Category Archives: connecting

Dancing in the Morning – Wed. Jan. 4th

abilities, cedarhill, connecting, free sessions, older adults
Dancing in the Morning: an inclusive dance session
Art of 8 people dancing in front of a rainbow, three seated and five standing; below is a heart, humminbird and music notes
Art by Naomi Kennedy.

Wed. Jan. 4th, 2017
10:30am-11:30am
at Cedar Hill Recreation Centre’s auditorium (3220 Cedar Hill Road), in Lekwungen (Songhees) and Xwsepsum (Esquimalt) Homelands.

All abilities welcome.
Wheelchair accessible.
Please refrain from wearing perfume/scented products on the day of the event; thank-you.

Free!
(Donations welcomed: all funds raised will go to the Dance Alchemy project, for dance sessions with people who are refugees and newcomers.)

Dancing in the Morning brings together participants from various community dance groups and interested community members. The event is hosted by Dance Alchemy & the Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria, in partnership with Saanich Parks & Recreation, and facilitated by Joanne Cuffe.

Session details: There will be a warm-up in a big circle, dance activities for meeting new people and interacting in smaller groups, a dance party, and a cool-down in a big circle. There are chairs available if you would like to be seated some or all of the time.

If you would like to donate but cannot attend the event: please donate by cheque to the Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria with “Dance Alchemy” in the memo line (or donate online through CACGV’s website) and please send a note to Joanne with your name so that we can make sure your donation is allocated to the dance sessions with people who are refugees and newcomers. Thank-you very much! For a description of the project, please see the Dance Alchemy page.

If you require support to participate, please come with a caregiver, friend, staff or translator. Thank-you! We very much apologize that there are not accessibility funds available for this event (e.g. no bus tickets, etc.).

Dancing in the Morning on Jan. 4th is focused on adults. Participants from day programs, group homes, seniors’ residences, dance groups and local communities are welcome. If you are part of a group that will be attending the event together, please RSVP estimating how many will be in your group.

To be in touch: for questions and accessibility requests, please contact Joanne.

Optional photo area: Please note that there will be two designated areas in the room throughout the event: 1) an area near the main entrance for people who do not want to be in any photos, and 2) an area at the far end of the room for people who fully consent to being in photos at the event. Joanne Cuffe will be the caretaker of the photos, which will be used in spreading the word about community dance initiatives with Dance Alchemy (see below), the Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria, Saanich Parks & Recreation and Creative Momentum (this website).

Backgrounder:

Photo of a dozen people dancing, a few holding hands, some on their own, five people seated and five people standing.The Dance Alchemy project began in 2015 through the Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria and facilitated by Joanne. In 2016 four artists collaborated with four community dance groups, with people with diverse abilities, older adults, and newcomers, and five dance groups came together for a Celebration in June 2016, Photo of 11 adults in a circle, with everyone reaching one or two arms up above their heads. Some are holding hands. Three people are using wheelchairs and eight people are standing.with funding from the BC Arts Council.

Photo: 7 women facing the camera, smiling, posing with arms out holding ribbons.Participants with the Wellspring dance group came up with the idea of having an event inspired by the Friday Namaste Music program but focused on dancing.

Photo of 6 dancers (ages 30-100) seated in a semi-circle, each with their right hand reaching to their right foot, and smiling to the camera.Dancing in the Morning is focused on everyone present being participants. The next time the event happens, it could also include a bit of time for performing, if a few dance groups would like to each share a dance they have created as a group.

If you have a suggestion for an accessible venue for future Dancing in the Morning sessions, please be in touch (the Cedar Hill Rec Auditorium is booked most weekday mornings except Jan. 4th). Thank-you.

For other upcoming opportunities to dance (e.g. Adaptive Dance classes Mondays at 1pm; 50+ Dance Troupe Mondays at 2pm, etc.), please see the dancing page.

Want to help create a 50+ Dance Troupe?

50yrs+, cedarhill, connecting, for brain health, free sessions, older adults

Dancing in community is an excellent way to engage with aging.

This is an invitation to join a new dance group, which will be shaped by participants’ interests:

50+ Dance Troupe
*the group will come up with its actual name once it meets.

Mondays 2:00pm-3:30pm
At Cedar Hill Recreation (3220 Cedar Hill Rd) in the Dance Studio.
Free. Facilitated by Joanne Cuffe in partnership with Saanich Parks & Recreation.

Oct. 17 – Nov. 14 (5 weeks): Dancing + Brainstorming sessions. Sessions include an hour of movement (a warm-up and guided improvisation activities for moving as a group) and a half-hour of brainstorming ideas and discussing what everyone is interested in.

All abilities welcome. No prior dance experience needed.

50+ is just a suggestion; adults under 50 are welcome too if there is room.

No need to register – just come by the dance studio on the dates that you can make!

If you are interested in the dance troupe but not available this autumn, there will be an opportunity to join the group in the New Year (there will be an intro session on Monday Jan. 23rd at 2:15pm-3:30pm at the Cedar Hill Recreation Dance Studio).

For more information: contact the facilitator or just come by a session!

Background context:
-Earlier this year, participants in Joanne‘s Dance for Brain Health class at Cedar Hill Recreation suggested creating a seniors’ dance troupe. We’re glad to move the good idea ahead!
-Dancing is fantastic for brain health, as well as physical, emotional and social well-being. Research has found that frequent dancing is one of the best activities for reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

A Creative Toolkit for Stress: Sat. Feb. 27

connecting, wellbeing, workshop

I would like to invite you to join me for the only dancing for wellbeing public offering I have this season:
Dancing into Wellbeing: A Creative Toolkit for Stress, Saturday Feb. 27th at Royal Roads University. We will be dancing in two lovely rooms – a big hall, plus a field trip to a foyer with windows looking out to the sea and forest – these are my favourite spaces for dancing!

Photo: a very large conference room or hall, with a shiny floor and 7 chairs in a circle
We get to dance all day in this lovely hall!

Although I have facilitated 450 dance sessions since the last workshop I facilitated at Royal Roads in November 2014… that workshop is my favourite session thus far (with a close runner-up of a Dancing for Wellbeing workshop I led on a Saturday in November 2015). I have found that there is something especially nourishing about moving throughout a full day together, with a mix of moving on our own in solitude and connecting with each other and as a group.

The description and registration link are on this continuing studies page. Registering by Feb. 12th is recommended. There is also one work-trade spot available (If you are excited about the workshop but cost is a barrier, please be in touch. Later this year there will also be sliding-scale opportunities to dance.)

If you would like to read participants’ reflections from last time at Royal Roads, please see the “dealing with life’s challenging moments with movement” blog post. At recent workshops the age range has been people in their 20s-80s.

For the workshop, I have woven in the activities that participants have found the most powerful/fun/useful at dancing for wellbeing classes and workshops in recent years. The activities integrate concepts from the dozens of teachers with whom I have studied, as well as the movement practices that I rely on when I feel overwhelmed.

p.s. If someone comes to mind who you think might be drawn to this workshop, please feel free to share this link with them: https://secure.royalroads.ca/cscourses/dancing-into-wellbeing-a-creative-toolkit-for-stress. Thank-you!

The days of summer are numbered

connecting, programs, wellbeing, workshop

Greetings everyone!

My apologies for being so quiet online since the spring. Dance programs have been very busy and lovely with new locations across the region; however this has had a side effect: I have not had a chance to send newsletters, tweet, or post updates. And, I have missed being in touch with participants from dancing for wellbeing and dance for brain health sessions while classes paused for the summer.

Photo: ten people seated in a circle, each holding an arm of a sunshine prop with a pink circle centre.
Sharing laughter with residents experiencing memory loss, as we bounce a rubber chicken to a Beatles song.

Although I usually focus on updates that highlight a particular location, today my theme is numbers, which feels a bit odd. Yet numbers seem like a useful way to summarize the beautiful whirl of the past while, and to offer more context (/an alibi) for why I have been offline. As an example, during the past 7 days, I have danced with 132 participants, including 20 new people, at 13 locations. It’s an honour to connect and be creative with so many fun people.

In the past 6 months I have met 395 new participants at programs…. I find it quite tricky to keep track of so many people’s names – although at least there are some repeated names, such as on Saturday there were 4 people with the name Joyce across 3 locations! I started keeping tally of numbers of participants in 2012; in the past 3 years I have danced with around 1152 unique participants, at more than 50 locations.

Background is a map with roads; foreground has various location markers: circles and squares of different colours.
I use an online map to keep track of locations.

Over the past 5 workdays, I have bicycle commuted 80 kilometers. This is likely a record, as I do not usually go around to so many neighbourhoods in the same week. This week involved 10 different areas in Lekwungen and WSANEC homelands: Oaklands, Saanichton, Brentwood Bay x2, Burnside-Gorge, Gordon Head, Vic West, James Bay x3, Esquimalt, Swan Lake, Cadboro Bay, and tomorrow involves Sidney (…although I will bus both ways tomorrow). I am grateful that for autumn, it has been possible to set up my schedule so that sessions in the same neighbourhood are on the same day.

Recently, I am often out of the office from 10am-4:30pm with programs, and then I spend time in the office to prepare activities, playlists and props, and to follow up about logistics for programs (with ~20 organizations and workshops at 5 locations).

Photo: big rocks with tidepools, one person walking in the waterway, background: fog with silhouettes of trees.
Wandering in Long Beach tide pools

And, one of my favourite numbers from this summer: I spent 7 nights camping at Long Beach/ Tofino in Tla-o-qui-aht in early August. My family came together for it, from Gatineau/Ottawa, Nicaragua and Burnaby, and it was also where I met my delightful 4-month-old nephew for the first time.

I hope that summer has treated you and family as well as possible, and that we get to catch up and dance soon!

Graceful VIRCS dancers

connecting, improv, programs, wellbeing

During February and March, I had a wonderful time moving with a group of graceful dancers at the Victoria Immigrant & Refugee Centre. We did many group improvisations together, as well as dancing in two’s; this group is amazing at moving as a collective!

From the poster for the six-week series: “Relaxing classes for the newcomers that will help you: Learn English in a fun and friendly setting, Make new friends, Stay healthy with light exercises, Relax and have fun.”

We took some photos (a few blurry) on March 24th, during the last session; participants wanted to dance with ribbons:

 

“Life is a dance whether we know it or not”

abilities, connecting, wellbeing

Image of bboy Luca 'Lazylegz' Patuelli dancing, wearing a hat, orange t-shirt and holding a crutch angled near the ground; with text: International Dance Day April 29The Canadian Dance Assembly’s International Dance Day message this year is from bboy Luca ‘Lazylegz’ Patuelli:

“No matter what age, race, sex or ability one may have, everyone can dance. Dance is within all of us. Some choose to share it with others and some choose to keep it to themselves.
“Life is a dance whether we know it or not. We are constantly dancing with every movement we make, with every breath we take, and with every beat our hearts make, a rhythm is being created. It’s the slightest movements that make the greatest difference in a performance, just like in life it’s the little things that matter.
“Dance is the connection between you and the universe; while we are dancing we are developing ourselves based on the energy, the emotions, and the challenges we experience. It is up to us to determine how we want to communicate our dance to the world.
“Dance is the ultimate form of self-expression and it is the escape that always reminds us that everything is going to be ok. Dance challenges us to surpass our limitations by discovering strength within.
“So, live your life to the fullest and dance beautifully!”

Image of the International Dance Day Message, with a photo of it's author's face and shoulders.His bio from the CDA website:
“Luca ‘Lazylegz’ Patuelli is the founder and creator of the ILL-Abilities™ Crew, an international b-boy crew comprised of the world’s best “Ill-abled” dancers and co-founder of Projet RAD, Canada’s first inclusive urban dance program offering programming out of accessible dance studios across Québec. Patuelli was born with a birth defect that required him to use crutches from an early age. His signature style incorporates crutches and upper-body strength and has garnered him international recognition. Among his many achievements was headlining and co-directing the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies in Vancouver. Luca is also known for his appearance on So You Think You Can Dance Canada Season 3 as the only dancer with a disability on any of the SYTYCD franchises to make it into Finals Week.”

Move (and laugh) to Music

50yrs+, abilities, connecting, older adults, programs

A regular highlight of my week is connecting with residents at the Douglas Care Community, for a Move to Music session on Wednesday mornings. There is much laughter and playfulness; adaptive dancing, with relevant music, is excellent for engaging with people who are experiencing memory loss.

After each session I rate how it felt to me, in terms of connecting and engaging with participants, out of 5 stars (with 5 stars meaning ‘great’). The past couple months’ sessions here have felt like: 6 stars, 7 stars, 9 stars (a new record), 6 stars, 3.5 stars, 7 stars, 6 stars, and 8 stars. Thank-you to Leslie for impromptu photos of us with an Octaband (star/ sunshine/ octopus) dance prop a few weeks ago:

An especially beautiful day of programs

abilities, connecting, older adults, programs, wellbeing

Today was an especially beautiful, full day of programs: it started with lively laughter, ribbons and a dance jam circle with people at Wellspring Support; followed by a fox trot, waltz and duets with people at the Cridge Seniors’ Centre; and then flamenco, merengue and graceful collective movement with people at the Victoria Immigrant & Refugee Centre Society. The day also involved confirming details for a couple of workshops in March: one at Capital Mental Health Association’s Bridge Program, and another at the Victoria Brain Injury Society. In the evening I prepared for the rest of the week, including for tomorrow morning’s weekly session at the Douglas Care Community.

It is an honour to get to connect and move with so many wonderful people. Participants continually remind me that there are so many ways to express joy without using words.

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.)