Centre of Movement Arts

London Dancers, Teachers & Dance Professionals: Let your voice be heard!

What does the London dance community want and need? We have some big questions to answer to determine how we’ll move forward for the 2020/2021 season. We would like to hear how we can better serve artists, improve our allyship, and adapt to digital and distanced dance. Tell us what you think by participating in our round table meetings, completing a survey, and/or answering our call for ideas. 

Here are some of the questions we’re asking:

• How can CMA & LDF better serve our dance community?
• What do you need in order to make a better living in dance?
• What’s missing in your dance life and our city? 
• How can we improve our BIPOC allyship?
• Do you feel represented in our events?
• How would you spend our budget? 
• What should we pay you for?
• How can we capture the energy of live dance in a digital format?
• What are the upsides of digital dance training and performance?

Learn more and share your feedback and ideas here. 

We’re Back London Dancers and Dance Fans! With funding from the London Arts Council, we are pleased to be getting back to work at the CMA/LDF! Before planning any performances, we are going to check in with the community and see where you’re at – what you want, need, and feel safe doing over the coming months. Stay tuned for more info on how you can participate!

Dear Dancers and Dance Fans,

Thank you for your patience while we navigate this strange new world. I’m sure you will share in our sadness, but expect you will not be surprised to hear that the 2020 London Dance Festival will not happen as planned from June 26-28.

We had hoped to announce some alternative plans for the summer, but unfortunately we must put all activities on hold at this time due to a lack of funding. Once funding is restored we intend to move forward with some great ideas that will allow us to celebrate dance within the current pandemic framework. 

If you have submitted an application for the summer festival, we will keep your submission on file and review it once we are able to start making plans again. We will be leaving all application forms open, so if you have an idea for a dance piece you are welcome to share it with us. Our social media channels will be quiet for a while, but we look forward to sharing and connecting with you again soon!

Stay safe and keep dancing,
Bizz & the LDF/CMA team

Volunteers Needed! 

The Centre of Movement Arts is looking for volunteer assistants to help Bizz teach Chair Yoga for individuals with special needs. This is a unique opportunity for yoga teachers in training and other movement/body workers to learn ways of adapting yoga for students with a wide variety of abilities.

This is an unpaid position, but there is potential for some paid work later on as a sub teacher. Interested teachers are invited to sit in on a class.

Interested? Contact Bizz directly at 226-919-8969 or email centreofmovementarts@gmail.com 

Chair Yoga for Individuals with Special Needs

Fridays 10-11am

Located at Project Hope, 1796 Adelaide St North

Class Description: This is a unique class that welcomes students with a variety of physical and mental abilities. We begin with a gentle warmup to mobilize the joints, followed by basic seated yoga poses. The class ends with meditation and massage. Solo and partner poses are done with the help of the instructor and the students’ attendant staff, and are adapted to each individual’s range of motion, strength and preferences. Bizz brings her love of music to the class by singing songs that inspire students’ movement.

This is a unique and very fun class to teach. It requires patience, compassion and a sense of humour. It is an engaging challenge to adapt poses to a variety of bodies and movement abilities. Most students are in wheelchairs or use walkers, but not all. The class includes individuals who are verbal, non-verbal, blind, with limited sight, have cerebral palsy, and other physical, mental, and developmental challenges.

Be part of the 2020 London Dance Festival! We’re now accepting submissions for all festival events:

• Professional Artists – deadline May 1st
• Emerging Choreographers – deadline May 12th
• Community Artists – deadline May 26th
• Dance Mob Choreographers – deadline March 16th

PLEASE NOTE: We will be taking a break from Nature Walks beginning in August 2019 while we look for a sponsor to help keep the program going. Thank you for coming out to support our walks this year! We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Saturday July 13 – 10 AM at Gibbons Park

Reach, bend, squat, lunge and balance as we stroll through Gibbons Park. A fun outdoor workout and walk that will revive your child-like sense of wonder as we move in response to the natural landscape.

Meet at end of Victoria Street. Near Gibbons Park Montessori. 
Click here for a map.

Accessibility: This walk will happen in paved trails and will be suitable for mobility devices, including strollers. 

Pick up your physical copy at local libraries and downtown businesses, or click here to download the PDF.

The Dance Mob choreographers Cynthia Nakeyar & Codie Primeau will be touring the city in June teaching the dance to Londoners of all ages.

Want them to stop at your school, business, or organization?

Email us at info@londondancefestival.ca to book a FREE workshop. No experience required, all welcome.

Thank you to our generous donors and to everyone who watched and shared our videos! Donation rewards will be available until May 15. Stay tuned for more festival news coming soon.