Move It! Week 1, part 2: Prince Rupert

Our week in Prince Rupert really flew by! Lina and I enjoyed working with a wonderful group of ladies at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre this week. Exploring the town's little hiking trails and thrift shops by day, our evenings were dedicated to sharing movement and fun and we were happy that our group of participants were so keen to express themselves. Over the course of the week they approached the creative activities with a great spirit of play and openness, and favourites included the impulse game (where we explored physical contact to inspire movement initiation), and flocking (where we worked as a team to improvise in unison).  We also enjoyed hearing a bit about their lives here in Prince Rupert, and it was neat to see their personal backgrounds come out in their dancing. After saying our goodbyes to all the great folks at the Civic Centre, Lina flew back to Vancouver on Saturday, and I boarded the bus from Prince Rupert to Terrace- which was such a wonderfully scenic and peaceful journey.

Lina and I will meet again in Stewart, but now, on to Kitimat! Caroline Liffmann and I are excited to be working with the wonderful kids at Haisla Community School in Kitamat Village next week. Looking forward to this next adventure…

Joe Ink/Move It! Workshop Tour, Days 1,2 & 3.

Anna Kraulis and myself (Lina Fitzner) made our way to YVR on Sunday March 23rd, 2014 to fly north to Prince Rupert, BC. This is the first of four stops in Northern BC on Joe Ink's Made in BC Move It! Tour. Over the past 12 years, the popular community dance workshop has seen wild success in various locations throughout the Lower Mainland and BC's Interior and we are all very excited to take this further North to new communities in Beautiful BC.

We boarded the miniature plane from the tarmac and buckled in for our two hour flight. As we landed we caught a glimpse at the beautiful mountains and cluster of small islands surrounding Prince Rupert. Anna could hardly contain herself, I believe I heard her say "wow, it's like another world!" 

Our first day in town we took a windy chilly photo walk around to get a feel for the place. We spotted a few bald eagles flying over Cow Bay and a raven building a nest about twenty feet away from us. We're still waiting on the deer and wolves that are rumoured to visit the streets. 

Our participants are a lovely crew of ladies who clearly have some serious love for dance. We're very excited to see what they come up with over this week, they are observant and thoughtful, and were very enthusiastic about the exercises and sharing their experiences. Our recreation co-ordinator, Ann King was very welcoming and has done so much work to get the word out there about this workshop. The sun is trying to make an appearance today and we're super excited to see what happens this evening in class.

Stay tuned for another update with some more photos and maybe even some video documentation!!

Community Engaged Dance Unconference for Artists/Facilitators   RSVP HERE: http://eepurl.com/PAumn Saturday, March 29, 2014 from 9:30 AM - 2:30 PM Calling dance artists working in or interested in working in the field of community engaged dance in all its forms to come together for a day of discussion. What is an Unconference? “An unconference s a participant-driven meeting. The term "unconference" has been applied, or self-applied, to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid one or moreaspects of a conventional conference such as high fees, sponsored presentations, and top-down organization.” How does it work? “The agenda is created by the attendees at the beginning of the meeting. Anyone who wants to initiate a discussion on a topic can claim a time and a space. Unconferences typically feature open discussions rather than having a single speaker at the front of the room giving a talk, although any format is permitted.” Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference Bring your own questions and topics, bring information to share, bring your experience to the room: • How do we create more opportunities for community engaged dance? • Do we need a network of community engaged dance artists in BC? • When working with specific communities, what are the challenges, what are the opportunities? • What are the performance opportunities for community engaged dance in Vancouver or in the province? • What resources are available? Who are our mentors? What are the funding opportunities? How to get started? What inspires you? Where can we get training for this practice? • What kind of activities fall under community engaged dance, what are you doing? Schedule Breakfast and lunch provided by Made in BC Dance on Tour. Please email with your food preferences: landon@madeinbc.org 9:30 - 10:00am: Breakfast and gather 10:00 - 10:15: Explain procedures for an unconference 10:15 -10:45: Agenda making by participants 10:45 -11:30: first session (two discussions or more in the same room) 11:30 - 12:15pm: second session (two discussions or more in the same room) 12:15 - 12:30: sandwich break 12:30 - 1:30: gather and share findings in one big group 1:30 - 2:15: action planning This unconference is an initiative of the Artists in Residence at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre; Julie Lebel and Miriam Colvin with the collaboration of Caroline Liffmann. The unconference is made possible with the support of Made in BC - Dance on Tour and the Vancouver Parks Board and Recreation Please RSVP HERE: http://eepurl.com/PAumn