Moving Together:
Connecting with our Children
Parent-child movement/dance classes
Parenting.
It can be beautiful, love-filled, intense, and exhausting.
So many things we need to move through and navigate on a daily basis, attempting to meet our needs and our children’s, each with our unique journey.
If you’re looking to offer or attend a unique parent and child class that is for both caregivers and children, supports and empowers, I invite you to read below and reach out to try a class!
About the classes:
In a ‘Moving Together’ class, caregivers are invited to come with their children, exactly as they are (however you’re feeling, wearing, and needing). The facilitation is always offered in response to the group’s needs and energy and everyone is encouraged to go at their own pace, as they’re comfortable, and with what is accessible in the moment. Absolutely no dance experience is necessary for this class.
Through gentle facilitation, parents are guided to tune into themselves and their child(ren), move in ways that feel good and nourishing, and share their dances with their children and each other. Classes will involve a variety of mindful, playful and fun movement activities, from slowing down to working up a sweat. The activities support balance and connection, senses of ease and freedom, and capacity to be with and respond to divergent needs and energies.
Unlike many caregiver and child classes that are designed for either the caregiver OR the child, ‘Moving Together’ classes are for BOTH! And this is one of the most powerful aspects of the classes - experiencing how we can listen and honour different needs, not having to give up one for the other.
Parents leave the class more grounded and refreshed with embodied tools they can bring into their day-to-day lives, supporting their health and ease in their lives and with their children.
About the benefits of moving and dancing with our children:
Dance and movement provide us with a language to communicate with our children; an amazing tool to express emotions and thoughts beyond words.
Dancing is fun! If we can let go of notions of how dancing should look or fears about what others may think, it feels good to just move.
Dancing brings us into our body, which is always in the present. Being in the present helps us to better tune into and respond to what’s being asked of us in the moment.
Dancing allows us to feel what we’re really needing and to explore ways of meeting our present moment needs.
When we dance, we’re in our bodies, which is where we need to be to attune to our children; to sense and feel and respond to their needs (even if our children are preverbal)
Dancing is a wonderful way to move through things and a great stress relief. It provides us with a way to release tensions, let any emotions rise, move us and then fall away. It can help us find perspective and space, which is especially helpful in challenging times.
Dancing allows us to model healthy activity, healthy expression, freedom of movement and presence for our children.
Dancing increases self-esteem, self-awareness, coordination and self-mastery. By moving with our children, we learn to trust ourselves and our intuition. As they move with us, our children can explore their bodies’ amazing range of motion and are given space to express themselves.
Dance is empowering. By allowing our children to lead a dance, we help them find their own sense of power. By leading our children in a dance, we foster their trust in us.
Dancing helps us to explore and give ourselves whatever it is we need in any given moment. If we’re tired, we can have a sleepy dance. If we have a broken leg, we can have an arm dance. If our children are super energetic, they can be as wild and crazy as they want. If our children are anxious, movement can give them an outlet for their fears.
Dancing can be done anywhere, at any time and in any place. We don’t need any special time, equipment or prior experience to move in this way. We can dance for 2 minutes or as long as we want. There is no wrong way to dance.
About me (the facilitator):
I have been facilitating and teaching dance and movement for over a decade, empowering students of all ages with simple and accessible ways to expand their movement capacity and sense of well-being. I have been facilitating parent-child dances since my first son was a baby, 12 years ago, as well as teaching youth and adults in community settings and in the department of dance at York University. My facilitation supports parents in fostering a deep and true connection with their children and trusting what’s best for their family. I love providing compassionate space for families, supporting their non-verbal connections to themselves and their children, especially their very little ones. My intuitive and responsive facilitation is supported by my training, which includes a masters in social work (Columbia University), a PhD in dance/somatics (York University), yoga teacher training (Downward dog and Yasodhara Ashram), shamanic studies (The Institute for Shamanic Medicine), training with and assisting in the development of Dance Our Way Home curriculum, in addition to countless courses and training in somatic/movement modalities (including contact improvisation, embodied coaching, 5Rhythms, Body-Mind Centering, authentic movement, among many others).
The most hands-on training I’ve had in this work has been with my own children, who continually help me tune into and hone my compassion, presence, care, and deep listening.