Kairos Clubhouse™ Webcast Testimonials
Evidence-Based Arts and Health Engagement for Wellbeing
Kairos Alive!’s wellness work is based in the arts of joyful music, song, dance, story, and health research learning. It’s both fun and serious health promotion.
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To date, six research studies have been based on Kairos Alive! In Therese Wengler’s Master’s Thesis (St. Catherine University), “The Importance of a Creative Arts Program for Senior Housing Residents,” published in 2015 from her research on our Dancing Heart™ program for elders, qualitative results revealed six main themes:
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1. Novel and engaging group artistic experience provides opportunity to test and overcome limits
2. Feelings of trust, acceptance, and comfort within the group support self expression
3. Transformative creative experience in expressing true self, trying new things, and imagining endless possibilities.
4. The program was experienced as energizing and fun, generating a positive outlook on life, and mitigating signs of depression.
5. Music and dance fostered mutual knowledge, emotional connection to one’s own heritage, and cultural understanding
6. The program resulted in increased social interactions, a stronger feeling of community, and mitigation of isolation.
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In a random survey of 300+ participants in Kairos Alive! Intergenerational Dance Hall™ in-person events, including veterans:
87% said they felt recognized and important “Moderately” or “A Lot”
91% said their mood improved “Moderately” or “A Lot”
86% said they connected with others “Moderately” or “A Lot”
79% said they moved in new ways/more than usual “Moderately” or “A Lot.”
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Our work has shown to reduce participants awareness of pain. In a random survey of 61 participants in our Veterans Dancing Heart™ program at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center:
30% said they thought about their pain “Not At All”
20% said they thought about their pain “A Little”
13% said they thought about their pain “Moderately”
20% said they thought about their pain “A Lot”
Recent data reviewed by University of Wisconsin Whitewater evaluators proves the efficacy of our 2-way Zoom engagement webcasts to increase participants’ experience of feeling:
1. Connected – mitigating isolation.
2. Valued – cultivating a sense of meaning and purpose.
3. Moving in new ways – embracing a sense of positivity.
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Kairos Alive! programs are based on a landmark study commissioned by the AARP, the NEA and the NIMH, directed by the late Dr. Gene Cohen, MD/PhD, of the George Washington University Center for Aging, Health and Humanities. In this study, older adults who participated in weekly artistic programming with professional artists not only showed stabilization, but actual improvement with regard to physical, social and emotional well-being, including:
1. Fewer doctor visits
2. Less use of medication
3. Lower depression
4. Increase of activities.
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Intercultural Celebration – Our work is recognized for its nuanced intercultural celebration, its ability to serve as a place and practice for community healing, and its ability to support purpose and creative leadership.
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We have collaborated with over 60 arts, social service, healthcare, education and community partners in Minnesota and around the country. We educate about Creative Aging, and the broader inquiry into the positive role of Arts in Health. Our work was featured in the PBS television documentary, Arts and the Mind, and is recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Public Health Association, among others.
What the Research Says about Kairos Alive!
Summary of:
Kairos Alive! – Promoting Physical, Emotional, Social and Cognitive Wellbeing
Across Generations
By:
Dr Lea Buda, DO
Geriatrics/Senior Care
Hennepin Healthcare, Minneapolis MN
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Kairos Alive!™ is a Minneapolis-based nonprofit arts and social outreach organization founded in 1999 by Maria Genné. It was originally called Kairos Dance Theater and was the first intergenerational dance company in the Twin Cities. Now led by Artistic Director Parker Genné and Executive Director Elle Genné, the organization promotes wellness through dance, music, storytelling, and research-based arts and health engagement.
Its flagship program, Choreography of Care™, includes Dancing Heart™ sessions, which are interactive music and dance activities tailored for older adults with various health conditions, including dementia, brain and spinal injuries, and mental health diagnoses. These sessions occur in both inpatient and outpatient settings, and are also conducted via Kairos Clubhouse™, an interactive Zoom platform connecting multiple senior centers. Additionally, Kairos hosts Intergenerational Dance Hall™ events involving large community gatherings of up to 2,000 people.
Research on Kairos Alive!™ programs shows positive impacts on participants’ wellbeing. Studies report improvements in physical ability, cognitive function, emotional health, memory, creativity, social interaction, and quality of life. Although one small study found no statistically significant improvement in fall risk, other research points to enhanced mood, sense of community, self-expression, and spiritual wellbeing. Touch was also found to foster feelings of mutual support in sessions.
Overall, Kairos Alive!™ demonstrates a strong potential to improve physical and emotional health through creative, inclusive, and community-based arts engagement.
Links To Research
Coming Alive: Kairos Dance Theatre’s Dancing Heart™ – Vital Elders Moving in Community
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Maria DuBois Genne and Cristopher Anderson
This study explores the impact of participatory arts-based programs on the physical and
psychological health of their participants. Specifically drawing from the work of Kairos Alive!
Genne and Anderson analyze how aging, healthcare, community, and art are interconnected
and culturally grounded, and they claim that these arts-based, collaborative programs improve
quality of life, reduce healthcare costs, and build community. Genne and Anderson focus their
article on The Dancing Heart, a Kairos Alive! program grounded in improvisational music,
dancing, and storytelling. The program draws upon the idea of dance as a language, which
Genne and Anderson claim is universal and intricately integrated into the body-brain system.
Through collaborative dances, plays, stories, and music, participants connect to their own
memories, life experiences, and cultural references while building relationships with other
participants. Through collaboration, creativity, and engagement with dance, music, and
storytelling, participants experience various physical and psychological improvements, such as
better strength, flexibility, and balance, along with an increased sense of belonging and social
skills.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4419-0636-6_18
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Dementia Arts Mapping: observational methods for documenting impacts of poetry and recreation in care settings
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Daniel Kaplan and Gary Glazner
This study analyzes the ways in which creative arts therapies impact the physical and
cognitive experiences of people living with dementia. This research focuses specifically on
poetry-based programs, but Kaplan and Glazner draw from other participatory arts programs,
such as Kairos Alive! programs that center dance, music, and storytelling. They argue that these
group-based arts programs center participant creativity, allowing for a collaboration between
participants and staff as each activity is co-created spontaneously; by encouraging participant
creativity, participants’ spontaneity and interactive contributions shape the experiences of
everyone involved in the program. Collaborative, participatory arts programs emphasize
frequent praise for participant contributions as a way to deliver validation, affirmations, and
signal personhood. As a result, these programs reinforce and enhance physical and cognitive
confidence in people with dementia.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17533015.2023.2283530
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Therapeutic Use of Self: The Impact on the Health and Wellness of Older Adults Involved in a Creative Dance Program
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Anna Katherine Wesley Bruesewitz
This research examines the impact of creative arts-based programs on the health,
wellbeing, and overall quality of life of older adults, drawing evidence specifically from the Kairos
Alive! Dancing Heart program. Bruesewitz situates this thesis within the framework of successful
aging, an idea tied to maintaining a high quality of life throughout the entirety of one’s lifespan,
including various physical, psychological, and cognitive factors. Through behavior analysis and
participant observation, Bruesewitz found that the Dancing Heart program reduced rates of
loneliness and depression through relationship building and physical activity, improved
participants’ moods, and increased cognitive skills such as memory, and she claims that
participation in creative-arts programs for seniors have the potential to positively impact their
quality of life.​
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Importance of a Dance Program for Long-Term Care Residents
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Siri Rydholm
This research focuses on the impact of the Kairos Alive! Dancing Heart program on long-
term care residents, specifically analyzing the direct experience of the program’s participants,
the impact on their quality of life, and the impact on the culture of the care facility. Situated
within the framework of successful aging, Rydholm hypothesizes that dance programs decrease
stress, increase overall quality of life, and reduce symptoms of stress-related conditions for
participants. Semi-structured interviews with staff members, volunteers, and family members of
residents revealed that the social interactions during the dance program had incredibly positive
benefits for participants, including increases in attention span, interest, pleasure, and self-
esteem. The Kairos Alive! Dancing Heart program focuses on participant-centered
programming, which leads to an improved sense of self and confidence among participants. Not
only does this dance program – and other arts-based programs – have a positive impact on the
residents, but it also improves the overall culture of the care facility by promoting community
and strengthening relationships between residents and staff members.
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https://scispace.com/pdf/importance-of-a-dance-program-for-long-term-care-residents-4wf6zr2dff.pdf
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Group-Based Participatory Arts Interventions Validate Personhood for those Living with Dementia
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Daneil Kaplan, Gary Glazner, Charles Drake
This research explores the use of validation in person-centered participatory arts
programs within the context of dementia care, specifically examining the ways in which
validation and creative expression can affirm personhood for people living with dementia.
Pulling from various Kairos Alive! programs, Kaplan, Glazner, and Drake claim that validation
that occurs in these programs can be organized into five categories: collaboration, connection,
communication, creation, and confirmation. Group collaboration and participation are integral to
Kairos Alive! programming, and the active role that participants assume acknowledge the
personhood that people with dementia possess. Through social interaction that takes place
during the programming, participants build stronger relationships with one another, thus
establishing continual connectedness to each other during each activity. Additionally, Kairos
Alive! facilitators use a variety of communication tactics such as maintained eye contact,
nonverbal affirmations, and physical touch to individually connect to each participant. The
structure of the Kairos Alive! programs discussed in this research rely on group participation and
creative expression, and the use of participants’ remaining intellectual abilities validates their
sense of self-efficacy. Participants are supported in their risk-taking and participation and
affirmed in the physical and cognitive skills they still possess. Kaplan, Glazner, and Drake claim
that through group participation and validation, participants experience a heightened sense of
empowerment and personhood.
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https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/559513358.pdf
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The Dancing Heart: Vital Elders Moving in Community.
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Small Steps
https://danceforparkinsons.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Minnesota-Medicine_0712.pdf
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Thought Leader Forum on Arts & Aging
https://www.giarts.org/sites/default/files/Thought-Leader-Forum-on-Arts-Aging.pdf
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