Cynthia Adams & Hubert Adams
Cynthia Adams is a choreographer, dance-theater artist, poet and educator who began finding joy in movement at a young age in Clinton, Connecticut. She contributes her early creative inclinations to the support and encouragement of her parents, Ann and Hugh Adams and her time as a youth spent outdoors by the sea and in the deciduous forest near her home. Other influences include the avant-garde theater company, the Wooster Group, whom Cynthia worked with at the Performing Garage while completing a BA in Pre‐Dance Therapy from New York University. Cynthia’s next great influence came while apprenticing at the Tanzfabrik in Berlin, Germany where she immersed herself in the Tanz-theatre style of dance which she continues investigating with integrating dance, multi-media and text. In 1992 Ms. Adams helped form and become co-artistic director of Fellow Travelers Performance Group (FTPG) with Ken James in the San Francisco Bay Area. For over 20 years FTPG received numerous awards, grants and residencies as well as performing nationally and internationally. Ms. Adams performed professionally with many other choreographers including Kei Takei’s Moving Earth and Li Chiao-Ping Dance. Cynthia’s inquiry in human movement has led to somatic practices and the mind/body connection and she is nationally certified to teach in both Pilates and yoga and is a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP). Cynthia completed a Masters in Choreography/ Performance from the U.C.L.A. and is currently an Associate Teaching Professor in Dance at Iowa State University in the Department of Kinesiology.
Hubert Adams (Hugh) was born March 17, 1936 in Boston, Massachusetts, a first-generation Irish, growing up on an estate where his parents (Hubert and Katie) worked as the grounds keeper and cook in Essex, Mass. Hugh attended the Gloucester High School, where he was the co-captain of the football team. He went onto Tufts University on a Navy scholarship where he met his wife Ann Aldrich on a blind date and then graduated with a degree in Engineering. He transferred to the Marines where he served as an officer at Quantico in Virginia and Camp Lejeune in North Carolina where his two children were born. After the service, the family moved to Clinton, Ct where Hugh worked for the telephone company and was very active in the community. Organizations he served on included the JC’s, Lions Club, Community of Affairs Economic Development Commission, Board of Selection and 20 years on the Board of Finance which he was the chairman for many years. He was also very active in his local church as a member for 55 years and acted as the Moderator for multiple terms. He lived by the motto adapted from the J.C’s, “Service for humanity is the greatest work of life.”
Gift
The Extraordinary Man
By Cynthia Adams, For Hubert Adams
Dedicated to the caregivers today who heroically battle the unknown.
The extraordinary man does not flaunt nor boast.
He does not wield his power,
nor wear gold chains to show off his wealth.
The extraordinary young man makes his parents proud.
Irish immigrants creating a new life and home.
Paying off family depts,
lifting out from under a shroud.
The extraordinary young man co-captains his football team,
gentlemen playing the game fairly,
all living the American dream.
The extraordinary man on a blind date meets,
the love of his life,
then for more than 60 years,
she is his partner, his best friend, his wife.
The extraordinary man helps build a community
and supports its growth,
diligently leading behind the scenes,
creating balanced budgets and
saving money for futures unseen.
The extraordinary man works throughout his life,
saving for family vacations
uncomplicated visits to a lake, or beach
or one of the parks of the nation.
The extraordinary man moves quietly,
treading softly on the earth,
humbly serving others,
valuing all peoples worth.
The extraordinary man enjoys solitude walking in the forest or by the sea,
While equally savoring time with friends, playing cards,
sharing a meal, having fun and socializing is key.
The extraordinary man is a steward of the land,
advocating and protecting planet earth for future generations,
always reaching out to lend helping hand.
The extraordinary man enters the arena of life
Proceeding calming,
doing the needful and
what is right.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”