Pirkanmaa Dance Centre is establishing a long-awaited community dance group open to all adults. The director of the group is Wilhelmina Ojanen (e.g. community dance work Matters of Care (or every thing we do), 2022).
Come and enjoy your own creative movement and dance in a good spirit, in a joint group!
The group sets its goals together with the instructor, and each participant can influence how the group is and progresses. Acceptance, respect and consideration of others are at the center of group work. In dance, the emphasis is on experientiality and each dancer’s own expression. Community dance is a form of dance suitable for everyone, where the starting point is the personal expressive power of the group members and their own movement.
Community dance is dance art for everyone, where everyone is valuable as they are!
What?
Joining a community dance group, under the guidance of dance artist Wilhelmina Ojanen.
Where?
The group meets at Studio Liikelaituri, Yliopistonkatu 58 D, Tampere. See more information here: https://www.pirkanmaantanssinkeskus.fi/en/liikelaituri/
When?
On Thursdays from 5:30 pm. to 7 pm.
Meeting sessions during spring 2024:
29.2.
7.3.
14.3.
21.3.
4.4.
11.4.
18.4.
2.5.
9.5.
23.5. demo performance (if the group decides to have a demo)
Payment information and registration
The course consists of 10 sessions which is €80, which is paid before the start of the course via the payment link in the email.
The group starts if there are at least 9 participants. Max. 15 people in order of registration.
Sign up no later than Sunday 25th of February at 23:59 with this form:
Additional information and questions: toimisto@pirkanmaantanssinkeskus.fi
What is Community Dance?
Yhteisötanssi ry defines community dance as follows:
Community spirit is central to community dance, i.e. equal interaction between the participants and between the participants and the instructor.
The community dance instructor is a dance professional who has an open dialogue with the group.
Community participants together influence the setting of goals and what happens.
Community dance is put to start from the starting points of the participants and promotes dance belonging to everyone.
Course description
During spring, we delve into somatic sensory exercises. Through them, it is possible to become more sensitive to the information conveyed by the senses and to presence in one’s own movement. The exercises suggest the participant to calm down the body’s internal processes. The exercises encourage listening to body sensations and moving based on sensations.
How are we present to each other? How do we witness the movement of another? By practicing conscious presence through somatic sensory exercises, we become aware of the possibility to choose (movement, action, thought) in every moment.
In community dance, we have the opportunity to recognize how the body is in relation to other people and the environment. Guided movement exercises, for example contact work and touch exercises, suggest using touch to sense the limits of your own body. Calmly structured and clear exercises performed in contact with other participants give the opportunity to practice movement with the sensations and experiences that arise. Somatic sensory exercises strengthen the ability to listen to oneself, and thereby the ability to be present.
The content of the course develops according to the group. Depending on participants, the languages of the course are Finnish and English.
Director of the group, Wilhelmina Ojanen
I have a Master’s degree in dance. I graduated as a dancer from Trinity Laban University’s Master’s program in dance in 2018 and a Master’s in dance from the program in dance pedagogy at the University of the Arts in 2023.
I have been working in the professional dance field in England since 2018 and in Finland since 2020. In 2018–2019, I was a Young Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells Theater in London and created choreographic works for the big and small stage of the theater. My choreographic works have been performed in theaters and other spaces, e.g. in London, Leeds, Lahti, Helsinki and Tampere. In recent years, I have mainly worked as a choreographer and dance teacher in classes and courses for young people and adults.
In 2022, I decided to focus my work on community dance, and I got the opportunity to implement the three-month Matters of Care (or every thing we do) community dance project in cooperation with the Pirkanmaa Dance Centre. I worked as convener, facilitator and choreographer in a community dance project. I have previously worked in various community dance projects as an assistant, and taught dance lessons and courses for various groups.
Working with community dance and applied dance interests me because I feel that through dancing it is possible to meet another person in the way that they want to be seen at that moment. With my own work, I want to propose a gentle way of being in the world, and to cultivate presence, care, empathy, and community. Last year I worked closely on the theme of care and I want to keep the thinking of care present in my work as a dance pedagogue in the future as well.
I try to guide the dance exercises in such a way that they give the participant the opportunity to move while listening to their own body and sensing the environment, so that the individual can express their own creativity and curiously go towards what interests them in the movement at that moment. I think it is important to emphasize during dance practice that in every moment it is possible to choose how to participate in the practice and to follow what feels good to you. I try to work with groups so that each individual is seen and heard in the group.
In group situations, this is achieved by calming down to listen and share experiences, by thinking about a certain thing together, and by doing exercises that encourage group listening, for example clear exercises for moving in space or touch/contact exercises. It is important to me that the participants get the experience of working together through dancing. I feel that dancing together with other people strengthens the feelings of connection and belonging.
More information about Wilhelmina: https://www.wilhelminaojanendance.com/