Women dance their way to fellowship
Core of Fire uses the healing power of dance
BY LINDA DeNICOLA Correspondent
Memories of when they danced together as young women led Red Bank nativesMargaret RiceMoir and Carol Penn to form a dance company made up of mature women and call it the Core of Fire Interfaith Dance Ministry.

PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff Members of the Core of Fire dance corps, Lisa Arcoleo, Ro Cedola, Jo Anne Loundy, Dean Dabrowski and Peg Rice Moir, perform a dance piece titled "Ella's Song" at the Middletown Arts Center. Shown dancing "Soon Love Soon," members choose dance pieces for their spiritual content, cultural interest and universal content.

Moir, who is a retired Middletown teacher, said they want to "combine spiritual connection and creative movement into choreography that speaks to their deepest longings to love and to be loved.

"We also want to express the awe, wonder and anguish of the life experience," she said.

Penn, a professional dancer, said she wanted to dance one more time withMoir, who was her neighbor growing up in Red Bank. They had both danced at the Maureen Deacon Dance Studio in Red Bank.

"I thought it would be a one-time-only thing. But Peg and the other women had other ideas," Penn said.

Penn enlisted the help of Marcia Freeman, a choreographer from Washington, D.C., and along with a few other women, they held the first Core of Fire performance at the Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse (UUCMC) in Lincroft, where Moir is a member, on Mother's Day 2006.

Penn said that when Freeman went back toWashington, she left a second choreographed dance with them, so they performed it on Father's Day that same year.

"It was a wonderful feeling of sharing something that we love with other likeminded women," Penn said.

Before that first performance, the original members of the group held a daylong workshop, facilitated by Freeman, at the UUCMC, where they learned the original Core of Fire dance.

"The idea of older women dancing and performing drew a great deal of interest, and soon women were clamoring to join and it grew to its current corps of 11 dancers," Moir said.

The women come from towns all over the area and includeMoir, who now lives in Fair Haven; Penn, Red Bank; Lynn Dash, Lincroft; Cala Suarez, Neptune; Marie Zieger, Tinton Falls; Lisa Arcoleo, Freehold; Ro Cedola,Atlantic Highlands; Dean Dabrowski, Colts Neck; Donna Renfro, Long Branch; Jeanne Toher, Asbury Park, and Joann Loundy, Seaside.

Penn said the women are between the ages of 40 and 65, and there is one woman who is 74 years old.

To date, the company has six pieces that they have performed in various venues, including other churches, Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, Stella Maris Retreat Center in Elberon, and the Middletown Cultural Arts Center.

"Each dance is set to music that members choose for its spiritual content, its cultural interest and its message of universal content."

Penn is the primary choreographer, although frequently the women create improvisations that the group teases into performance material, Moir explained.

The dances include "Prayer Cycle" by James Taylor, "Breaths" and "Ella's Song" by Sweet Honey in the Rock, and what is fast becoming the group's signature piece, "All This Joy" by John Denver.

"Members are committed to using the healing power of dance to bring joy, understanding and compassion to a bruised and hurting world. This unique ministry further seeks to provide opportunities for all women, no matter their age, shape or training, to release their inner dancer, and to experience the exhilaration that comes when we abandon ourselves to the joy of movement," Moir said.

Penn has moved from dancer to yoga instructor to a doctor waiting to hear which residency program she will be starting in the spring. She has applied to five hospital residency programs and while she waits, she is continuing to developAnjali, a women's health and wellness collective that is holding a workshop at the Stella Maris Retreat Center in Elberton on Feb. 8, 9 and 10. She also teaches yoga at the Diney GoldsmithWellness Community in Tinton Falls.

She said she hopes to fold her passion for body movement into her medical practice some day.

She noted that the Core of Fire name came from "our cojoined experience of life and passion.We have formed a fellowship. We meet weekly. It is a huge commitment."

Penn calls Core of Fire a movement choir based on modern dance in the Alvin Ailey tradition, where she studied for years.

"Most of the women had never danced before.We adapt the choreography around some physical limitations and focus on good alignment and core strength. I'm committed to women being physically strong. It's not just about the dance, it's about how you feel for the rest of the day," she said.

Penn has found that one link leads to another. Performing for a cancer survivors' group at Jersey Shore University Medical Center led to being asked to perform at Monmouth Medical Center, which led to the Wellness Community.

She sees endless possibilities and would like to see the program replicated over time.

"Women want to dance. Women want community," Penn said.

The next Core of Fire workshop will be held on two consecutive Saturdays, Jan. 26 and Feb. 2, at the Stella Maris Retreat Center on Ocean Avenue in Elberon. The cost is $75.

For information, call Penn at (732) 345- 0167 or e-mailMoir at enjoylife@msn.com.