Alicia Morton

I appreciate receiving the reminders from Legacy. I think of Alicia often, driving on Dickinson Street past the dance barn or past Emily Dickinson´s house on Main Street, or talking with other people about dance and movement or about people and things we miss as we get older and life changes very fast. Alicia had many qualities I would like to emulate of being patient and kind and also vital and energetic and interested in addressing very important things. These ways are critical in this day...

Memories of Alicia pop up at different times of the year, when I run into someone from the class, and in different places. In Spring when salamanders cross under the road in the man made tunnels on Northeast Street I remember she choreographed a dance about the spotted salamanders that we filmed outdoor at Hampshire College when she was teaching in North Amherst in the old elementary school building. She also taught classes at the Munson library in South Amherst when some other dance studio...

Alicia´s spirit is with me every time I dance. I learned so much from her about grace, patience, and aging. I went back to the Barn Studio last month for the first time since she stopped teaching our movement class there in Dec. 2019. It was like walking into an old friend. Her essence is in those floorboards and walls and mirrors. I miss Alicia so very much.

Alicia was a wonderful dance teacher and I learned so much in her classes in Modern Dance from the late1980's on and in her exercise classes right up until COVID19 stopped everything. She was always helpful and encouraging and this was so important to my well-being throughout those years. It was great to see the other students returning for session after session and I miss both Alicia and them so much. I am so blessed by having known her and to have met her family at classes and events.

I feel so bad, I love Annie but she died 7 days before my birthday

Alicia was the most inspiring woman I’ve ever met. I’ve taken her dance classes since 1993 and it was like being in the presence of a goddess every single time. I love how when her grown children came to visit her in Amherst, they would join her class at the Barn Studio upon occasion. I loved all her benefit dance performances and especially her final one on her 80th birthday at the Nacul Center. I will deeply miss her.