VICTORY: A DANCE STORY TEASER
A DANCE STORY
The VICTORY Arts Foundation is a non-profit organization based in the Lower Mainland that operates dance classes for people of all abilities. The VICTORY team often performs at community events and student recitals -- and proudly performed onstage at the Times of India Film Awards in Vancouver.
Several of their students who hail from the North Shore ConneXions have found passion in their dance classes. Ashley, Danielle, Nick and Gal sat down to tell us why they love dance so much.
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Nick and Gal dream of becoming professional dance instructors -- and VICTORY Manager Suragini Ravindran tells us that the foundation is working hard to make that dream come true in the very near future.
V I C T O R Y
Meet Ashley, Danielle, Gallagher, and Nick: four of VICTORY's most enthusiastic students. Dance is more than just a hobby for them.
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We talked to each student to find out what dance means to them -- and what they want to do with it.
There's been some -- not a lot -- of research done on the value of dance in the life of people with Down Syndrome.
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Those who have looked into it, however, believe that dance as therapy could have many benefits for those who live with the condition.
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Dancers say dance helps them with motor skills, balance, teamwork, memory, social skills, confidence -- and life.
"...many interventions for children with Down syndrome, such as physical therapy, are repetitive anduninteresting... Jobling, Virji-Babul, and Nichols (2006) theorize that dance will teach children with Down syndrome how to communicate with others,create a movement language, and develop awareness, while still allowing the participants to explore their surroundings and practice being creative."
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-- Nicole Reinders, Pamela J. Bryden & Paula C. Fletcher (2015) Dancing with Down syndrome: a phenomenological case study, Research in Dance Education, 16:3, 291-307
VICTORY Manager Suragini Ravindran chats with us about getting VICTORY students to their goals of professional dancing and teaching.
Members of the VICTORY Dance Team dance alongside Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and VICTORY founder Shiamak Davar at the Times of India Film Awards in Vancouver in 2013 / Victory Arts Foundation Canada
