All Bodies Dance: Dance is for everyBODY
Join Carolina and Janice for a fun hour of dance for Every and All Bodies! In this fun dance workshop, each participant will explore the power of dance and uncover what each unique dancing body has to say. Carolina and Janice will lead a warm-up, some fun improvisation activities and explore the foundational skills of contemporary dance.
About Carolina Bergonzoni (she/her) is a dance artist, a curious human, a somatic educator and practitioner, an overthinker, a coffee drinker, and a dog lover.
Originally from Italy, she has been living as a settler on unceded Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil- Waututh), and xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) territories since 2014. Carolina holds a Ph.D. in Education, a BA and MA in Philosophy, and an MA in Comparative Media Arts. Her work has been published, performed, and presented internationally. She has recently been making dance films.
Carolina practices span between dancing, writing, philosophizing, and teaching from the body. She is challenging the labels of “professional” and “community-engaged” art making and facilitating.
Carolina is Artistic Associate of All Bodies Dance Project, a proud board member of Vines Arts Festival and The Biting School. When she is not making things happen, she can be found hiking or competing in dog sports with her goofy golden retriever, Avon Barksdale.
About Janice Laurence, Disabled Dance Artist, Educator, & Movement Ambassador
Janice is a dual citizen of Canada and New Zealand and has also lived in Germany, Greenland, and Las Vegas. She is a life long learner, educator, and world traveller. Her background includes a focus on professional and personal development along with leadership and change facilitation and research. She holds a BA (Psychology), a British Columbia Teacher’s Certificate, and a MA (Education) from Simon Fraser University.
Her unique dance practice includes the joyful exploration of using various mobility aids. Janice was born with the degenerative neuromuscular disease Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT) and currently is an ambulatory wheelchair user. She enthusiastically believes that movement, community, connections, and diversity are our strengths.
She takes great delight in supporting All Bodies Dance Project classes and performances, and is also a part of Roundhouse Ageless Dancers (Vancouver). Since 2020, she regularly participates in online classes with AXIS Dance Company and other inclusive dance companies. Janice facilitates virtual improv dance classes for ABDP, Dance for All Bodies, ConnecTra Society, and the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation.
Janice’s artistry has been strengthened by her work in All Bodies Dance performances “Parts of Me” (2020) and R-EACH (2021) presented by Vines Art Festival, as well as the solo ensemble short film Near/Far (2020).
In 2020, she was featured in the AMI-tv wellness documentary series Mind Set Go (Anaïd Productions Inc, in partnership with the Canadian Paralympic Committee). In 2019 she appeared in Act Of Faith (Realwheels Theatre, BC), a role that inspired her to start dancing with a manual wheelchair.