As you may have heard, today is
Giving Tuesday,
a global movement for giving and volunteering.
We wanted to take this opportunity to say
THANK YOU
to our kind, generous, and amazing donors and volunteers without whom our work at
Kaeja d'Dance
would not be possible!
We also thought today would be the
PERFECT
day to launch
Kaeja Connects
, our matching campaign.
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Porch View Dances 2018. Photo by SVPhotography. PVD was conceived by Karen Kaeja and developed with Allen Kaeja. Choreography by Andrea Nann with Michelle Silagy.
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Why Give?
For nearly 30 years,
Kaeja d’Dance
has been providing people across Canada with opportunities to connect through the experience of creating, witnessing and performing dance.
Harnessing the power of movement, we have helped others see their communities in a new light. With a focus on encouraging friendship, understanding, and a sense of belonging, our contribution to the arts dissolves feelings of community isolation. Kaeja creates profound and unifying experiences of engagement with diverse citizens through the sharing of personal stories and collective body experiences – members of the community become both active participants in the creative process and performers.
This is vital work and we need your help to accelerate the continuum of people making connections.
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Kaeja Connects
is a matching campaign that is being generously supported by our matching donors
The
Bulmash-Siegel Fund,
The Lindy Green Family Charitable Foundation,
and
Karen Green & George Fischer
.
The Bulmash-Siegel Fund
is committed to building vibrant cities by supporting innovative contemporary performing arts and progressive initiatives in health care and social action.
The Lindy Green Family Charitable Foundation
supports visionary organizations committed to changing lives through the arts as well as women’s health and social initiatives. These long time contributers to Kaeja d’Dance have helped build bridges between the arts and people.
Between now and December 31, 2018, DOUBLE your impact. Every $1 you give will be equal to $2
(up to $10,000), matched by one of our amazing donors.
All funds raised during
Kaeja Connects
will go towards our empowering work with ‘real people dancing in real spaces’ within communities across Canada and Ontario -
it could be in your hometown!
Your generous donation is the gift that allows us to give a child confidence, provide a senior with a sense of be
longing, connect total strangers and bring families and people even closer together, touching their lives through the visceral and elegant language of dance. Kaeja successfully invites and inspires the communities we dance in, to dance with us.
It is in this way that we send the clear and powerful message that art is for everyone.
Help us make a difference in people's lives through dance and consider bringing art to their hearts.
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Below you will read stories from those who have experienced first-hand the power of connection through Kaeja d'Dance.
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THE GREENWOOD ENSEMBLE'S STORY
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Porch View Dances 2018. Photo by SVPhotography. PVD was conceived by Karen Kaeja and developed with Allen Kaeja. Choreography by Andrea Nann with Michelle Silagy.
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Upon seeing Kaeja d’dance’s
Porch View Dances
last year, Morgan Joy thought to herself: "
We can do this
.” The “we” was, of course, her roommates Ben Clement, Krystal Nausbaum, Maddie Stratton, and their friend Laura Gallagher-Doucette. An already-close household became even closer as they worked together, delving headfirst into the process. They danced together in DramaWay’s all-abilities dance program facilitated by Morgan, but
Porch View Dances
provided them with a whole new way in which to experience art, their city, and each other.
Showing their love for one another to the community was an experience that filled them with pride
The group was blown away by the reaction from the audience – one night tears, another laughter - and always the strong sense that the audience could not just see but
feel
the group’s close bond based on their eye contact, their movement, and how they worked together and took cues from each other. Showing their love for one another to the community was an experience that filled them with pride and changed their experience of the city; to see so many audience members from both inside and outside of the neighbourhood caring about dance, about inclusivity, and about visibility for minorities was eye-opening.
Their participation in 2018’s
Porch View Dances,
choreographed by Andrea Nann with Michelle Silagy, set a new bar by which they could judge future challenges. As they face new obstacles and adventures, they remind each other, “We’ve been through [
Porch View Dances
].
We know what we’re capable of
.”
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Phyllis in Karen Kaeja's Research Modules. Photo by Beata Rasitsan. 2018.
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Since retirement, Phyllis has found herself searching for ways to be more involved with her community as a way to aid in the transition from working full time as a dance teacher to a fulfilling life in retirement. To help her along this journey, she decided to participate in a community workshop experience designed for multi-aged citizens who have little or no dance experience. The project is envisioned and led by Co-Artistic Director Karen Kaeja.
"Thank you so much for today! Such a beautiful experience."
Watching people work together in a way that wasn’t about power, but was focused on an exploration of a common goal, was eye-opening for Phyllis. The work revolved around touch and movement in a way that was fun, safe, and accessible, making the experience so wonderful.
Phyllis has found herself more inspired as an artist, as well as more in tune with her community
Through Karen’s process of research creation, Phyllis found herself enjoying the opportunity to explore her own personal movements rather than copying step-by-step choreography. Karen and her team of professional dancers created a caring and respectful environment which enabled the participants to connect to one’s own body and to other people of multi-generations in the workshop, all through the language of dance. Since participating in Kaeja d’Dance’s community dance initiative, Phyllis has found herself more inspired as an artist, as well as more in tune with her community and has been using dance to build confidence in social situations, which has improved her overall quality of life.
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Fern (fifth from the left) in Karen Kaeja's Downtown Dances Moncton 2018 piece. Photo by Karen Kaeja. 2018.
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“WE CAN’T DO THAT!”
is the first thought that came into Fern’s mind when she participated in Moncton New Brunswick’s
Downtown Dances
event. The annual event takes place as a collaboration with the
Atlantic Ballet Theatre
and
Kaeja d’Dance
, welcoming all community members to dance and celebrating their downtown by joining bridges between the everyday citizens to political officials and business owners. Fern’s second career after retirement began as a hobby once a week in a dance class. Now Fern has gathered a group of dedicated senior dancers to try something new! – Dancing in public, with a modern dance twist through
Kaeja d’Dance
’s Community Dance Production.
Working with Kaeja d’Dance was so enriching that Fern has now taken her inspiration and continued to create community dance in other parts of Moncton
Working with Karen, the group quickly realized, “We
CAN
do this!” Karen was so encouraging, so pleasant, and quickly became a friend to the entire group, allowing for the group’s confidence to grow as they accessed their full potential. The experience has allowed Fern to connect with other dancers and friends in the community. Karen guided them to make eye contact, open up, and contact each other, leaving Fern emotional and feeling more fulfilled as a person. Working with Kaeja d’Dance was so enriching that Fern has now taken her inspiration and continued to create community dance in other parts of Moncton, in order to keep bringing the community together. “Dance creates more dance!” – Fern.
Karen was so encouraging...and quickly became a friend to the entire group, allowing for the group’s confidence to grow as they accessed their full potential.
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