Project Overview:
A 6-week movement-arts program designed for people with specialized mobility needs and their caregivers and/or family members. A Body That is Yours to Find focuses on a creative and compassionate approach to movement for elders. The workshops were first inspired by StefanieWeber’s work with people on the Parkinson’s path of progression which led her to the making of a short art/dance film (in-progress) under the same title.
Participants will meet weekly for one-hour for six (6) weeks and will decide if they want to culminate in a shared offering of their process to the public the last week.
Who is the target audience for this project?
Elders with specialized mobility challenges such as: Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Traumatic Brain Injury, Cognitive disability, Arthritis, etc. And their caregivers and/or family member(s). Any interested members of the community are welcome to attend.
What is the cost of participation for attendees?
With subsidized funding from grants and sponsors: there is no cost.
How does the proposed project provide benefit and contribute to the cultural vitality of the community
as a whole?
There are very few (if any) local spaces for people with mobility challenges to affordably go and learn
how to move in ways that feel good to them. This program provides access and offers a way of
connecting to your body (and others) that are not PT/OT, caregiving, yoga, or bodywork based. People
need affordable spaces to move in ways that are not routine or pattern oriented guided by a professional
who has extensive experience in teaching movement for all learning types. This program provides a
creative approach for folks experiencing profound changes in their movement abilities. It allows them to
reconnect to their own bodies and be in spaces where they have permission to move in new ways with
others even given their limitations.
Please describe the qualification of key artists, humanists, interpretive scientists or organizations
involved with leading the cultural component of this project.
Stefanie Weber is an action-based dance artist who specializes in dance and movement for all and has decades of experience working with diverse bodies. She creates under-the-radar performance work for the stage, street, and screen. Stefanie has a private practice in her Pittsfield studio at Clock Tower Artists, where she assists people of various abilities in moving in ways they cannot find anywhere else. She is certified in the GYROTONIC Method and CranioSacral Fascial Unwinding. Stefanie is presently on faculty at Community Access to The Arts, Cantarella School of Dance, and Boulder Psychic Institute. Her in-depth mentorship with legendary dance and movement educators such as Lynn Simonson and Dianne Walker gives her unique insight.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NORTH ADAMS, MA — Dance artist Stefanie Lynx Weber will offer A Body That Is Yours To Find, a six-week movement series for adults and elders experiencing changes or challenges in mobility. The series begins Tuesday, October 6 at 1 p.m. at Movement Matters, Suite 311, 60 Roberts Dr., North Adams, MA 01247, and continues for six weeks. This program is funded in part by a grant from the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshires, a local agency which is supported by Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Created as a creative-process approach to movement, A Body That Is Yours To Find offers participants an opportunity to explore how they move, sense, communicate, and connect with their bodies — particularly when changes in mobility or independence have altered their relationship with movement.
The series was first developed through Weber’s work with people on the Parkinson’s path of progression and has expanded to welcome people living with a range of ongoing situations that affect movement or perception of the body in space, including Parkinson’s, brain injury, post-stroke changes, dementia, recovery from surgery or injury, and other mobility challenges.
Weber describes the experience that inspired the series: “I discovered, while working with a client with advanced-stage Parkinson’s, that he had a superpower. At first, he was very worried that I wouldn’t want to work with him because he was ‘too far gone.’ But his limitations created a space for something that had never existed before. He had to move with such exact awareness of every moment. When we moved together, we had to communicate in a way that was incredibly precise, conscious, and focused. It was poetic, creative, and really fun, too. I want to experience that superpower with other people.”
Rather than approaching movement as physical therapy, exercise, or a set of movements that participants are expected to perform correctly, the series invites curiosity and exploration. Participants work with guided movement, improvisation, awareness, communication, and movement with others to discover possibilities in their bodies.
The class also recognizes that changes in mobility and independence affect the people around us. Caregivers and aides are encouraged to attend and participate. The movement work includes basic partnering and ways of communicating through movement that can be useful in everyday caregiving.
Each session is one hour long, with the series meeting weekly for six weeks. Participants may also have an opportunity to share something from their process with the public during the final week.
Stefanie Weber is an action-based dance artist and movement specialist who has spent decades exploring how people move, create, and connect through their bodies. A lifelong student of movement and somatic practice, she has been a certified GYROTONIC® Method trainer since 2006 and has maintained a private practice working with people of diverse abilities and movement needs. Her work draws from dance, restorative movement, experiential anatomy, energy-based practices, and body-focused modalities, including the Gillespie Approach to CranioSacral Fascial Therapy. For more than 20 years, she was on the faculty of Community Access to the Arts, where she developed her distinctive approach to teaching creative movement and crafting bold performance work for all bodies. She is currently on faculty at Cantarella School of Dance and the Boulder Psychic Institute. Stefanie maintains her private practice at Tourmaline Z Studio with the Clock Tower Artists in Pittsfield. More about her work can be found at fertileuniverse.com/private-sessions.
Movement Matters is a holistic movement studio offering specialized group classes and personalized one-on-one sessions in a welcoming, boutique setting. The studio places a particular emphasis on fascia — its role in movement, health, and overall well-being — and helps clients develop greater awareness of how they can support healthy movement in their daily lives. Sessions are led by certified, intuitive practitioners, and the studio serves a diverse community that includes people referred by local doctors, chiropractors, and physical therapists.
A Body That Is Yours To Find
Tuesdays at 1 p.m.
Beginning October 6, 2026 — six weeks
Movement Matters, Suite 311
60 Roberts Dr., North Adams, MA 01247
Cost: Pay what you can, with a suggested donation of $5 per session or $30 for the six-week series. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds.
Registration and contact:
Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Email movementmatters89@gmail.com, call (413) 347-3372, or complete the online registration form: https://forms.gle/3YNnXujf2zhfJCiL6