Next danceWELL meeting Monday March 26, 2012

Hello dancers and health-care innovators

The next danceWELL meeting will take place:

DATE
Monday March 26th 2012

TIME
6pm-8pm

LOCATION
Beautifully donated by "The 519" on Church St

Meeting Room 303, enter front doors, there is an info desk
Or take the stairs/elevator to 3rd floor.
http://www.the519.org/

From Wellesly Subway Station walk East
Walk or roll a bit North when you reach Wellesly and Church
The building is on the East side.

HOSTED BY Miriam and friends
Congrats to Twyla and family on birth of Sasha!

CALL 416-939-1672 if lost! Please feel free to come late if you
can't make the start time. Meetings rooms are
booked in 2 hours cycles.

Thank you to all who participated in our last meeting. What an incredible body of presence and knowledge we are creating together.

Touch base regarding your presence if you wish:
thedancewell@yahoo.ca or 416-939-1672

A general audio summary of Nov 2011 meeting details

as recorded in interview on CIUT by Ted+crew of "Evi-Dance" with Miriam & Twyla.

Please feel free to skip the holiday intro song from prior show by forwarding to 2 min time.  

http://www.evidanceradio.com/home/podcasts/2011/sunday-december-18-2011

Audio Notes from 1st Meeting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfKDgPtSIyw

As collectively felt, we have booked a largish room where attendees are invited to adjust tables and chairs to allow for communicative movement in standing or sitting or as desired.

In our last meeting, we touched upon the idea of February being a good month for teachers and facilitators to share thoughts on meaning of relationships between teachers-students or teacher-teacher and so on: specifically, feelings via touch work, sexual vibe or connection, libidinal-transference or traumatic embodied re-enactment, maturation of kinesthetic-empathic 'knowings' and so on. We can carry this agenda into March plus many other spring notions!





Please note that parts of the meeting might be video'd for a video youtubeposting of "meeting notes" and a documentary if people wish. If participants do not wish for this... we will not videotape. The conversation about relationships might want to be private and we can make that choice respectfully as we move together!

Please email thedancewell@yahoo.ca to share your feelings and ideas for our next meeting! We will post and integrate all our ideas.

Later meetings might be arranged via the scheduling tool www.doodle.com

DANCE MOVEMENT THERAPY WORKSHOP

With Megan English, MA DMT, OACCPP

This workshop will be of interest to anyone wanting to learn more about Dance Movement Therapy. The afternoon will consist of movement experientials and dialogue to explore some of the fundamentals of Dance Movement Therapy. In a small and supportive group, participants will have the opportunity to experiment with their own movement repertoire and acquire tools to apply to their work and/or creative settings. Participants will have an opportunity to identify specific areas of study for a future workshop series.

March 3, 2012
1:00 – 4:30 pm
George Brown College (Dance Studios, Lower Level)
FEE $50

Contact Megan @ 416 554 5112
meg@meganenglish.com
To learn more about Megan visit www.meganenglish.com

This Sunday, the 15th of January, come take part in a super fun and engaging fundraiser "Move the Community." All funds raised will go to support "When Words Are Not Enough," a project that uses dance to empower women who have experienced violence. More info here

Continuing the Conversation

During their first connection, Miriam Schacter and Twyla Kowalenko resonated strongly in their desire to foster and strengthen community for healing dance/movement practitioners. Within one conversation, a long-held seed was nourished and the DanceWell was born. The name itself came from Miriam, who proposed the imagery of a well, as in a source open to anyone wishing to come and take what she and he needs. Attempting to create a space where such a community could grow and such a well could be bored, the first DanceWell meeting was held on the 23rd of October, 2011.

A small meeting held in a church basement, the initial gathering with Twyla, Miriam and Guiomar Campbell was incredibly rich. Recognising the limitations of language attempting to describe the embodied, the women brought movement and dance into the discussion. Bridges, media, narratives, connection, networks, movement, peer support, research and increasing access were some of the many topics excitedly touched upon by the group. The desire to continue to cultivate community was strong and what that would look like was discussed.

The question was asked: how do we further cultivate a space for community that allows for the support, resources, connection, communication, tools, sense of belonging, space to be explore and meet others, and the creation something bigger as a group?

LISTEN to Audio Summary
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfKDgPtSIyw

Would you like to continue this conversation with us? An adaptable structure that grows from the desires, passions and needs of those present is what we hope to create. We would love for you to be part of its unfolding.

Join our next discussion to be held:

December 15th
6-7:30pm @ the Centre for Social Innovation
215 Spadina Ave
in the Think Tank, 4th floor
http://socialinnovation.ca

Please note the front doors will be locked and you will need to call up to be let in.For this reason we ask that you aim to arrive by 6pm if able.
Call otherwise 416-939-1672

For more information, contact Twyla and Miriam at thedancewell@yahoo.ca

RE: Call to Dancers working in the Healing Arts

LISTEN TO AUDIO NOTES HERE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfKDgPtSIyw

Are you a dancer involved in the Healing Arts in Canada? Would you like to meet other dance professionals to discuss where dance can move to further support health within our communities and how we can support one another to accomplish this?

Please join friends Miriam Schacter [founder of danceFIT danceABILITIES Canada and psychotherapist] and Twyla Kowalenko, MSW [Community Outreach Director of Dance Our Way Home] for a round table discussion and casual networking event in downtown Toronto. If you are located outside Toronto we will try to webcam or skype the evening.

For this initial meeting participants should have minimum of 2 years leadership experience in dance and healing arts. This includes physiotherapists, social workers, dance therapists, dance community workers and others who are already using dance in programming or outreach; however, later meetings promise to be wider in professional outreach and/or public interest.

Discussion topics so far include: personal meeting and introductions; talking about possible solo and joint ventures; research possibilities (medical, arts-based, blended methodologies); what we see in the communities and what is not being tended to; the state of dance-therapy in Canada; funds currently available to dancers in health or community projects; and what to do when a space-rental proves difficult. If you have topics you would like to see discussed at our first meeting, please let us know!

DATE: Sunday October 23rd
TIME: 5:30pm-7pm
LOCATION: Trinity St. Paul's Center 427 Bloor st. west of Spadina
ROOM: The Fireside room
COST: Free

Please feel free to contact miriam or twyla. It would be great if you could let us know you are coming and what you do. Please spread this link far and wide :)

Miriam: thedancewell@yahoo.ca
www.dancefitcanada.blogspot.com

Twyla: thedancewell@yahoo.ca
www.danceourwayhome.com/community

Please also note that danceABILITIES Canada is looking for dance-volunteers to help with clients in class. See www.dancefitcanada.blogspot.com

Welcome to the beginning of a new relationship. This one is about dance, wellness, community, health, healing, collaborative medical research, arts-based initiatives and how all of these things combined allow many of us to live in complete, authentic, dynamic, expressive, expansive ways.

For us, dancing is speaking and feeling is hearing. Our hope is that individuals and collectives who are engaged in dance and dance-wellness can come here to share and draw from our quiet well of knowledge. We look forward to you touching base. Tell us what you do. sincerely Miriam and Twyla in Toronto. [Image 1: Martha Graham} [Image 2: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre]

RE: up-coming MS Wheelchair Dance Class to be sponsored by the Toronto Chapter, MS Society of Canada



Wheelchair Ballroom Dancing

The Toronto Chapter and Chance Dance Centre are offering an eight-week wheelchair ballroom dance series. Discover the joys and benefits of partner dancing with the help of Chance Dance Centre instructor Sergey Muretov. Non-wheelchair using partners are encouraged to attend.

October 13, 2011 to December 1, 2011
Classes held every Thursday for eight weeks
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Free

Wellspring Worship Centre
89 Centre Avenue
Cummer Ave. and Willowdale Ave.
This program is sponsored by Leslois Shaw Foundation

Register Phone: 416-967-3035
September 28, 2011 1:17 PM