University of Calgary students Brianna Boyle, 22, and Cayley Hanrahan, 20, are helping a group of Calgary preschoolers gain confidence and trust—one game of musical chairs at a time. 

Twice a week, Boyle and Hanrahan, both undergraduate students in the Faculty of Fine Arts’ dance program, head downtown to teach groups of three- to six-year-olds the basics of dance through games like alphabet soup, where the youngsters twist themselves into letters. More than teaching the students how to dance, Boyle and Hanrahan are also teaching the children how to express themselves. 

“Dance gives the children a vocabulary to describe how they are feeling,” says Gord Robinson, coordinator of the Salvation Army Bridges Program, which partners with the U of C in what’s known as the Urban Dance Project, part of the Urban Campus Partnership. The Bridges program offers one-on-one attention to preschoolers who have been identified as having emotional or behavioural challenges. 

“We really enjoy the infectious enthusiasm,” says Boyle, who is one of several dozen dance students who regularly teach in the downtown core as part of the Urban Dance Project, which also offers classes to immigrant seniors living in downtown Calgary. “We enjoy what we are doing and try to clearly communicate that to the children.”

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