Dance Your Ability
Outreach Facilitator Training
Join our mission to get
every BODY dancing!!
Upcoming Trainings
HYBRID: ONLINE & IN PERSON / ONLINE
Dates TBD for 2025.
Stay tuned!!
All sessions will be recorded. Manuals will be mailed or send as PDF.
Dance Your Ability is an outreach program that offers a welcoming space for people on the periphery (including those with mixed abilities, elders, children, incarcerated, at-risk youth, people in recovery, people living with dementia, Parkinson's & cancer, as well as trauma survivors) to experience themselves in healing motion and collective joy via dancing their own unique dance, as only each of us can.
We believe that everyone should have access to the overwhelmingly therapeutic aspects of movement, music and dance.
To make this happen, we offer our Outreach Facilitator Training for people who want to be a part of this movement. People like you!
This training can enhance and expand the work of:
Movement Facilitators - Yoga, Choreographed Dance, and Conscious Dance
Health Care Professionals working in Outreach Settings — Counsellors, Social Workers, Therapists, Doctors & Nurses
Outdoor Leadership Facilitators
Teachers
Artists
Family members looking to support a loved one
Volunteers and anyone who loves to dance!
Alex Holloway, DYA Facilitator - Wales
“I’ve been dancing 5Rhythms for 30+ years and work as a support worker for people with physical & cognitive disabilities, and when I found Shauna & DYA, I knew had hit the jackpot!!! I immediately registered for the inaugural DYA training in 2019 and haven’t stopped moving since!”
~Jen Massie, in Whitehorse, Yukon
“I felt called to step in and begin offering therapeutic dance and movement in my community and DYA was the Gateway for me to take the Leap!”
~ Mary Lloyd in Victoria, BC
“I have been leading conscious dance sessions since 2019 through my organization Dance Meditation International, whose aim is to get the whole world dancing for joy and benefitting from all of the related health benefits. And when I came across the DYA program I knew I'd found the training for me. It is clear to see, in Shauna’s videos of her work with DYA, that all the community members are having so much fun, moving so freely, and being so confident.“
~ Alex Holloway in Wales, UK
Training
Outline +
Details
In this training, you will learn the Dance Your Ability method and the tools you need to create inclusive spaces that offer the opportunity for everyone to experience the benefits of doing their own dance in a group setting:
joy, connection, well being, mobility, and support for self regulation, no matter their circumstances.
Modules:
The Dance Your Ability Method + Philosophy
Dancing in Service: Trauma-Informed Practice + Populations We Serve
Outreach Group Facilitation Skills
Music in Outreach Settings
Practicum Sessions
Recap and Q & A
Topics Covered Include:
How to create your own DYA class with simple stretches & movements that help to unify the group.
How to use inviting language that is group sensitive, language that invites people to dance in their own way and that includes everyone.
Music theory & organization and what music to play for different populations.
The science of why everyone should have access to movement & dance.
How to get every body moving, despite their circumstances.
Opportunities to practice facilitating.
How to be a facilitator in an outreach environment.
Understanding privilege.
Trauma Informed Practice basic skills.
Boundaries & confidence.
How to connect with organizations and offer in-person & online offerings.
Course Components
A DYA class each session & an understanding of the DYA philosophy and who we serve.
Homework assignments between modules
Facilitator Practicum - where you plan and lead your own class
DYA Manual + Workbook (print copy + online)
Access to the growing online Faciliator Resource Page, including: class templates, playlist ideas, videos, logos and articles
Private DYA Instructor Facebook Group
Ongoing mentorship
Access to the Dance Your Ability Facilitator Network and Referral Program
“The DYA training offered me plenty of insights into working with a diverse range of populations. With a mixed approach including plenty of hands-on exercises, I was able to integrate many of the practices outlined throughout the facilitator training.”
~ Lucia Capretti
“What I now include in my own practice that I gained from my experience with the DYA training: I incorporate lots of Circles. I gently invite participants to step into the centre & share their moves with the group. I’ve introduced Dance circles/Cyphers at House Music parties, outdoor dance parades, Earth Day circles & dances with 140 students, and more. Now people will come to my events and ask, “Can we do a Dance Cypher?!”.”
~ Mary Lloyd in Victoria, BC
“The DYA Training made me really aware of how my presence impacts the communities that I work with. How I show up to each session is so important. And the trauma-informed practice outlined within the training has really transformed my work with the communities I support through Dance Meditation.”
~Alex Holloway in Wales
Investment
Online & In person
$650 cad
$450 euro
Includes in-person + zoom sessions.
Online
$450 cad / $300 euroJoin either the Victoria or London in person sessions via Zoom.
Includes zoom sessions.
Payment Plans available
Particle scholarships available —
giving priority to BIPOC, disabled and single parentsPayments & inquires can be made to info@danceyourability.com OR via Paypal.
Applicants should love dancing, especially with others, and be passionate about being in service to underprivileged populations.
Training Instructors
Shauna Devlin is the Founder and Executive Director of Dance Your Ability, she has dedicated herself to creating opportunities for people of all backgrounds to engage in conscious dance, music and group movement.
With her extensive experience as a 5Rhythms teacher, Ecstatic Dance DJ, support worker, ski instructor, fibre artist and parent, Shauna brings a unique blend of skills and perspectives to her work.
Her belief in the healing power of movement and music is profound, driving her mission to ensure that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, can access and benefit from these transformative experiences.
Shauna strives to empower others to become facilitators themselves, spreading the joy and healing potential of conscious dance to as many people as possible. Her dedication to inclusivity and accessibility underscores her commitment to making movement and expression available to all.
For more information visit shaunadevlin.net
Alex Holloway brings over 11 years of experience as an educator and early years specialist, holding a degree in Psychosocial Sciences. With a diverse skill set, he serves as a life coach, laughter and children’s yoga facilitator, ecstatic dance facilitator, Heart Beats Movement & Music director, and Dance Your Ability facilitator & lead trainer.
Passionate about holistic well-being, individual self-expression, play, and psychology, Alex's teaching and facilitation center on fostering joy in the present moment, nurturing connections across communities, and harnessing the power of person-centered interventions.
With boundless enthusiasm and a wealth of interdisciplinary expertise, he is dedicated to empowering individuals of all ages and backgrounds.
For more information visit joyfullifeguide.com
Sheila McIntosh loves to dance and loves that Dance Your Ability (DYA) provides everyone with that opportunity.
She is a teacher of students with deafblindness and works for the Provincial Outreach Program for Students with Deafblindness.
Sheila has worked with children in a number of capacities for 35 years and with children with deafblindness for over 20 years. She admires and adores her students for their tenacity, strength and resiliency.
A part of what Sheila does in her job is to provide classrooms and staff with an empathy experience to give a brief glimpse into the world of deafblindness and other sensory issues. A deafblind simulation uses masks, ear plugs and ear muffs and simple activities with a partner.
Deafblindness is a low-incidence disability but they recognized that some of the people that DYA may dance with – particularly seniors - may have vision and hearing issues and not identify as deafblind. Or may have other sensory integration or trauma issues that impede how they see and hear.
Mary Harber MSW I am so excited to share this journey with you. I am a social worker of 36 years working with a variety of people on my journey…substance use prevention and recovery, abuse prevention, healthy sexuality for people with disabilities, social skill development, curriculum design and teaching.
For the last 20 years I have been teaching for post-secondary in both degree and certificate/diploma programs. I have always stayed connected to the field and believe strongly in the ability to connect with others through creative means and know that dance and movement is a way to shine our light!
