Guest Artist

Aileen Hayden

Dancer/Choreographer

Aileen is warm, down-to-earth and a skilled communicator. She is known for her smile and for her creative, clear teaching. Aileen has always loved movement and physical expression. After 13 years of practice, Aileen decided to teach yoga, and became a Certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor in 2002, combining something beneficial in her own life with her love of teaching. Aileen continues advanced studies in the Kripalu yoga tradition and in anatomy and physiology.She is the creator and teacher of The Big Fat Ass Dance Class®: Improvisational Dance for Ordinary Women. The BFADC® is a popular class which is offered four times a year in Saskatoon and fills up quickly. Aileen also takes it on the road across Canada and the US as a weekend workshop. It's fun, lively and exhilarating dancing.

Improvisational Dance for Ordinary Women is all about fun! No experience required. Created and taught by Aileen Hayden, this exhilarating class draws on elements of modern and African dance, yoga and theatre to let you explore your own ways of moving. Come play!

Check out these websites about Aileen:

Artist info

Yoga Studio

Teacher Contact: Jim Shevchuk

Battleford Central School

Grade 1,3, 4 & 6

• 9:45am - 10:10am Teachers arrive about 9:30 at BCS, & meet in the gym by 9:45!

   

          meet the artist and one another, Aileen will introduce the day and go through the concepts and methods

- Our school is a Pre K - 8 facility with 520ish students. WE love guests and are open to the arts!!!

• 10:10am - 10:40am Grade 1, Mrs. K. Cottini- teacher ( she's fun!) ( 24 students)
• 10:45am - 11:45am Grade 6, Mme. K. Hillier and Jim - he's kinda fun Shevchuk - teacher ( 25 students)
• Lunch - teachers should bring a bag lunch, as we'll eat together and look at resources
• 1:00pm - 1:40 Grade 3 - Mrs. M. Nelson (__ students)

• 1:50 - 2:30 Gr. 4 Ms. L. Gansauge teacher - they're fun too! ( __students)

- Aileen - Is this group too large - are you comfortable working with this size of a group? -- Teachers are great dance partners!!!!!

• 2:30 - 3:00pm Teacher time for discussion & reflection, what will you Show & Share for the next day?
   
   

Hi Jim and Sherron,

Thank you for setting up this schedule! I'm excited to work with several age groups and let teachers see how similar material can be communicated in different ways to different ages.

The schedule will work very well with two changes I'd like to request:

1) Yes, a group of 42 is too large. It wouldn't be as satisfying an experience for children or teachers as two groups of ~ 20. A lot of it is logistics--an echo-ey gym and that many more bodies to communicate to -- and part of it is energy and attention span. With dancing, and this age, short and sweet adds up to more than long and over-tired. I prefer to work with the Gr. 3 and Gr. 4 classes separately in 2 separate sessions. If that's impossible, we'll make it work with the larger group, but we'll all get more out of it in the smaller groups, for the shorter times.

2) I'll need a minimum of 20 dedicated minutes with the adults alone before the arrival of the children. With introductions, late arrivals etc, 9:45-10am won't be enough to help teachers feel at ease with the subject and convey my purpose. We'll all get more out of it if we can bond a little as adults first before the flood! I would also like a definite start time: ie, letting teachers know the session itself begins at 9:45am sharp, with arrivals and "meet-and-greet" taken care of before that.

Let me know if these changes will work with your scheduling. Thank you!

Aileen

PS Oh Sherron -- it's classic! This wiki is MUCH easier to handle than I thought! Thanks for the encouragement!

Oct 21

Hi Aileen - so glad to see you figured it out! I made changes to the schedule (my notes are in green up above). Does that look better Aileen? Jim is it okay for you?

Oct 22

Hi Sherron,

Thanks for making those schedule changes. That's great we can divide the two afternoon groups!

One clarification needed: what is our actual start time? I'd like teachers to understand there's an important adults-only session before the children arrive and I'm not sure that's clear right now in the schedule.

 (Oct 24: I've added to the schedule to arrive about 9:30 and to be ready to start at 9:45. It is the same for each artist and will work well, it is a good suggestion. I'll also contact each teacher to let them know the schedule in case they haven't seen the wiki. - Sherron)

I've added info below on what to wear, bring, etc. Thanks Sherron!

Aileen

Hi everyone

Jim thinks it will be just fine -- and hey If there is anything you require - just call!!!

Happy dancing-- My "PHAT" a is ready for the dancing challenge!!

Jim

(Oct 24: Hi Jim, will it be possible to somehow have the teachers able to join Aileen at 9:45 so they get the introduction with her? I'm concerned that if Myrna, Kim, Laurie and Krista only come with their class at the scheduled time they won't have the big picture and won't have the info Aileen has prepared for the teachers. Is there a way we can solve this? - Sherron)

Wow - What an exciting day.  We have just played with dowels, balls, scarfs.  Can robots run??  Jim - is so impressed with the quality of the artist instructor.  At times I think we tricked the unmotivated students into thinking this was movement class or drama-- They really had FUN- DANCING.  One challenge would have been the time factor. All the teachers would have loved longer seesions!!!!!!!!!!  Control could ahve beenan issue - but right from the start the crediblity was established = so the day was MARVELOUS!! Thank you Aileen and thank you Sherron for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jim

Workshop Ideas:

Dance and the Ordinary Day

Most adults think of dance as something apart-- reserved for weddings or the odd night out or cranking up the stereo and letting loose when no one else is home(!)

But for kids dance is still part of the day-to-day, because for kids movement is still a way to communicate. In yoga we say that movement is a way to communicate what we haven't put into words yet. It's a way to discover what we're thinking at all!

Dance at School?

Me? Why?? When?????

Join us for a workshop that puts dance in its place: activities you can blend into the stream of your school day. Ways to catch kids' attention and hold it; ways to bond a group; ways to celebrate and ways to concentrate; ways to communicate a story or resolve a conflict. OH -- and ways to have a lot of fun!

No Steps to Learn!

You won't hear me saying "Put your foot here" or "Lift your arm now!" In Creative Dance kids find their own ways to move as they learn the language of dance: fast and slow, high and low, wide and narrow, smooth and sharp, tense and loose. That vocabulary adds up to a way to communicate.

Come Play!

Adults have been known to have a blast themselves at my workshops. Come play!

What to Wear and Bring

Wear loose comfortable clothing -- anything you're comfortable moving in (T-shirt and sweats work fine). Dance barefoot, or if you prefer footwear just be sure it's non-slip. Bring a water bottle and perhaps an exercise or yoga mat if that's more comfortable for getting onto the floor (which is NOT required!)

Fitness Level?**

Creative Dance works WITH your body and is adaptable to any fitness level and age. That's why I call my Saskatoon class The Big Fat Ass Dance Class(R) -- you don't have to be a ballerina to love to dance! Come as you are.

I'd love to hear your questions, interests and concerns as you plan to attend. I'll be checking the wiki daily now and I'll be happy to respond

either here or via e-mail at [aileen_hayden@yahoo.com.|aileen_hayden@yahoo.com.]

Hope to see you dancing!

Aileen