"Movement is a pretty direct route to happiness"

Our Education and Outreach programs have received a new boost this season, in part due to generous funding from the Community Fund for Canada’s 150th, a collaboration between The Guelph Community Foundation, the Government of Canada, and extraordinary leaders from coast to coast. That funding has expanded our Workshops in Schools program this year to include professional development workshops for dance educators and for public school teachers, as well as increasing the number of workshops we can offer schools serving a higher number of economically disadvantaged students. The morale boost from that grant encouraged us to re-think our summer camp offerings for our older campers, and to expand our camps from two to three weeks next summer.

Janet Johnson, Guelph Dance's Artistic Director of Outreach, shared the following short piece about feeling newly inspired about her work in outreach and education.

With the encouragement and supportive assistance of Kit Clark, Guelph Dance's General Manager, I have been able to expand Guelph Dance's educational reach and areas of investigation. This expansion has included in-depth exchanges and training with other dance educators, the initiation of a great partnership with the Upper Grand District School system and the expansion of our summer camps to include richer art experiences for our pre-teen youth.

Janet Johnson, in performance

I am deeply inspired and fueled by these areas of expansion and am newly "wowed" by the importance of art education and experiences in our lives. For me, and I trust for others, movement is a pretty direct route to happiness. Dance helps to keep us buoyant and inspired.

As I venture into my current Workshops-in-Schools program at Sir Isaac Brock Public School, I see clearly how children drive us forward through their words and actions. They ask us to be better and to show them possibility.

Are you feeling inspired now too? Perhaps it's a good time to register a child in your life in our March Break Camp, or make a donation to Guelph Dance. Easy to do....feels so good.