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July 13, 2007
For the love of dance
Community arts project bridges generations.
KATHARINE HAMER EDITOR
On a sunny Thursday morning, dozens of bodies of all shapes, sizes
and ages are wending their way around a third-floor studio at the
Scotiabank Dance Centre. They're all taking part in Move It Big
Time! – a community dance project under the aegis of choreographer
Joe Laughlin's Joe Ink company.
Although some of the participants have danced before, for many,
this is a relatively new experience. Seventy-four-year-old Ada Bennett
is taking part in the workshop for the second time. She was a participant
at a community centre in Surrey last year. "I found that it
had a tremendous influence on my life," she said. "It
seemed to me I'd been a couch potato for about two years, not doing
much.... But then I attended this.... It was tremendous, it was
fantastic. I love to dance, I love the rhythm and I love the music....
Emotionally, it's a release to play and to let go and to be funky."
The workshop is run by Laughlin, Jewish community member Tara Cheyenne
Friedenberg and dance educator Jacci Collins. The idea stemmed from
a similar project that Laughlin – an award-winning choreographer
who is just as happy working with nonprofessional dancers –
witnessed in South Africa, where the Moving into Dance Mophatong
company has a program that teaches academic principles though dance.
"The culture and society in South Africa is very intergenerational,"
said Laughlin. "I see all the participants as dancers. They
share the same thing as professionals, the love. They engage wholeheartedly.
It is a really fun creative process. We help release their inner
dancer."
Friedenberg shares Laughlin's interest in "the power of getting
people moving." They first launched Move It Big Time! at community
centres around town, spending "several months trying to convince
the parents and tots, seniors groups, teens and any other unsuspecting
passersby that doing some dancing with us would be really fun. It's
a wonder we didn't get beat up," she said.
This current workshop is the first that will culminate in a full-scale
performance – something that Joe Ink managing director Rena
Cohen said has been a dream of company members for some time. "One
of the things that the company likes to do," she said, "is
to discover the strengths in people and encourage them to blossom."
That applies equally to participants Harold Lavender, 57, who described
the program as having "a big emphasis on finding your own expression"
and 11-year-old Johannes Kohn, who studies dance at Arts Umbrella
but noted that this project "is kind of more improvisation
... you can just kind of do what you want."
The results can be seen at two performances at the Scotiabank centre,
on Wednesday, July 18, 7 p.m., and the following day at noon. Tickets
are $10. For information, call 604-639-0563 or visit www.joeink.ca.
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