You have created a healing gift for women not available elsewhere. Congratulations, Erica!
You have created a healing gift for women not available elsewhere. Congratulations, Erica!
The practice of Dance Our Way Home is centred around community and envisions one where ALL women are included and ALL women are given the space to dance their way home.
The barriers that keep women from accessing this healing and transformative practice are many, however, and stem from socio-economic, geographical, cultural sources. The Community Outreach component was born from the desire to overcome such barriers and to truly make the practice of Dance Our Way Home available to all women.
Initiated in the spring of 2010 by Twyla Kowalenko, the promising project is being continually built by a growing community of women who are passionate about sharing the practice with others.
Currently the Community Outreach program is connecting with community agencies that serve women as well as women who are not yet connected to community. We currently have projects planned to offer the practice to women who have experienced violence, as well as women who deal with homelessness, low-income, and marginalisation.
The Community Outreach’s approach is one that is community-centred, culturally-appropriate, and participant-informed, and understands that each new community it touches will be a rich source of learning for DOWH as we grow the practice together as women.
The program is also actively fundraising to ensure the sustainability of the initiative.
Your donation to this great cause would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
We would also love to have you join our growing community!
Do you have personal contacts or associations with community-based organizations in the GTA serving the needs of women who you feel might be a good candidate for our collaborative project?
Do you have experience in community development, communications or fund development and want to get involved?
Do you have a passion you want to share?
Please contact Twyla Kowalenko, Community Outreach Director at twyla@danceourwayhome.com to get involved! You can also visit the FORUM to share your thoughts!
We look forward to welcoming you into the community!
First Message from Twyla Kowalenko, DOWH's Community Outreach Director:
For the last ten years DOWH, created by Erica Ross and Nan Keyser, has been a core body image group at Sheena’s Place, a support organization for people with disordered eating and body image issues. From its success as a group, it has since blossomed into a practice available to the wider community of women within Toronto. DOWH’s evolution continually inspires women to explore their own growth and strength by connecting to themselves, each other, and their community. The women who have been touched by DOWH can clearly attest to its power as a healing and transformative practice. A practice, which unfortunately is all too often not accessible to those who could stand to benefit most from its exploration.
The next step in Dance Our Way Home’s expansion is being taken with the expressed intent of reaching such women. Dance and movement are the least utilised of the expressive arts healing modalities, despite clear evidence of the strength and efficacy of an embodied approach to individual, group and social change. By reaching out and forging collaborative relationships with community agencies, so many more women will be able to explore the adaptable practice of DOWH. Each new community it touches will be a rich source of learning for DOWH as we grow the practice together as women.
Specifically we envision the expansion beginning by dialogues with interested groups of women, exploring their present needs and determining the ways in which they could best benefit from DOWH’s practice. Working from a community-centred, culturally-appropriate, participant-informed approach, DOWH will develop and offer workshops and/or classes to the group, maintaining an open channel of communication with the group throughout the process.
The other component of this intent to grow further into the community consists of a DOWH Immersion: Facilitator Certification & Wisdom Path Training to be launched this fall, giving trainees an opportunity to deepen their own embodied exploration while developing the theory and skills necessary to share the practice with the larger community.
Together, these two pieces create the structure necessary to grow the practice of DOWH both inwardly and outwardly. Every woman who enters the practice, either as a facilitator or a participant, brings her own wisdom and strength and it is in our sharing, in our community as women, that we can continually enrich and expand this practice for both ourselves and all women who are touched by the practice as its spiral grows.
I am so excited to share this powerful, feminine-centred practice that has positively affected my own life immensely. Please talk to me if you’d like to find out more!!
If you have any personal contacts or associations with community-based organizations in the GTA serving the needs of women who you feel might be a good candidate for our collaborative project, I would love a chance to connect with them!
You can contact me at twyla@danceourwayhome.com and you can join the FORUM and share your thoughts.
Thank you!