Wheelchair Dance Program has a New Name and Location!

It's been three months since our wheelchair dance pilot and what a ride it has been (no pun intended)! We've selected a new name and have a new location! We still have a long way to go in developing the program and growing our membership but the impact on each participant, volunteer and instructor to date has been transformational. Here is a blurb from one of our members Alexis:

"When I first started the Wheelchair Dance Program I must admit I was a little nervous. I didn’t really know what to expect. However, my fears were put to rest very quickly.

Everyone in the group is very friendly and inviting. Since I’ve started, I have never felt out of place. Our dance instructor Olena is very knowledgeable and is great at teaching us. She is very patient. She never seems to mind going over things again if we don’t understand something.

We all understand that we learn at different paces and that is okay. That is what makes this group successful. We all understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we all know we learn different ways. I hope this program goes on for a very long time!"

New Name

Our new name as created and selected by our members is:

Equal Grounds Emerging Performance Arts Collective

The thinking behind this name is because not only are the members interested in the dancing, they are also interested in the social aspects and other forms of arts where we have integrated improv and theatrical activities and meditation.

New Location

Our new location is:

341 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario (also known as the Senator D. Croll Apartments)

Dates and Time

Our program dates and time for July and August is:

Friday, July 4

Friday, July 11

Friday, July 18

Friday, July 25
Friday, August 1
Friday, August 8
Friday, August 15
Friday, August 22
Friday, August 29

The classes will run from 8:30 to 10:00PM.

Check Out the Action!

Post by Equal Grounds.

Wheelchair Dance Program Pilot Starting in April!

UPDATE 2: We will be starting in April 2014. There's still a few more space remaining!

UPDATE: Space is limited to 10 participants and deadline to register is Friday, February 14th!

Hi everyone, i'm Torrance's brother Terrence. Our mom has wished there be a wheelchair dance program in Toronto for many years. So this year we at Equal Grounds will be piloting a wheelchair dance program!

Starting in March we will pilot a 4 week dance program! If you love music and dance this is your opportunity to feel the beat.

You can register to the 4 week dance program below. It's pay what you can, as the program will be powered by Equal Grounds.

Online Ticketing for Wheelchair Dance Program Pilot, Powered by Equal Grounds powered by Eventbrite

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @terrencewkho. For those of you not familiar with wheelchair dance, here are a few examples of it:

Equal Grounds Training Pilot

It’s always been hard as a person with different ability to find suitable work. So my brother and I started up a company called Equal Grounds to help create job opportunities for people with different abilities and also focus on technologies to enable us to be more productive in work and for everyday life. On Saturday, July 6 we had an Equal Grounds training pilot and we invited a few people from TPWHL to pilot this program. On the day we did a lot of exercises to help us open up and we also had an opportunity to try a technology called the EyeWriter, a device that enables us to draw with the movement of our eyes.

The glasses for the EyeWriter was heavy on the face and I had some trouble using it but it was still fun. It’s exciting to think that this technology is available and to think about the possibilities that could come from this technology like surfing the web, checking email and among other ideas. I felt that the exercises helped me open up and better understand ourselves. The one I enjoyed the most is the “Good and Bad”. For example, “What is the bad of sunshine?” And the answer someone would give is “dehydration” or “sunburn”. Overall I thought it was a successful training pilot for Equal Grounds and I think all the participants had a great time and they are very interested in continuing with our company. We will also hold a bigger training program in August.