Update for early 2015
WELCOME!
The excitement is building!
Here comes great fun, cool music and disco lights too!
Weekly new dancer sessions in Team Dancing
for kids 8 & up come to the
Johnson Bentley Memorial Aquatic Centre in West
Kelowna starting Friday January 30, 2015.
We’ll offer 75 minutes of dancing every Friday
and it will be awesome! We’re calling it an
“Introduction to Team Dancing.”
Register at the pool now or online.
Brian Elmer of West Kelowna is the instructor and he’s
been really busy in Central Okanagan elementary schools
teaching team dancing to hundreds of students.
Team Dancing is based upon today’s style of square dancing
but the tempo is faster and the music includes some great
youth-friendly pop/rock tunes.
The sessions might include instruction in some simple
two-person dances and circle mixers.
teamdancing@hotmail.com – phone: 250-768-2694
THE BASIC DETAILS
The kind of dancing that we enjoy is not hard. The only
“step” is to walk. It can be the perfect thing for those kids
who aren’t interested in traditional sports activities.
The start time is 7:00 p.m.
and we’ll continue the fun until
8:15--not too late for the younger children even though it
won’t be a school night.
We suggest that our group is most ideal for children aged 8
& up because it is generally so that they have the attention
span to focus on the instruction.
We’re interested in establishing a dance session just for
teens and, if there’s enough interest, will consider a session
to include them.
The Westside Youth Team Dance Club is a non-profit youth
group that was originally formed in February, 2003.The
club was on hiatus for a while until a new caller-teacher was
identified. Now, we’re ready to help pre-teens and teens
discoverTeam Dancing!
The fee for the upcoming 7 sessions is $70.
Pre-registrations are being accepted now.
The program name and code are:
Introduction to Team Dancing - #14472
The Johnson Bentley Memorial Aquatic Centre
is located at 3737 Old Okanagan Highway
in West Kelowna.
Phone: 250-768-4442 - e-mail: info@jbmac.ca
Online registration is availableonce you call the Centre at
the above number to acquire a log-in ID and account PIN
with a valid VISA or Mastercard.
To access the online registration, go to the following page
then scroll down and click on:
“Register for JBMAC
Programs” where you enter code 14472:
http://www.
For more information about the dance program,
contact the instructor at:
teamdancing@hotmail.com – phone: 250-768-2694
ABOUT
TEAM
DANCING
Team Dancing involves working in teams of two or more.
It's social dancing featuring a high energy form of modern square dancing
that requires a team of eight.
It presents lively music to which the children relate,such as tunes by One Direction,
Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson and others.
For the younger ones, we have tunes like Gummi Bear and Hamster Dance.
We'll also introduce some 2-person dances.
It’s awesome fun and laughs, cool music and new friends that make our dance club great.
We've added special effects lights that create a disco-style show
with coloured beams that move to the music.
We’ve introduced our light show every day of our school program.
See our "School Program" category on this web site for more information.
SUGGESTED
AGE – ATTIRE
Newcomers are very welcome,
both boys and girls, and parents are invited to step onto the
dance floor and learn too.
It's family-style dance fun
-- and fitness too!
No previous dance experience is necessary.
The suggested minimum age is 8 years old
because we find that this kind of dancing requires a good attention span.
If parents of a younger child know that he or she has the ability to concentrate
for the 90-minute instruction period, their child will be welcomed.
We encourage you to car pool with your friends
to make it
fun to travel to the dance and save on gas too.
Just come as you are in comfortable clothing
and shoes that will not leave marks on the floor.
The dancing that we do requires that you listen carefully
to the instructions, so bring your “listening ears!”
The instruction is
progressive, so a drop-in structure is not appropriate.
BENEFITS
OF
DANCING
Kids like this kind of dancing just for the fun of it
but parents see how it benefits a child's physical and mental health and social interactivity.
The
instruction improves listening skills, cognitive skills, laterality and
general socialization in young people.
Also of benefit is the aerobic fitness element
where a couple hours of team dancing can equal
a walk of several kilometres.
Mental health benefits exist too by the fact that the
fun experienced by moving to music and concentrating
on the calls helps relieve stress, tension and the worries of the day.
Success on the dance floor contributes to
a young
person's self-esteem and builds a positive outlook.
Today's kind of square dancing fits perfectly under the
"Team Dancing"
title because you have to co-operate with seven other dancers
in order to be successful--it's teamwork!
Of interest to parents is that team dancing
is ideal to introduce young people to social graces and the values
that go along with them including courtesy, respect and tolerance.
It's particularly
good to develop wholesome boy/girl relationships.
The dance program that we offer
serves an ever increasing need for active living among children.
It's a problem that the majority of kids remain sedentary
during the after-school hours.
Research going back to 2007 reveals "
a troubling association between sedentary behaviours
and increased reports of anxiety, depression and low self-esteem
among adolescents".
This information was released in a report card
on physical activity for children and youth.
It was published by the non-profit group Active
Healthy Kids Canada.
THE
FUN
AHEAD &
SPECIAL DANCES
We’ll also introduce some basic choreographed ballroom dancing
which is called round dancing.
In that kind of team dancing, the direction you'll move
and the steps you'll take have been planned ahead to a particular piece of music.
It’s similar to what you see on the tv show "Dancing With the Stars"
but a lot easier.
We enjoy circle mixers as well,
where everybody dances at once in a big circle
and changes partners. We also learn some special dances for extra fun.
We’ve had a Halloween party with scary decorations
complete with a toy bat that flies down from the ceiling.
We closed the dance with cake and ice cream.
At one of our Christmas parties we all danced in Santa hats
and the dancers got a gift and treats including Christmas punch,
Christmas cookies and Christmas Ice Cream
Floats topped with red and green candies and whipped cream.
In February we’ve also held a Valentines Party,
complete with decorations, a ring toss and prizes.
2007 was an exciting year for us because, for the first time ever,
we brought the 58th Annual Pacific Northwest Teen Square Dance Festival
to the Mount Boucherie Complex in late April.
It’s an international dance competition that attracts hundreds
of pre-teen and
teen competitors from
Several
The Festival has been a big motivator for youth in the recreation,
having a track record exceeding 50 years
ABOUT
OUR
GROUP &
ITS PEOPLE
Our club is operated by volunteers from the adult square dance community
in the District of West Kelowna.
These volunteers give their time to support the young dancers
because they believe this type of dancing is a valuable social recreation for kids.
The volunteers have assisted with dance instruction in local schools
and all passed the required criminal
record checks.
The Dance Club is a safe, well-supervised environment for children
where they can have fun and learn an excellent dance form at the same time.
Please support your child in their interest in our group and their discovery of
the fun,
fitness and friendship found in team dancing.
We look forward to
meeting you on the dance floor!
CONTACTS AND MORE
INFORMATION
For more information
about our club,
contact Brian and Rosalyn at
250-768-2694
e-mail: teamdancing@hotmail.com
A promotional web page promoting youth in square dancing,
produced by SQUAREUPB.C.
for the B.C. Square and Round Dance Federation,
provides more general
information about youth involvement with photos, a video and links at:
http://www.KidsLoveToDance.squaredance.bc.ca
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