parker Anderson-Genné and Elinor Anderson Genné, and son-in-law, Thomas Johnson, as well as a host of artists, all contribute.

After founding Kairos Dance Theater, Maria continued to design events and classes for diverse groups, often older adults and people with disabilities. Kairos Alive! sessions benefit both participants and their caregivers.

“The idea of caregiving is the foundation of Kairos’ work,” Maria said. “We’re all care partners – the professional caregiver, the family caregiver, the volunteer in the room. The question we ask is, ‘How can we interact as if we are all dance partners?’” This philosophy led Maria to describe Kairos’ approach as a “Choreography of Care™.”
Kairos Alive! has applied this “Choreography of Care” to work with veterans, individuals with Parkinson’s and dementia, and people with autism and other cognitive challenges.

The Dancing Heart™, a nationally recognized Kairos Alive! program, was revolutionary in 2001, showing that creative endeavors could delay dementia and improve overall health. 

In 2006, participants in the Wilder Foundation’s Adult Day Health Memory Loss Program in St. Paul experienced significant improvements after a 90-minute chair-based Dancing Heart program. “We made our circle. We danced, moved, and communicated,” Maria said. “After a few weeks, their families started asking, ‘What’s happening on Wednesday? My mother’s coming home and she’s communicating.’”

Based on this work, The Dancing Heart received the 2007 Archstone Excellence in Program Innovation Award from the American Public Health Association (APHA). “It was the first time APHA gave the award to an organization made up of artists,” Maria said, adding that the nomination came from Dr. Gene Cohen, a pioneer in the study of creativity and aging. Cohen further recognized Maria’s work when he invited her to be a founding board member of the National Center for Creative Aging in 2007.

Ahead of the COVID Curve

Kairos Alive! experimented with Zoom training in 2018, which led the organization to apply for a grant to use technology to support elders. The team won the grant in January 2020, and launched the Kairos Clubhouse webcast. When the pandemic hit a few months later, the show was a lifeline for those who felt isolated.

Now several years into the show, Maria said the team remains excited about its potential, thinking of it as “the beginning of a virtual senior center.”

Kairos Alive!: Timely Program

One of Maria’s favorite events is the Kairos Intergenerational Dance Halls, where people of all ages and abilities come together for a modern-day barn dance. Kairos Alive! also promotes the benefits of creativity for aging with training, conference and event presentations, and workshops.

As the population of older adults continues to grow, Kairos’ work grows more relevant; the organization’s name reflects this significance. From ancient Greek, Kairos is defined as the opportune or right moment.

Maria shared the story of an older Greek woman participating in Kairos programming. “She told us, ‘Kiddos, you say it wrong.  But you’re doing it right.’”

Learn more about the Kairos Clubhouse by emailing info@kairosalive.org.

Remembering Maria

It's with sadness that we share Kairos Alive! founder and artistic director Maria Genné passed away on June 28, 2024. Friends and associates remember her as a true light, a connector of people, and a pioneer in creative aging, as well as a dancer, mother, and friend. Her family will continue her life’s work through Kairos Alive!.

We are grateful for the opportunity to meet her, learn about Kairos Alive!, and share her story.