2 minute read
Movement is Medicine
Community dance workshop teaches youth resiliency.
Collage Dance Collective to Empower Youth Expression, a community dance workshop, provided Wilmington youth an outlet to express their emotions through movement and sparked their interest in classical and modern dance. About 10-15 children attended and learned dance combinations from experienced dancers from Collage Dance Collective, a Memphis-based ballet company. The company provided the free workshop to the community as part of their residency at UNCW.
UNCW students like Gabriella Billotti participated as dance teachers.
“It was so awesome to see these kids get excited about dancing and moving. I could tell that many of them truly had a joy around dancing, and it was just so heartwarming to see, as someone who has been dancing for about 10 years now,” Billotti said.
The workshop included a JUST US Project resiliency activity led by UNCW alum J’vanete Skiba ’03, director of the New Hanover County Task Force. UNCW's JUST US initiative combines art—in this case, the performing arts—with personal development skills to equip youth with tools for success.
The dance workshop was organized by NC Project LEAD, whose mission is to enrich the arts and humanities and economic development in underserved communities across the state. Executive Director Juanita Harper hopes the workshop experience transformed the children and inspired the community.
Art can transform our lives. When we connect with art, we ultimately connect with our inner selves.
-Juanita Harper
“Art can enable us to look within, listen to ourselves and realize who we are and what we care about. It connects us to our thoughts, feelings, perceptions and outer realities and experiences,” said Harper.
The workshop was a collaboration between NC Project Lead, UNCW, Cameron Art Museum, North Carolina Arts Council, Landfall Foundation and the New Hanover County Resiliency Task Force.
By Tatiana Bell '24
