Dance Your Ability Outreach Instructor Training

Dance Your Ability
Outreach Facilitator Training

Join our mission to get every BODY dancing!!

NEW ONLINE & IN PERSON Training Coming Soon!

Dance Your Ability is an outreach program offering a welcoming space for people on the periphery (including the those with mixed abilities, the elderly, people living with: dementia, Parkinson's & cancer, children, incarcerated, at-risk youth, those in recovery, and trauma survivors) to experience themselves in healing motion and collective joy. We believe that everyone should have access to the overwhelmingly therapeutic aspects of movement, music and conscious dance. In an effort to make this happen, we are now offering an Instructor Training for people who want to be a part of this movement.

This training can enhance and expand the offerings of:

Movement Facilitators (dance, yoga, and conscious dance teachers)
Health Care Professionals working in outreach settings (Counsellors, Social Workers, Therapists, Doctors & Nurses)
Outdoor Leadership Facilitators
Teachers
Artists
Volunteers who have a movement practice
Family members looking to support a loved one

Training Outline

Details & Application:

In this training you will learn the Dance Your Ability method and the tools you need to create inclusive spaces that offer an opportunity for everyone to experience the benefits of dance: joy, connection, well being and support for self regulation, no matter their circumstances.

What to Expect:

4 online Main Component Sessions (4 hours each on Zoom) that include:

-A DYA class each session & an understanding of the DYA philosophy and who we serve.
-How to create your own DYA class with simple stretches & movements that help to unify the group.
-How to use inviting language that is group sensitive, language that invites people to dance in their own way and that includes everyone.
-Music theory & organization and what music to play for different populations.
-The science of why everyone should have access to movement & dance.
-How to get every body moving, despite their circumstances.
-Opportunities to practice facilitating.
-How to be a facilitator in an outreach environment.
-Understanding privilege.
-Trauma Informed Practice basic skills.
-Boundaries & confidence.
-How to connect with organizations and offer in person & online offerings.
-Plus Q&A periods at the end of each session.

Your choice of 2 (3 hour Zoom) monthly Speciality Sessions.
Homework assignments with and without an assigned partner from the group (online).
Access to the growing online resource page, which includes: class templates, playlist ideas, videos, logos and articles. *(soon to be an annual subscription of $75/annually)

Investment: Online $400 :: In Person $
Includes all 4 Main Sessions plus 2 Speciality Online Session
Payment plans available
Particle & full scholarships available giving priority to BIPOC and single parents
Payments can be made to danceyourability@gmail.com OR via Paypal.

Includes:

Manual (both online & printed copy will be mailed)
Online Resource (first 3 months included, afterwards $75/annually)
Private DYA Instructor Facebook Group
Ongoing mentorship
Your contact information on the DYA website

Applicants should have some experience leading, love dancing, especially with others, and be passionate about being in service to underprivileged populations. Please fill out application form below.

Application Form

* Indicates required field

Your name *

Email *

Current Location *

Tell us about yourself in a short paragraph. *

Are you working in an outreach setting? *

YES NO

What areas do you work? *

Do you have a movement practice? *

YES NO

What kind practice and how long? *

What is your profession? *

Any medical issues that we should know about? *

If you are a student, what are you studying? *

Where do you see yourself offering DYA? *

Other population *

How did you hear about DYA? *

Friend Online Worked with Shauna

Other *

Please attach a recent photo of yourself. *

Max file size: 20MB

Submit

Refund Policy
Training payment is refundable, less a 10% administration fee, up to 15 days prior to the training.
No refunds will be issued after the 15 days, payment is transferable to another training within a year of cancellation.

Main Session Teaching Staff

Shauna Devlin is a Movement Facilitator & Workshop Leader, specializing in working with a large variety of music & people with diverse needs. She is the founder & Executive Director of Dance Your Ability. To the Instructor Trainings she brings her many years of experience offering Dance Your Ability classes, a 5Rhythms teacher, Conscious Dance DJ, mother, support worker and ski instructor. She holds a deep belief, that no matter their circumstances everyone can benefit from the healing aspects of conscious dance, music & group movement, and she considers it her mission to make it possible for as many people as possible. For more information visit shaunadevlin.net

Viv Nielsen, M.A. ABS, DIP Rec Therapy, Cert. Gerontology, brings a lifelong passion with dance and music, and a playful, heart-centered approach to facilitating groups. She enjoys all ages and abilities, and specializes in movement with older adults/elders. Viv is excited to be part of the DYA team and looks forward to sharing her love of movement at the Outreach Instructor Training.

Colette Smart, PhD, RPsych is a Registered Psychologist and Psychology professor at the University of Victoria. She has a combined 20+ years training in mindfulness and various forms of choreographed and conscious dance. She will contribute to the Dance Your Ability Instructor Training by bringing awareness of trauma-informed practice, as well as how to hold an inclusive space for people with various types of cognitive challenges and disabilities.
For more information on her work & classes, visit https://www.drcolettesmart.ca.

Sheila McIntosh loves to dance and loves that Dance Your Ability (DYA) provides everyone with that opportunity. She is a teacher of students with deafblindness and works for the Provincial Outreach Program for Students with Deafblindness. Sheila has worked with children in a number of capacities for 35 years and with children with deafblindness for over 20 years. She admires and adores her students for their tenacity, strength and resiliency.
A part of what Sheila does in her job is to provide classrooms and staff with an empathy experience to give a brief glimpse into the world of deafblindness and other sensory issues. A deafblind simulation uses masks, ear plugs and ear muffs and simple activities with a partner. Deafblindness is a low incidence disability but they recognized that some of the people that DYA may dance with –particularly seniors - may have vision and hearing issues and not identify as deafblind. Or may have other sensory integration or trauma issues that impede how they see and hear.