ABOUT ALICIA

Born May 24, 1938, in New York City to Florence Reynolds Decker and Robert Merrill Decker, Alicia graduated from The Brearley School and went on to study at Barnard College, and nearly two decades later (after marriage, raising four children, and divorce) graduated from Smith College. She was a dancer and teacher her entire life, continuing to teach classes and perform publicly into her 80s.

Looking back on her years as a student, Alicia wrote, “My parents had meant Brearley to be socially broadening. I found it intellectually expansive and I loved it. It suddenly seemed to me that my previous education had been largely focused on facts. For the first time, the most fascinating world, the world of ideas, opened up to me and filled me with wonderment. To read a novel, not just for the plot, but for the ideas, the philosophy, was a joyful experience. I was elated when I was accepted at Barnard College. In many ways, Barnard was an extension of Brearley: academically rigorous, intellectually stimulating and - having been accepted into the annual Greek Games dance program - artistically broadening.” At Barnard, an Introduction to Art History class taught by Julius Held inspired her wider embrace of the world of creative expression.

Alicia first encountered the Martha Graham tradition of modern dance during her senior year of high school. She continued her studies with Foster Fitzsimmons, a former member of Ted Shawn’s dance company, and studied at the Martha Graham School in New York City, with members of the José Limón Dance Company.

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Soon after moving to Miami with her then-husband Phillip, she joined a local dance company, and later formed her own company, Aurora Dance. After her divorce in 1979, she moved to Massachusetts, enrolling in Smith College and completing a degree in Art History while raising her youngest child. She continued her study of dance in Northampton with Rosalind DeMille, Gemze deLappe, and Susan Waltner at Smith College. After graduation, she deepened her studies both through independent teachers and at established institutions like Jacob’s Pillow. She studied world dance forms including Classical Japanese, Butoh, Flamenco, Middle Eastern, African, and Indian Dance. 

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In Massachusetts, she fell in love with and married Thomas Throck Morton, an artist, musician, and teacher who shared her passion for art and inspired her with his own music and painting. Together, they started Northampton Studios, a center for learning many forms of art, from dance to painting to film. Among the most popular classes was an African dance class taught by her close friend Eno Washington. Alicia and Tom raised Joe and Luc, his two children from a previous marriage, and Jordan, her youngest son from her first marriage.

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She evolved her own style for teaching and choreography, emphasizing clarity and simplicity, and exploring emotion through repetition, instilling deep resonance in small movements and variations. Describing her work to The New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper in 2009, she said, “I admire something that holds back a little, and invites people in. It might thwart the expectations of some who go to dance concerts, but I have to be true to who I am. That stillness, seeing that lack of overt emotion...it can strike a deeper chord with the viewer. There’s something about a still place that’s very powerful.”

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Alicia’s passion for the transformative power of dance inspired her to produce live performances nearly every year for the rest of her life. These concerts and recitals often featured large casts and a range of traditions, like the dance drama Persephone’s Rite, at Smith College in 1996. Some performances, especially in her final years, were more intimate. She performed with a dedicated ensemble of dancers, musicians, and crew members, including the dancers Cynthia James and Ritsuka Mastroianni, musicians Sandra Moulton, Phillip de Fremery and Chris Stetson, lighting designer Steve Morgan, stage manager Michelle Letendre, and too many others to list here. 

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Her performances featured both work she choreographed and her interpretations of foundational work from the history of modern dance, such as Witch Dance, by German Expressionist dancer Mary Wigman - a favorite of hers. When her mother and one of her sisters (Connie) died of cancer, she channeled her grief into her art, both in her dance, and in moving poetry. Through it all, her favorite and most important artistic collaborator was her husband Tom.

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Despite being diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in 1997, Alicia continued to teach dance and exercise classes several days a week, bringing her love of dance and movement to hundreds of devoted students over a period of nearly fifty years. In more recent years, she also taught art history and art in film, both in community spaces such as The Amherst Senior Center, and as an Adjunct Professor at Westfield State College. She was moved by filmmakers - for example German Expressionists, U.S. film noir and the Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer - who conveyed dark moods and emotions through non-naturalistic lighting and framing.

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Alicia put others before herself. From a young age, she was conscious about environmental devastation and the threat of climate change and she rejected prejudice and discrimination in all its forms. Her life reflected her values, guided by generosity and kindness, and concern about her impact on the earth. She avoided excess waste and energy inefficiency, took part in antiwar protests and a weekly peace vigil for Palestinian rights, wrote letters to politicians and newspapers, and made her concerts into benefits for local community groups. Among the organizations for which she raised money and awareness were the AIDS Community Group of Franklin County (in 1993), Leverett Peace Pagoda, The Amherst Cinema Arts Center, Traprock Peace Center, The Cancer Connection, and the Nacul Center. 

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When she visited her son Jordan in New Orleans in the years after Hurricane Katrina, she taught free classes for community members, and did benefits for organizations involved in rebuilding the city. During this time, she dedicated her classes and performances to the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic, The Women’s Health and Justice Initiative, and The Neighborhood Gallery, a Black-led arts venue that was struggling to recover after Katrina. She also volunteered with The New Orleans Museum of Art, and contributed to a book dedicated to their sculpture garden.

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Alicia was less interested in looking back at her past accomplishments than on looking forward. Her love and joy and hope for the future were nourished by her relationships with her children and step-children; Stephen, David, Laura, Joe, Luc and Jordan; and her grandchildren; Simon, Mathilda, Stevie, Jack, Janet, and Isaac. She is also survived by her sister Florence Hardin, and two nieces, Alicia and Linda. 

One of her favorite poems was by Emily Dickinson, and she recited it by heart days before she passed:

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Behind Me—dips Eternity—

Before Me—Immortality—

Myself—the Term between—

Death but the Drift of Eastern Gray,

Dissolving into Dawn away,

Before the West begin—

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Condolences can be sent to her loving husband, Tom Morton, at 52 Baker Street, Amherst, MA 01002. Donations can also be made in Alicia's name to organizations working for peace and justice.