Category Archives: children

Dance Without Limits – Tuesdays 5pm, ages 5-15

abilities, children, free sessions, programs, youth

Dance Without Limits is a free adapted dance program by the Cerebral Palsy Association of BC. Children and youth of all abilities are welcome, ages 5 to 15+.

I had fun facilitating the first Victoria class today, with a great group of participants, families, support workers and volunteers!

And there is room for more to join: if you know anyone who might be interested, please share this link: http://bccerebralpalsy.com/programs/dance-without-limits/. The classes are Tuesdays 5pm-6pm, from Feb. 9th-March 8th at Cook Street Village Activity Centre (parking lot entrance). To register, call 604-408-9484, or email admin@bccerebralpalsy.com.

p.s. Here is a short video from the program in Vancouver:

 

Septembery highlights

50yrs+, cedarhill, children, community program, connecting, for brain health, programs, wellbeing

Dance programs in September have been a lot of fun! I have had a splendid time connecting and moving with so many new participants.

A few highlights:

  • A rowdy group of dancers aged 4 to around 84 all laughing and grooving together;
  • A participant, in his 40s, mentioned a couple of times that the dance session was the first time he had ever danced while sober, which he said was something he had always wanted to do;
  • Full houses for both Dancing for Brain Health demos this month (for an overview of the demos see this post).

Photo: 7 adults in a circle around a sun-shaped prop, each holding a strandThere were 174 unique participants at sessions in September – including a new record for me of 128 new participants in one month. I facilitated sessions at 14 different locations, including 7 new places, in a lovely time of year for trying out new bike routes between sessions. (For a sample of a week`s programs, see the Joy & cohesion post.)

Joy & cohesion ~ at this week’s programs

abilities, all genders queer social dance, children, community program, connecting, dance games, for brain health, older adults, wellbeing, youth

I have thoroughly enjoyed the past week of community dance programs; the groups have felt even more uplifting and interconnected than previously.

Below are some compiled anecdotes – things definitely are busy even though community centre classes are on break for the summer! So far this month there have been 81 new people at programs, and this week I have danced with 100 different people. It feels wonderful to make so many connections.

Notes from the past week:

  • Towards the end of last Thursday’s adaptive dance session Photo: 6 people dancing different movesat Garth Homer Society, we were all moving in a circle in the same direction. A participant started doing the grape vine and a staff person mentioned to him that she had not seen him taking such big steps before. Two participants started improvising together in the middle of the circle doing partner dancing. When the program started in February, a staff person observed that “it’s wonderful to see so many clients across a wide range all engaged by the same activity – it’s rare.”
  • That afternoon, after a Dancing for Brain Health demo where 25 members of Seniors’ Social Connections at James Bay Community Project had danced seated in a circle, a participant in her late 70s danced over towards me doing an exuberant Merengue step – we danced together for a bit and she mentioned she planned to dance the whole way out of the building.
  • I began yesterday with Dance Games with a group of 4-6 year olds at a Burnside Gorge Community Association camp. I was amused by how a brand new activity emerged when participants heard my instructions in a different way than I had intended. The participants also had creative suggestions for how to move around and under a giant jelly fish prop. Continue reading Joy & cohesion ~ at this week’s programs →