An all day hip hop workshop for Queen Elizabeth School students turned into a calorie burner, as well as being educational.
The program is offered to the Saskatchewan school system by Jess Dance in Vancouver, B.C. with Q.E. hosting its workshop on Oct. 15.
“It is a really good chance for kids to come off of the Thanksgiving tummy filling and burn off some pumpkin pie and turkey,” said principal Ryan Mather.
Jess Dance’s program is also about empowering and inspiring the next generation through dance experiences that develop self-worth, self-expression, and connection to one’s body and each other.
“I think dance is just a human thing to do and it’s nice to open up and do it around your peers and kind of break a bit of a barriers and have fun,” said instructor Tyler Layton-Olson.
“I think it’s just a very good tool to have socially. It can give a lot of confidence and exercise and self-worth.”
Layton-Olso says he’s been on a 19-school tour in Sask. with just two schools left to visit.
“We’ve only ever done it with the B.C. school system. This is the first time doing it in Saskatchewan,” he said.
Q.E. is also the only school in the Lloydminster Public School Division to have a workshop. It was made possible by the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils that brings arts to schools.
“The arts are so important and we need to make sure we focus on those. It is a real important part of learning for the whole child,” explained Mather.
He says it’s great to have an expert instructor like Layton-Olson to teach kids some dance.
Grade 4 student Kinley Payne took to it like a duck to water, noting there was a bit of a learning curve.
“It was fun,” she said and fairly easy to follow the instructor’s moves.
“It was tricky on some parts though. The tricky part was when we had to get down on the floor and try and turn while we had our legs crossed.”
Kinley’s classmate Kenton Coulter was all smiles at that end.
“It was awesome,” he said.
The youngster noted the best part was “pushing buttons” with his hands as part of the dance moves.
Layton-Olson said his family did Ukrainian dancing and when he was nine, he got into everything dance-wise.
“When I was 17,I moved from Saskatchewan to Vancouver to train more in like ballet and contemporary,” he said.
He thinks TikTok has a lot to do with the growth of hip hop
culture.
“It just becomes more and more popular. It’s been cool to watch,” he said.
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