Happy Retirement, Ann!
At the end of this month on April 30th, our beloved dance therapist, colleague, and friend, Ann Wingate, will be retiring after over 35 years at the Hancock Center. Ann has been with the Hancock Center since its infancy and her impact on our organization cannot be understated. Since joining our team, Ann has been a therapist, grant coordinator, workshop presenter, intern supervisor, and on-site coordinator for the Child and Family Program. The boundless kindness that she has generously shared with the community, her coworkers, and her clients has set a beautiful precedent that will always remain part of the Hancock Center’s legacy.
Ann earned her BA in Dance from the University of Iowa in 1980 before going on to get her Master’s Degree in Dance/Movement Therapy from the Naropa Institute in 1988. That same year, Ann joined the Hancock Center’s team as a Dance/Movement Therapist, where she has been a pillar of our organization ever since.
Ann has worked with a vast array of different populations in the Madison area, both individually and in groups, later specializing in one-on-one sessions with adults, individuals with complex trauma, and those on the autism spectrum. Ann frequently took Dance/Movement Therapy into the community, working with older adults with Creative Arts Over 60, and working with youth in area elementary, middle, and high schools. The focus of her work has been on creativity of “bodyfulness”, the idea that “The body isn’t a thing we have but an experience we are” as instilled in her by Dr. Christine Caldwell, her mentor at the Naropa Institute.
Beyond her successful career as a clinician, Ann has also shared her knowledge and experience at a number of workshops and presentations. This includes being a recurring presenter at the Midwest Conference on Childhood Sexual Abuse and running workshops at the Wisconsin Teen Summit. Further, Ann has been a mentor for a number of Dance/Movement Therapy graduate level interns and incoming Child and Family Program staff throughout the Hancock Center’s history. In this role, she helped prepare the next generation of Dance/Movement Therapists by sharing her wellspring of wisdom and giving them the tools, experience, and guidance they would need to carry Dance/Movement Therapy forward. As the Hancock Center’s Grants Coordinator, Ann wrote some of the first United Way grants in our organization’s history which opened the door for a partnership that has spanned decades. Ann’s writing helped fund the In-School Therapy and Prevention Program to continue our mission of providing services to individuals regardless of their ability to pay.
Ann helped lay the foundation on which the Hancock Center has been built. The kindness, sensitivity, joy, and generosity that she shares with the world every day has become an integral part of the Hancock Center’s culture and atmosphere. Her decades of hard work and dedication to our mission and her clients has solidified the Hancock Center and Dance/Movement Therapy as invaluable to our community. While we are saddened to see her retire, we couldn’t be more proud to have had the opportunity to work with and be inspired by her.
“Life is not about waiting for the sorrow to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” -Vivian Green