**For info about upcoming sessions, please see the Creative Momentum website: www.creativemoment.im **
The dancing with integrity website includes an archive of sessions Joanne facilitated in 2012 and 2013.
If you’d like to be in touch or receive regular updates, see the contact page on the new website. Thank-you!
Filed under connecting, dancing with integrity
For information about upcoming dance sessions and programs, please see the new Creative Momentum website:
The dancing with integrity website includes an archive of sessions Joanne facilitated in 2012 and 2013. It may be reactivated as a blog for dance updates in the future, but for now it still has resources such as dance links, a compilation of Nations’ websites (local and island), and Local Links.
Filed under connecting
Thursday evening sessions (7:30-9pm) will start up September 5th! There will be three free workshops in September, and then two series of classes. The sessions are at the lovely Heart & Hands Health Collective (851 Cormorant Street, downtown) in Lekwungen territories. (Detailed overview of what Thursday sessions are like). To RSVP for the weeks you would like to attend, please be in touch.
Upcoming series of classes:
Dance Improvisation for Fun
Thursdays 7:30-9pm, October 10, 17, 24 (join any week)
The will be a variety of dance improv activities and games to encourage moving in new ways. Each class will focus on a couple of dance concepts (e.g. shape, time, space, consent, flow, focus).
Dance for Wellbeing
Thursdays 7:30-9pm, November 7, 14 & 21
There are a lot of intense things happening on this planet, and sometimes November – with winter approaching – can be a rough month for people locally. Each dance class will include: movement activities for self-care and connecting with personal sources of strength, creative dance games for fun, and crayons & art supplies available for (optional) doodling or writing after dancing.
Workshops:
Dance as Self-Care/ Mutual-Care: Sept. 5
This workshop will include various creative movement and dance activities for grounding, connecting with personal sources of strength, and supporting each other as a group. (Full description). FREE.
*FULL* Intro to Creative Dance: Sept. 12
This workshop is for people who are new to dance improvisation, who think they “can’t” dance, or who feel ‘awkward’/’rusty’/’shy’ about dancing in front of anyone. The focus is on accepting and celebrating our unique selves and ways of moving. (Full description). FREE.
*FULL* Dance Games Night! Sept. 19
There will be a whole bunch of creative movement games, and we’ll take turns picking the next game from a basket. (Full description). FREE.
*For all sessions, RSVPing is recommended, as space is limited. For people with unpredictable schedules, drop-ins are welcome as long as there is room (if a session is full it will be noted as “FULL” in that night’s title on the calendar).
For details about the location, logistics and accessibilities, click here.
The ROMP! Festival of Independent Dance is happening later this month, starting with five days of free performances in Centennial Square August 20-24.
As well as facilitating a couple of Fresh-air Frolics (see next post!), I’m excited to dance in the improvised PRESENT/TENSE on August 24th:
PRESENT/TENSE 8
Dance and the Spoken Word
Sat. Aug. 24th, 6pm – 7pm
Free, at Centennial Square
From the ROMP! website: “Present/Tense 8 is our returning performance laboratory featuring writers and dancers. For those unfamiliar with the format of the show: Writers read selections of their work while dancers improvise – to the sound, syllables, and multiple meanings. Each dancer is only given the first and last line of the written work before stepping onto the stage – to create an electric collaborative laboratory between improvised dance and the spoken word.”
Filed under free, performance
FRESH-AIR FROLIC! (free sessions for all ages & abilities)
Tues. August 20, and Wed. August 21
5pm – 5:30pm
Creative movement & dance improvisation games
at ROMP Dance Festival, Centennial Square in Lekwungen Territories
Everyone is welcome at this playful dance improvisation session. There will be creative movement activities and games, such as a dancing version of ‘Go go go stop!’. All that is needed is an openness to having fun and creating a supportive space together. People of all ages are welcome, including children accompanied by an adult.
Filed under all ages, community session, dance games!, free, outdoors
Would your seniors’ residence or activity centre like to have a Dancing while Sitting class in the Fall?
Do your members miss the sense of joy and connection of dancing?
The Dancing while Sitting classes are focused on fun, wellness and building a sense of community.
Participants and facilitator dance while sitting in a circle. Classes include a variety of creative movement activities, with music from the 1940s-60s and from around the world. It is a chance to be social, exploring dance and creativity in a supportive setting.
No dance experience needed, and no sequences to remember!
The content and length of the sessions is geared to what works for each group.
Click here to continue reading.
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Summer is finally here! Would you like to dance outdoors in a park in August?
There will be a Fresh-air Frolic session Monday August 12th at 7pm, at Mason Street Park (also known as Franklin Green Park – behind Wellburn’s and the Gallery at Mason & Cook), meeting beside the bench swing. This session is free, and donations to the Community Tool Shed are welcome.
The session involves 45 minutes of dance improvisation activities and movement games, followe
d by sharing snacks and an optional 10-minute open improv. No dance experience needed. See the Fresh-air Frolic page for more info.
(There won’t be any dancing with integrity sessions in July, as Joanne is away at dance-movement therapy courses and preparing for autumn.)
Filed under community session, dance games!, free, outdoors
Over the next few months, i will be transitioning from the non-profit, volunteer teaching of dancing with integrity sessions, to starting a little business under a new name.
This change means that i will be able to offer many classes each week around town, starting in October.
If you know of a group or venue that might be interested in a weekly class in the Fall or 2014 – e.g. dance improvisation for fun & fitness, dancing while sitting for older adults, creative dance as self-care, or a theme tailored to your group – please be in touch. Thank you!
Happy Solstice to those who celebrate it, and warm wishes to everyone for an excellent summer!
Ten years ago today, a study called “Leisure Activities and the Risk of Dementia in the Elderly” was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In the study of 469 people, “Dancing was the only physical activity associated with a lower risk of dementia.”
Click here to keep reading this post.
p.s. The study also mentions that playing board games and playing musical instruments decrease the risk of dementia… so at our dance improvisation sessions, when we do the activities such as dancing with Scrabble or playing percussion while dancing, i imagine we are very much nurturing the pathways in our brains as well as in our whole selves!
p.p.s. The image mentions doing crossword puzzles frequently also reduces the risk, so for the Fall i plan to design a creative movement crossword puzzle. 😉
Filed under dancinghealth
Thursday evening sessions (7:30-9pm) will start up September 5th! There will be three free workshops in September, and then two 5-week series of classes. The sessions are at the lovely Heart & Hands Health Collective (851 Cormorant Street, downtown) in Lekwungen territories.
Filed under @heart&hands, community session, dance as self-care, dance games!, workshops
Thank-you everyone for your creative playfulness, nourishing dancing and excellent ideas! It has been fantastic to move and improvise with everyone at the 50 sessions since July 2012.
Around 70 participants have come to the Thursday dancing with integrity sessions at Heart & Hands since January, including some wonderful people who have participated practically every week. As well, there have been approximately 45 people at outdoor sessions and 75 for dance improvisation at various other indoor locations since last summer.
It has been an honour to witness participants’ confidence, spontaneity and freedom of movement expand. And I have had so much fun being in supportive community with all of you. Thank-you SO much!
Wishing everyone the best for an amazing summer. (:
dancing with integrity 