Teachers! Looking for a unique arts experience for your classes? Both the Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre and TILT sound+motion perform student matinees throughout Ontario just for you!

While our primary activity is dance-making, the focus of our work with young people has naturally evolved into school and community outreach programs which aim to reduce the distance between audience and performer.

We Know Our Audience
Both TILT and CCDT are seasoned performers for student audiences. Since we began our Ontario Residency Initiative in 2002, the companies have toured across the province, performing for over 60,000 students by offering a series of matinee shows in each community, as well as in-school workshops to expand on the impact of the performance.

Our companies appeal to young audiences because they are young themselves – CCDT is made up of dancers aged 12-18, and its performances are directed to audiences of Grades 2-8. TILT dancers are in their mid-twenties and perform for Grade 7-university. The movement, the presentation of the shows and the subjects explored all reflect this youthful attitude without “talking down” to students.

A Trip to the Theatre
We are thrilled by the excitement which fills a theatre full of children and youth when the house lights go down and the curtain comes up. We think it is important to offer the complete live arts experience of a theatre setting to draw your students into the magic of the performance. Then, through our workshops, we bring that magic back to your school auditorium or dance studio to connect with students on a more personal level, while providing inspiring dance instruction.
 

Curriculum Support
When you book your class to see our performances you will receive a Performance Guide which links the dances in the program you will be seeing to aspects of the Ontario Curriculum. The Performance Guide includes a brief history of dance, a glossary of dance terms, background information on the company and the featured choreographers, discussion topics on subjects raised in the program (i.e. the music used, the visual impact of the movement, the subjects such as bullying and relationships that are shown in the dances). Please click here for a selection of Performance Guides to download.

Our workshops also follow the dance curriculum. CCDT and TILT both offer introductory to advanced classes in movement for those students interested in personally experiencing what they have seen on stage. DanceGuide classes are professional development sessions for teachers of dance. Taken together, performances and workshops complement and reinforce one another, resulting in a complete community dance experience that should long outlast CCDT or TILT's all too brief visit. Please click here for workshop details.

Booking Performances
We think it is essential to keep our performances accessible to all students, and with the help of generous funders we are able to keep our ticket prices in the range of $5.00.

Suggested age ranges for booking shows:
Grades 2-8: CCDT
Grade 7-University: TILT sound+motion

CCDT and TILT Residency Comments

I believe that viewing the performance overwhelmed my students who were previously artistically deprived. However, the workshop was an enlightening experience that fostered personal expression and growth in the arts and ‘brought home’ the abstract ideas presented in the original fantastic performance…our school, students, and even our entire school board NEEDS more opportunities for ‘specialists’ in dance, like yourselves, to come into our classrooms.
     Christine Battagli, Grade 8 Teacher,
     St. Catharines Residency, 2005

This programme is not only a tremendous idea, it is essential. We need to bring arts to young people, otherwise our theatres will be dark in years to come…The residency program will go a long way to creating that appetite.
     Michael Grit, Sanderson Centre,
     Brantford host venue for three 2003 and 2004 Residencies

Even though it’s the last day before March Break, I couldn’t leave on holiday without telling you how much we enjoyed the performance. Our entire primary division attended and the students and teachers were thrilled. We can hardly wait to dance back in class! We look forward to CCDT coming back soon!
     Regent Midland teacher, Simcoe County Residency, 2003

As the music and drama teacher of the school, for some time I have been looking for a performance that would introduce our students to modern dance. Your show was exactly what I was looking for, and more. Not only was it entertaining and beautifully performed, but the commentary and the fact that the dancers were young people made the show that much more accessible for our students.
     Janet Kennedy, Music/Drama Specialist,
     Edgewater Elementary School, 2004