CREATIVE DANCE (5 – 7 years)
| Explore the basic building blocks of ballet/contemporary dance forms through creative play. This program focuses on social emotional development through interactive games using movement vocabulary drawn from contemporary and ballet dance forms. Little ones develop a sense of autonomy with opportunities to share and express their creative voices. We begin to explore the Five Elements of Dance, which make the foundation of all dance forms. Students will gather at Tahayghen Elementary School and walk to Howard Philips with Alison. Once at the Legion they will have a healthy snack prior to dance class.
Date(s): April 4, 11, 25, May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 (8 classes) Day(s): Mondays Time(s): 3:15pm – 4:15pm Location: Masset Legion Instructor: Alison Keery Cost:
A minimum of 8 participants is required for this class to run. *Cost includes after-school snack for registrants. Please advise instructor of any allergies. Cancellation Policy:
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INSTRUCTOR BIO
Alison Keery is a certified Limon Instructor, a British Association of Teachers of Dance Associate (BATD) and a graduated from York University (2013) with a BFA Honours in Dance specializing in Performance and Choreography and with a focus in Dance Kinesiology. She has taught modern, ballet, jazz and contemporary dance for upwards of 20 years and is currently a teacher with Making Music Together (Toronto). She is the founder and artistic director of Masset Dance Troupe here on Haida Gwaii.
Alison has taught dance through Gudangaay Tlats’gaa Naay Secondary School’s COAST program (2020, 2021) and worked alongside GidGalang Kuuyas Naay Secondary School’s PE Teacher to develop a virtual dance program during the pandemic. She also worked alongside Tahayghen Elementary School’s grade 7’s to create a performance piece for Global Water Dances 2021. She is a former MamaDances instructor and has developed and taught programs for daycare centres across BC and Ontario. Over the past 10 years, she developed a Movement Literacy Program which she has taught in Elementary Schools throughout School District 57, BC. She also taught a similar program called SunDance through Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre in Toronto, ON. The goal of these programs were not to create dancers, but rather to provide students with the skills necessary to be able to interpret movement through the 5 Elements of Dance. To develop “dance literacy” rather than technical dancers. Alison believes passionately that all humans are born ready to dance and that tapping in to their personal creative and expressive voices allows them to connect more deeply with themselves. Her classes are designed to maximize student engagement and discovery in safe and meaningful ways.
When Alison is not in the studio dancing or teaching, she can be found snuggling with her cats or with her nose buried in a book.
COVID-19 SAFETY PROCEDURES
*At this time, youth recreation programs are exempt from proving vaccination status with BC Vaccine Card.*
- Participants can show up to class at least 15 minutes before start (3:15pm). Please give enough time for the instructor to complete daily verbal screening, attendance, and to complete any required forms.
- Parent(s)/guardian(s) must complete a waiver, Assumption of Risk Form, and Declaration of Compliance form on the first day of class for themselves & their child/ren. Failure to do so means participants will not be permitted entry.
- Parent(s)/guardian(s) must aid in active daily screening before entry.
- Participants are expected to distance (minimum 3m) prior to class and during. We encourage participants to wear a non-medical mask until they are in situated in their designated workout area, to remove during activity, and to replace if going to the washroom or leaving the program.
- We ask that participants avoid aggregating in entryways. If you’d like to catch-up before or after class, outside is safest, while maintaining distance.
- Participants must use the hand sanitizing station at the front entrance but are also encouraged to wash their hands before and after the activity.
- Hand hygiene and physical distancing will be encouraged.
- Hand-shaking & hugging is discouraged.
- Props* will be assigned to each participant for the duration of the program and stored on-site in labelled bags, distributed by the instructor before start of class.
- Equipment that may be used (e.g. mats) will be cleaned & sterilized between use.
- Instructor will clean high-touch surfaces before and after the start of class (e.g. door handles, chairs).
- Instructor will manage complete record-keeping and report daily attendance and any incidents to the Recreation Coordinator.
- Participants must stay home if they show any symptoms (e.g. cough, fever, fatigue).
- Class may be cancelled by instructors if they show symptoms.
- In the event of a participant or instructor showing symptoms during the program, the participant will be asked to remove themselves from the program and seek medical advice. Beyond daily screening, is not up to our staff to do temperature checks, testing or contact tracing. This is the role of the health authority.
Staying safe is a shared responsibility. These procedures and our combined efforts help to lower the risk of spreading COVID-19, but there is still a risk.
Please do your best to abide by these new procedures to ensure we can recreate safely and respectfully together on Haida Gwaii.
