What Community Actually Looks Like at Kaleidoscope Irish Dance & Movement Studio
Recently, I asked dancers across the studio to share what they love about dance. What stood out to me was the number of times adults mentioned community and getting to dance with their friends; it was heartwarming, but the answer that struck the deepest chord was “I love dance because I get to dance with other adults and just be myself.” In those four short concluding words “and just be myself,” this dancer summarized what community at Kaleidoscope Irish Dance & Movement Studio means. In this blog post, we’ll explore the definition of community and share about how it is not just a buzzword around here!
What exactly is a community? As a trained historian and an amateur linguist, I like to look at the origins of word. The root of the word is the Latin communis, which means “common.” The simple definition, therefore, is a group of people with something in common, or who have a similarity, or likeness. By this definition, the proliferation of online communities with shared interests make sense – people have something in common and they share it together. At Kaleidoscope, people join this community through an interest in Irish dance, whether they are returning to a former hobby or exploring it for the first time. Our community, therefore, starts with an interest in Irish dance. We are, however, building community beyond simply dancing together. For Kaleidoscope, community is not just a warm and fuzzy buzzword. Community at Kaleidoscope Studio is about belonging, friendship, connection, and care. Our shared interest brings us together, but the community keeps us together.
How then do we create our community? What principles are central to our space?
First and foremost, inclusivity is embedded in our structure. We teach all levels of dancer, but we go beyond this to offer adaptive instruction and modified steps to ensure that dancers of all abilities can participate. When we teach dances, we offer multiple variations so that people are free to choose what they need in order to succeed and that can include simplification as well as complexifying. Some dancers come with lots of experience and want to be able to expand on that. For Kaleidoscope Studio, inclusivity is part of the infrastructure. Furthermore, unlike most adult classes, we offer classes at all levels, so that advanced dancers returning to their practice can resume dancing at their level of experience, rather than being lumped into one amorphous “adult class.” For the beginner who’s felt overwhelmed by experienced dancers, and the experienced dancer who’s held back to accommodate newcomers, this balance is one way our community thrives.
With small classes, dancers get to know their classmates and it’s been fun to watch connection and friendships grow in those spaces, but connection and community also extend to gatherings we host for adult dancers. Four times per year, Feet Music dancers are invited to come to a gathering where we will share in dancing, food, and socialize together. Just because dancers are at different skill levels, doesn’t mean they can’t build connection over their shared love of dancing. In these spaces, we get to connect over other interests we share, such as crafting, careers, video games, and parenting.
Community also means supporting one another through celebration and grief. We nurture care for one another through big transitions: celebrating weddings and births, walking together with compassion through life’s challenges, and even rallying together to make meals for families who’ve suffered the death of a loved one. Irish dance brings people through the door, but we’re building a community that supports one another through the ups and downs of life. This, as much as the dancing, is what sustains and nourishes us.
Even our year end event, Teacht le Chéile (Irish for Come Together) is designed with community and connection in mind. We bring together family and friends to celebrate all that we have learned. There are no costumes. There isn’t even a stage. The entire event is designed as a community gathering so that dancers and their people can connect through this shared love of Irish dance. It is a powerful moment to have all of these people gathered together to share in dancing, laughter, and celebration. And snacks, because we all know that a good community gathering has abundant snacks!
Finally, the community at Kaleidoscope extends to our place in the history and preservation of Irish heritage as part of our identity in Kitchener-Waterloo. We learn about the history of the steps we dance and the regional contexts from which they came, while recognizing how this becomes intertwined in our local identity and community. As old-style Irish dancers we recognize and revel in our connection to the broader, international community and we delight in our role as ambassadors of the tradition here in Waterloo Region. This is seen most clearly in our participation in community showcases and local events. We truly delight in performing together and sharing our love of Irish dance with others. There is an energy that flows because we dance with each other; not at each other. If you’ve ever been ill-at-ease in the competitive Irish dance world, this distinction will make sense to you. Because we relish dancing together, it creates an energy that draws people in because joy is enticing.
If you’ve been interested in Irish dance for a while and want to learn with others who share that love of dance and life, come check us out! Our 4-week broom dancing session is a great way to get a sense of our steps and sodality.
Registration open; spaces are limited! Click here to register.