Creative
Choreography
(All Levels)

Carlo Atienza

This workshop will focus on creating dynamic movement within choreography. Textures, motivation, and connection will all be prominent topics of discussion which in turn will help elevate your quality of movement.  This workshop is intended for those who are seeking inspiration for their own creations or who are simply trying to train in a new style of choreography. 

Afro-Fusion (All Levels)

Amanda Okafor

Decidedly Jazz Danceworks

Afrofusion is a blend of dance styles and grooves that come from the continent of Africa. Focusing mainly on the Western, Central and Southern regions, this 90 minutes workshop will explore different social dances from both a historical and modern context in relation to African culture. Participants are encouraged to acknowledge the cultural significance of each region in order to properly share learned material with their own students.

Rooted Jazz Dance (Secondary)

Joanne Baker

Decidedly Jazz Danceworks

Jazz dance, at its core, is born of African American resilience, creativeness and community with influence from the many voices of African ethos. This workshop will push educators to physically embrace the true foundations of jazz dance (spirit, community, musical connection, grounded execution, freedom of the torso, improvisation) in collaboration with discussion around the de-colonization of your jazz practice. Time will also be spent exploring various thru-roads in incorporating European aesthetics and codified jazz forms responsibly.

Pow Wow Glow (All Levels)

Shyama Priya

We begin our class with yoga. Yoga means union and this brings together our breath with movement. When our breath and movement are working together this facilitates for the release of tension we maybe carrying or holding onto within our body. The way we breath can tire us or energize us. This will warm up our body to learn the different pow wow dance styles. The facilitator will share pieces of their regalia and the meaning behind each of the dances. The steps from each style will build strength in different parts of your body. At the end of our session we will close with a meditation/mindful breathing to gain a deeper awareness of self. Yoga, pow wow, and meditation, together are the healing medicine of movement and stillness.

Body Positivity (All Levels)

Gillian Goerzen

What is Body Positivity? And why is it so important? In this session we're going to go beyond the buzzword to explore what taking a "body positive" approach means in practice and how we can create a more body positive environment for our students in the classroom and beyond.

Gillian Goerzen is a Body Positive health + fitness coach and author who is passionate about helping women ditch Diet Culture and reclaim their time, energy and JOY for living a healthy lifestyle. She has a degree in Kinesiology and is currently pursuing her Masters in Counselling Psychology. 

Jive Open Work (Intermediate / Secondary)

Dale Neale

 Lindy, lindy hop, jive, east coast swing, balboa, shag, west coast swing, and there’s a few more, these dances all fall under the umbrella of swing dances.  Fun, energetic and lively dances created around the 1940s during WW2.  Very popular social dances as well as used for competition. We will be working on certain moves that you use in these dances.  Flicks and kicks, sailor shuffles, variety of triple step actions, various swivels and timing changes.  We will also throw in some spins and turns. So let’s have some fun.   Swings the thing.

Connecting Creative Dance with Curriculum (K-7)

Lorraine White - Wilkinson

Get your students moving! This interactive workshop focuses on integrating dance across subject areas for the elementary school population. Participants will be guided through embodied and artistic ways of understanding curricular concepts in Science, Math, Language Arts, and Social Studies - with additional attention paid to children’s literature as a springboard into creative dance.

Participants will leave with a practical knowledge base for connecting dance with the core curriculum providing joyful, creative, holistic learning experiences for their students. Please be prepared to move, work in break-out rooms, and share!

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** In advance of the workshop, please go out and find an interesting rock to bring to the class (any size, shape etc)**

Dancehall 
(All Levels)

Orlando Ricketts

(aka .Kleen Prinz)

Join Dancehall Party Grooves with Orlando Ricketts (@kleenprinz) and experience the joy of dancing to music rooted from Jamaica. This class is easy and entertaining and can be enjoyed at any level. This class brings the party from the streets of JA to you with tons of dancehall party grooves, moves and steps.

This exciting and educational class brings you back to the foundation when dancehall dance was created. Learn the first known movements from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s old school then through middle school of early 2000’s to New School. You will be taught dance steps created by well known dancers from Jamaica past and present. 

The groove is all about the feeling and movement of what’s inside of you! To find your personal groove and style it’s recommended to dress loosely and fashionable, Dancehall is all about the fashion and style as well as the movement! 

Contemporary (Secondary)

Taylor Hunt

Decidedly Jazz Danceworks

Contemporary expression often reflects many aspects of our lives including but not limited to our deepest emotional ties to political climate, cultural environment, societal influences etc. Participants are encouraged to honour where Contemporary Dance originated and reflect about how it has come to evolve into the sub-genres of contemporary movement we see today. How can we create a safe space for dancers to be open-minded, free-thinkers that want to create movement poetry that speaks to their current life experiences?

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