Innovative online camp brings learners together to connect and express themselves

Yoga, hip hop, contemporary and jazz dance, voguing, waacking, and other dance styles – For four days this month, SelfDesign learners gathered online to connect their moves to their moods and work their hip hip groove with professional dance and movement experts.

Online Movement Camp, which ran November 9–12, is a new camp offered by SelfDesign Learning Community. It was designed to get learners to focus on their bodies and explore emotion through movement, says Amber Santos, SelfDesign’s camps and events team lead.

“The theme was eMotion, and this camp was set up to empower learners to find the emotion in their bodies, find new ways to express emotion and to move through emotion by using their bodies,” she says. “We used drawing, discussions, writing and small group work to explore emotion in our moving bodies, and we worked with some inspiring guest facilitators too.”

All learners enrolled in SelfDesign Learning Community were invited to take part, regardless of grade level, age, ability or background. The camps team and instructors provided modifications and supports so that learners of all abilities could take part. The entire camp took place online, with learners, facilitators and instructions meeting virtually to connect, share and learn together.

Connecting learners to learners

“A few learners had requested a camp dedicated to movement in their feedback forms, and facilitators also had noticed how learners engaged with movement during our in-person camps in previous years,” says Chrissy Cerminara, another of the camp’s facilitators. The team took that as inspiration to develop Online Movement Camp.

It’s just one of the innovative ways in which we use technology at SelfDesign to deliver interactive, real-time activities that allow learners to personalize their experience and connect with other learners. Engaging learners in meaningful ways is at the heart of learning at SelfDesign. In addition to weekly Observing for Learning sessions between families, educators and learners, we host discussion forums for learners and parents, a Village of Conversations where community members can connect online, and monthly Genius Hours for learners to share their passions with each other. Beginning in grade six, our learners begin to interact regularly online in group activities, workshops, group projects and theme sessions.

This year, we’ve transitioned many of our in-person camps and gatherings to online and virtual formats. In April and May, we offered a series of Virtual Art Camps that drew more than 110 learners of all grade levels from across the province. In May, Virtual Encounters included guest speakers, pod activities, youth input and hands-on learning – all tying into the themes of social justice, connection to the land, and wellness. And in September, learners participating in SelfDesign’s Online Music Camp worked with visiting facilitators to collaborate virtually on songwriting, share their musical passions, and perform together virtually.

Engaging learners and supporting self-expression

Over the four-day Online Movement Camp, learners worked online with Amber and Chrissy, who were the camp’s primary facilitators, as well as with four world-class guest facilitators brought in to share their expertise in dance and movement.

“When considering the guest facilitators to invite, we consider the opportunity to deepen relationships in our SelfDesign learning community, and we like to bring contractors whom learners might know from other aspects of the program,” Amber says. “We also want to bring in talented and inspiring professional artists who are passionate about working with youth.”

JoJo Zolina is a performer, educator and choreographer with the freestyle dance and LGBTQ2S community in Vancouver and has performed with Madonna, INXS, Nelly Furtado and others. During Online Movement Camp, he focused on free-expression waacking and voguing, two dance traditions with roots in the LGBTQ communities in the U.S. in the 1970s and 1980s. Waacking is defined by its distinctive arm moves, while voguing expands on moves and postures typical of fashion runways and photo shoots. Both styles have seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years.

Slava Doval, a formally trained dancer who teaches youth in Nelson, B.C., worked with learners to get their bodies moving with hip hop and contemporary dance sequences.

Sarah Bresnahan, also from Nelson, led a workshop on yoga, breathing and emotion.

Bailey Woodman is a professional dancer from Toronto who has performed with Celine Dion and Cirque du Soleil, the renowned circus company. In her workshop with learners, she stressed that dancing is a form of storytelling.

“At Cirque du Soleil, my title wasn’t ‘Dancer,’ it was ‘Storyteller,’” she says. “The dancers’ job on stage was to tell stories through movement and to convey the story’s drama and emotion through the way we moved.”

For the short routine she taught learners, she asked learners to focus on “nervousness.”

“Think of an event in your life that made you really, really nervous – a test or a performance or meeting somebody new… something that was really important where it really mattered that you did well. That’s the story you’re going to tell with this dance.”

She walked learners through the moves, step by step. Then she and the learners ran the sequences together, checking in frequently to see how everyone was feeling. When Bailey added music, the tempo increased, challenging learners and herself.

Cheryl, a SelfDesign parent who was supporting her child, Sophie (age 8), during the camp, was impressed.

“The way Bailey shared her vulnerability when she forgot a dance move herself, the way she encouraged learners to be open and honest when they felt overwhelmed or disappointed that they couldn’t keep up, the way she held a space for them to just do their best and express their feelings about it through movement was amazing.”

Sophie liked Online Movement Camp, too. “I really like dancing,” she says. “I learned a new dance move.”

SelfDesign is always seeking new, innovative ways to connect learners of all abilities, backgrounds and ages and to inspire them with new, enriching experiences. When asked whether the school is considering more new camp offerings, Chrissy answers, “Yes! Ideas are definitely brewing right now.”

Stay tuned for more news about how SelfDesign engages learners in meaningful ways.