Above: Vancouver-based dance group OURO Collective. 📷 Body Talk
By Sports and Lifestyle Editor Cole Schisler
Every year, the Crimson Coast Dance Society hosts a Body Talk dance workshop. The week-long workshop runs from March 27 to April 1, and ends with a performance on April 2 at the Port Theatre.
“The goal of Body talk is different depending on who you talk to,” Jamie Black, Body Talk’s Community Engagement Faciliatory says. “The goal for the youth themselves is to have creative expression, and to connect with each other. Another goal is to provide a high calibre experience of the performing arts, and have as many people experience this opportunity as possible.”
Registration is open for both the Body Talk youth workshop, for ages 13-18, and the all-ages workshop. The youth workshop runs from 10 am to 2 pm, and the all-ages workshop runs from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Both workshops will be held daily at Vibe Dance Studio on 1969 Boxwood Road in Nanaimo. Registration is $125.
Participants in the workshops will have the opportunity to develop their own show with Vancouver-based dance group, OURO Collective. OURO Collective will be teaching their style of contemporary lyrical dance with techniques of hip hop dance such as breaking, and popping. The workshop will also teach participants other elements of putting on the performance, like graphic design, social media marketing, budgeting, logistics, contract writing, as well as lighting and sound.
“This year we have a partnership with the Port Theatre for training. We got a tour of the entire building, which was just incredible,” Black says. “We got a very intensive workshop on lighting and sound.”
Body Talk is largely youth-focused. Black says that the best thing about Body Talk for her is watching how youth develop teamwork over the course of the week. Body talk provides a space for youth to be seen. Through having the opportunity to create and curate their own content, it gives youth the opportunity to connect with the community in a new way.
The April 2 Body Talk performance featuring OURO Collective will be held at the Port Theatre at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $5 for youth and $25 for adults. To purchase tickets. Find out more about how to register for the Body Talk workshops, visit: crimsoncoastdance.org/bodytalkprogram.
Cole is a second-year Bachelor of Arts student majoring in creative writing, minoring in political science. He has an interest in all things exciting, mundane, or otherwise. He hopes to one day become an author, actor, comedian, editor, and rapper, while moonlighting as an astronaut.
