CULTURAL MEDIATION
CULTURAL MEDIATION
Hélène Langevin has noticed that children who experience a dance workshop, often for the first time, discover a sense of freedom and enjoy the pleasure of movement, of expressing ideas and creating choreography. It is for them a significant, enriching and stimulating experience.
Barriers fall down: boys discover that they like dancing and see it as an athletic art form, while teachers note that movement is accessible to children and realize the importance of including dance in the curriculum.
Our interventions generate an enthusiastic response. Children establish connections with each other and enjoy a sometimes euphoric feeling of freedom as their bodies move freely in a dynamic exploration of dance!
Bouge de là offers dance workshops in the classroom that focus on the underlying themes of the dance piece they will be seeing. It is a way of introducing youngsters to the art form by means of improvisation and creative dance exercises.
The choreographer or one of the performers can conduct a creative dance session to prepare the students before the show, or to enjoy the experience of dance themselves in a post-show workshop. The objective is to raise their awareness and appreciation of dance.
The Exclamatory Ahs! workshop
The Exclamatory Ahs! workshop (inspired by the show)
Duration: 35 minutes each performance / 3 performances separated by 10-minute breaks
Target audience: 4 to 10 year olds (pre-school, kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade)
Requirements: The schoolyard or the gymnasium
Bouge de là invites schools and families to dive into the colorful world of emotions with The Exclamatory Ahs!, a vibrant and enveloping performance-workshop experience!
The show begins with a dance piece inspired by A Cloud in My Tummy (2024). Through a series of poetic tableaux, the performers will embody the interjection Ah! in all its nuances : disgusted, surprised, laughing, angry, complaining, frightened, in love…
The fifteen-minute performance is followed by a twenty-minute workshop where the audience will have the chance to dance as well!
The 26 cartes à danser workshop
The 26 cartes à danser workshop (inspired by the show The 26 Letter Dance)
Duration: 1 hour
Target audience: kindergarten and primary school
Requirements: a classroom set up so the children have room to danse, or any space free of desks
Aims:
The objective of this creative dance workshop is to help children explore different motor skills, through activities taken from the game 26 cartes à danser. While leaving the children in control of their own movements, we promote learning through communication and cooperation.
Process
- Children are encouraged to explore the letters of the alphabet in 3 dimensions by forming the shapes with their bodies, alone or in teams;
- In the game, each letter is associated with a word, which will be danced by the class. The group will dance up to 4 or 5 letters per session. These letter-words are chosen according to the age of the group (for example: I for Igloo, F for Folklore,etc.)
Through My Eyes workshop
Through My Eyes workshop (inspired by the show)
Duration: 45 min to 1 hour (depending on school times)
Target audience: kindergarten and primary school
Requirements: a classroom set up so the children have room to danse, or any space free of desks
Aims:
In conjunction with the show Through My Eyes, the objective of this creative dance workshop is to help children explore different motor skills. We deal with a variety of themes such as speed, reproduction of shapes, circles, or even sounds. While leaving the children in control of their own movements, we promote learning through communication and cooperation.
In class, the children will explore:
- the circle, by imitating others and their movements
- the movement of each part of the body to different music and at different speeds
- listening and the relationship between each movement and the sounds they hear, whether ambient or instrumental
- shape, by reproducing those of their fellow pupils with mirrored dance
*The workshop leader reserves the right to adapt the activity based on considerations of age, available space and the amount of time reserved for the workshop.
Kaléidoscope workshop
Kaléidoscope workshop (inspired by the show)
Duration: 30 minutes each performance / 3 performances separated by 10-minute breaks
Target audience: 3 to 10 year olds (pre-school, kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade)
Requirements: The schoolyard or the gymnasium
Since the beginning of the pandemic, schoolchildren are no longer allowed to go to the theatre. So, with this in mind, Bouge de là have decided to pay a visit to the school playground instead, to put on a show and get the children dancing!
Kaleidoscope is a dance performance inspired by an excerpt from À travers mes yeux (2018), featuring four dancers. The ten-minute performance is followed by a dance workshop with our artistic director and choreographer Hélène Langevin.
A colourful and dynamic work of artistic dance that gives children a unique opportunity to enjoy performance art, one that will get them moving and stimulate their creativity!
GLITCH workshop
GLITCH workshop (inspired by the show)
Duration: 60 minutes
Target audience: Elementary cycles 1-3
Requirements: a classroom set up so the children have room to danse, or any space free of desks
In conjunction with the show, the objective of this creative dance workshop is to accompany children as they explore a variety of contrasting body states: angularity and roundness, rigidity and looseness, etc. By leaving them in control of their own movements, Bouge de là encourages the children to learn and be creative through communication and cooperation with their peers.
In class, the children will explore:
- Shape, rhythm and range of movement with the mirror exercise, in which the aim is to imitate and/or contrast the movements of their partners, either in synchronicity or in reaction.
- To recreate one of the tableaux from the show: the robots.
- The transformation of the energy of a movement by an imaginary force acting upon the participant.
Adapted workshops
Workshops before or after a performance, as well as creative dance workshops, are also offered to classes with students who have special needs. Aware that the specific needs of every child are different, our artists are very attentive and do everything they can to make sure that everyone’s experience of dance is positive, fun and rewarding!
Bouge de là is listed in the Répertoire culture-éducation (Culture-Education Directory). La Culture à l’école program offers support to schools interested in hosting our creative dance workshops.
The performance venues where Bouge de là presents its shows often ask the company to give a public workshop geared to a family audience on the day of the performance. Available in English or French, these workshops prior to or following the performance are open to everyone. They provide a wonderful opportunity for a family outing to the theatre enhanced by a hands-on experience with the living arts!
Danse chez toi!
More committed than ever to getting children moving and stimulating their creativity during the lockdown, Bouge de là is inviting budding young choreographers to dance at home.
Twice a week starting in April, @Bougedeladanse is posting an online video to invite young and old alike to explore movement through a theme chosen by Hélène Langevin, our artistic director and choreographer. In the context of a lockdown, most of the themes are inspired by everyday objects. For each theme, our performers get the ball rolling by presenting their own short dance to inspire young people.
At the end of April, Bouge de là held a draw for a copy of 26 cartes à danser with everyone who filmed and shared a choreography on our Facebook page (@Bougedeladanse).
A new video is posted every Tuesday and Friday at 3:30 p.m., and everyone is invited to join in the fun because (as we all know) the more the merrier! And remember that dancing is good for body, the mind and the soul!
Dance of the letters
This parent–child dance activity is inspired by the educational dance game 26 cartes à danser!
Bouge de là has always been true to its mission of enabling as many children as possible to discover dance and expression through movement. In this context, Artistic Director and Choreographer Hélène Langevin is pleased to present Dance of the Letters, a dance workshop based on the game 26 cartes à danser, launched in November 2017. The workshop celebrates the pleasure of dancing together. Hélène provides an opportunity for parents and children to join her for short improvisations inspired by a letter and an associated word.
Starring... You!
Starring… You! is an opportunity for parents and children to create a short contemporary dance sequence. Under the leadership of the choreographer or a dancer, this activity introduces them to the creative process, such that participants become choreographers and dancers for the duration of the workshop. Generally related to the show being presented, this playful exercise in movement brings the family together in a spirit of creativity, with the emphasis on communication and sharing.
This activity can take place before or after the dance performance, either in the lobby of the theatre or in a space suitable for movement.
GLITCH
Before or after attending the performance of Glitch, Bouge de là offers creative dance workshops with the aim of accompanying families in exploring a variety of contrasting body states, such as angularity and roundness, rigidity and looseness, etc.
While leaving the children in control of their movements, we encourage learning and creativity through communication and cooperation between family members.
Since 2008 Bouge de là has been offering children in Montreal North a dance boot camp during spring break. The week concludes with the apprentice dancers proudly presenting the fruits of their labours onstage in the Oliver Jones space in the Maison culturelle et communautaire in Montreal North. Participants are introduced by our dance artists/boot camp instructors to performance protocol and to the ins and outs of putting a show together, from the warm-up to adopting a positive attitude onstage, by way of technical elements (stage curtains, the backstage area, dressing rooms), the closing bow, and stage left and stage right.
Bouge de là held its first training classes at the start of the 2016 school year. Given the unexpected success of this activity, it is being held ever since, this year in partnership with the Regroupement québécois de la danse, with the financial support of the Gouvernement du Québec and Compétence Culture, a sectoral committee of cultural workers.
Dance Training Classes | Autumn 2023 (content in French only)