Ms. Menelaine Valencia
WE ARE NORTH SURREY DANCE.
Since 2005, North Surrey Secondary has had a growing and thriving dance program. The program has provided opportunities
for students to develop their skills, explore their creativity, and find a place of belonging. Throughout the years, North Surrey Dance students and alumni have made incredible accomplishments in both the local and international dance scene such as pursuing professional careers as performers and teachers, travelling and teaching dance internationally, becoming dance studio owners, winning numerous local dance competitions, performing on televised programs such as Ellen and performing on big stages such as the Rogers Arena on We Day. As outstanding as these accomplishments maybe however, the greatest strength of the program is in the community of learners who inhabit it. What makes North Surrey Dance a "home" for so many students is the supportive and enriching learning community that is present within the structure of the program.
This community culture is the foundation upon which North Surrey Dance students stand on in order to develop the confidence to take risks and do great things. Each year there is a welcoming of the next generation. Each year there is an honouring of the graduating class for the contributions they have given to the community. Alumni often return to the program in order to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. The cheers and support they receive form their classmates during class and at performances is what makes each student feel valued. The North Surrey Dance program is where students can apologetically be themselves, make mistakes and grow into excellence. The strength of this program is not just in the accomplishments of individual learners but in our accomplishments together as a community. A family - as the #nosurdfam.
The video above was created in 2015, under the direction of Ms. Valencia, exactly 10 years since the birth of the program. The inspiration behind this video was to capture the incredibly welcoming spirit of the dancers in this community and to demonstrate their resilience in the face of change and displacement. After the retirement of their first dance teacher, Ms. Shirley Clements, the dance program was displaced from the school theatre in order to rightfully give way to the growth of the drama program. In 2015, the dance students at North Surrey Secondary were faced with significant changes - a new dance teacher and a less than desirable temporary dance space (Portable 1). Some things however (the most important things), did not change - their community mindedness, their openness, their generosity, their humour, and their passion for dance.
The perspective of this video is through the eyes of a new student (or new teacher) entering the school. At North Surrey Secondary, the dancers fill the hallways with energy and movement. They are found dancing in the Centre Court, the theatre, and ofcourse Portable 1. This was our reality in 2015. Since the creation of this video, there have been significant changes to our learning space. We are so blessed to now have a designated classroom with movable mirrors and are now anticipating renovations for safer/sprung flooring. While we have had a strong conceptual sense of "home" for many years, we now also have a physical "home" under construction.
WE ARE
"Community is where learning and sharing knowledge happens."
Gregory Cajete
Indigenous Community - Page 23
FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE
Page 83
Indigenous Community
Gregory Cajete
"It takes a community to teach a community. […] This community-mindedness is grounded in a sense of tradition; it responds to the needs of the greater whole; it depends on the skills, energies, and creativity of the present generation; and it prepares the way for generations to come."
Community Mindedness
EDUC 849 ARTISTS & SOCIETY
In this Masters of Arts Education program, our cohort bonded together over stories, life-writing, food and memorable learning experiences. Together we created a safe place to laugh, cry and be.
I learned that it takes a community to build a community. I learned that all of the parts equal the whole and the quality of the whole is the sum of each of it's parts.
In my own teaching practice, my hope is to continue to build and maintain this sense of ensemble and community in my classroom and the overall dance program. By creating opportunities and providing space for students to experience highs and lows together (such a field trips, workshops and projects) my hope is that it reaffirms the power of WE. I would like for my students to recognize that their actions affect others, that it is not only about "my" success but about "our" success. Through leadership programs and returning alumni I feel that this community mindedness is already in full effect. These senior students have grown to be natural community leaders who are embodying social responsibility and accountability to this community. This alumni culture and structure of student leadership - is what makes our community strong as it shows the next generation how to take care of each other and how to move forward together.
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Arts-Based and Contemplative Practices in Research and Teaching Honoring Presence
Celeste Snowber and Barbara Bickel
"The most important word in the entire Bible is the preposition "with." God said, "I am with you" repeatedly throughout the Old Testament. To really be with oneself, and the other. What does it mean to have a wit(h)ness? [...] You're almost held in the with. And really my whole life, my teaching practice and artmaking practice is about being with."
Wit(h)nessing
EDUC 848 AESTHETIC EDUCATION
Ashley Chow has been such an incredible friend who has wit(h)nessed my journey so closely in these past two years. Public school dance educators do not often have a colleague to consult with as there is usually only one of us at each school. This friendship has enriched me so much as a teacher, a learner, a woman, a scholar and a human. It has also been such an honour to wit(h)ness her journey as well - as she finds her brilliance, creates beautiful dance works and navigates through life's challenges with such grace. I feel so blessed to have shared in this wit(h)nessing together with her and everyone in our cohort. We are better together.
I learned that within a learning community, it is so important for students to have a sense of belonging and support - to be able to hold each other in both the victories and losses.
In my own teaching practice, we engage in several wit(h)nessing activities that help students make connections with each other and build empathy. For example, on Freestyle Fridays, students take turns improvising while their partner actively observes. Each partnership shares one thing they found was captivating about their partner's dancing and one thing they would like to challenge their partner to do for next time. Another more complex example of wit(h)nessing in my classroom are "POC" sharings. After a lesson or movement experience, I invite my students to share their POC's with the class in an open class discussion format. POC stands for Props, Observations, and Challenges. Students are encouraged to share one of the three with the class. Is there anyone in the class today that you want to celebrate and give "props" to for a job well done today? Is there an observation you want to make about your work or other student's work (no judgement)? Was there a challenge you want to acknowledge or something you struggled with today? Often with each sharing, my students discover that they are not alone. They wit(h)ness each other.
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Indigenous Community
Gregory Cajete
"In Indigenous community, everyone is a teacher, and at one time or another, everyone is a learner. By watching listening, experiencing and participating, everyone learning what it is to be 'one of the people.' There is a place of everyone - the child, the adult, the elderly, the physically impaired, the 'two spirit' people. each person has something to offer, a special gift, and thereby is allowed to participate in one extent or another in the life of our community."
A Place for Everyone
EDUC 843 EMBODIMENT
I realized early on that one of the many strengths of this Masters Program is in the contributions of each member of our cohort - I have learned so much about wood turning, veil dance, singing, gardening, acting, cajón drum making, metal work, the pedagogy of the Avengers universe, visual art, sculpture, life drawing, theology and the list goes on. It has been so comforting to know what we are welcome to come as we are - stressed about work, overjoyed for the weekend, anticipating a baby, grieving a loss or whatever it may be. We were all safe to enter this place of learning.
I learned that in a rich learning environment, we all share in the roles of teaching and learning. Sometimes the teacher is the expert and sometimes the student is. Building structures that empower students by recognizing their strengths shows the impact of a program beyond the teacher.
In my own teaching practice, my hope is that my classroom is inclusive to all kinds of learners and movers and that there is opportunity for students to shine, share and teach others. This year, I am particularly proud of my intermediate dance class for being so inclusive and welcoming to Natalia - a student with learning and developmental challenges. For our year-end show, the students in my class were more than willing to create a dance piece just to feature her. This was Natalia's last dance show with us - her smile and energy is contagious! She has taught us so much about how to be a loving and supportive classmate and how to be a energetic and passionate dancer! Click on the photo below to see a video of her performance!
BODY NARRATIVE: BODIES AND SPIRITS
In my own dance journey I have been blessed with the opportunity to be part of several dance communities who have wit(h)nessed my growth, my struggle, and my victories so intimately. Below is a body narrative that I wrote after rehearsing with TwoFourSeven Company. They have been my creative and embodied outlet for the past three years. I call them my family. My hope is that, as a creative director and dance teacher at North Surrey Secondary, I will be able to inspire a culture of community for students that reflects the one that I have found here in TwoFourSeven.
A community. A family. A nook of humans gathered together for one purpose - to dance. Each mover unique in their own journey - students, mothers, fresh outta high school, a high school teacher, a pharmacy tech, a dance studio owner, a professional dance artist, a barista, a massage therapist. Gathered in one space - music begins and we move. A common knowledge. An understanding. This is the place we come to be in our bodies - to feel sweat dripping down our faces, to push the depths of our lunges, to feel and be music, to feel and be ourselves, to feel and be challenged, to feel and play. Together. All 30 of us. We move, we count, we make mistakes, we slow it down, speed it up. We cheer in support. We push past our limits. Three and a half hours goes by. Our bodies are awakened and our spirits are lifted.
