Visiting dance company to bring training program to Pittsburgh teaching artists and joy to the city’s military families
Dance can help your health. No really, it’s true. Studies have shown that dance and movement can provide a wide range of health benefits. And that includes mental health support, too.
It’s one of the reasons I’m excited to share the news about a training program heading to the Steel City this August which will help Pittsburgh teaching artists learn how to make activities like dance more inclusive to a wider range of abilities and cultures in need of those health benefits.
This training, led by North Carolina-based nonprofit ComMotion, is also specifically focusing on inclusive arts practices for veterans and their families, an important demographic as shown by Americans for the Arts, which has reported on the “profound connection between the arts and the military.”
I first connected with ComMotion while working as the Arts Education Director for Attack Theatre Dance Company several years ago. As someone who has worked in the field of arts accessibility for over 10 years, it was easy for me to quickly become excited about the work they were doing with movement and people with disabilities.
"Dancing is accessible to everybody,” according to Dr. Lauren Elson, a former professional dancer who specializes in sports and rehabilitation medicine at Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. As she told Harvard Medical School’s health blog, “There are so many benefits of dancing — cognitive, physical, and social — that it merits consideration by everybody."
ComMotion’s August trainings – comprised of two online sessions on Aug. 3 and Aug. 10, and an in-person workshop on Aug. 18 – will include sessions on health benefits of the arts, disability etiquette, awareness of disability and cultural barriers to access, and more.
Best of all? The $25 training will end with Circles of Joy, a free event at the Southwestern Veterans’ Center on Aug.19, featuring a day full of creative and fun activities for military veterans and their families.
Interested in joining me for the training to receive a Community in Motion Facilitator Certificate? You can get more info here. Are you a military family interested in attending the free event? Register here!
I know this will be a training like no other, and I had to be part of sharing this opportunity to all the local teaching artists in Pittsburgh.