Krump is a style of dance with violent gestures that has allowed young people from the ghettos of Los Angeles to exteriorize their anger in a positive way. With Voguing and Waacking, LGBTQ+ communities found a way to assert their identity. The Dance Hall? We danced it to celebrate Jamaican culture, joy, nature.
“We tell these stories to young people so that each of them can identify with them,” explains Katrina Journeau, co-founder of Prima Danse.
Prima Danse is an organization that uses dance as a means of social intervention to promote physical and mental health, primarily among vulnerable populations. We met its co-founder on a Monday morning in December, at Saint-Nom-de-Jésus school, in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Since last year, and for yet another year, professional dancers have been offering dance workshops in five classes at this elementary school. At the request of the establishment, Prima Danse emphasizes the prevention of violence. On the program, therefore, urban dances such as hip-hop, break and Krump.
“The theme of the workshops varies from one setting to another, but here, we work a lot on managing emotions,” explains Katrina Journeau, who collaborated with organizations to put together the lesson plan.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Katrina Journeau
When you feel anger, stress, performance anxiety, what are the tools that would allow you to feel these emotions without projecting them onto someone else?
Katrina Journeau
The speaker Tamara Journeau asks the students of 5e year if they can remember why they learned street dances like hip-hop, krump and break. Julien, 12, remembers in any case the role played by these dances in the 1970s and 1980s. dance,” he said.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The practitioner Tamara Journeau does an exercise with a student.
As a first exercise, the students face each other, hold each other by the forearm, and bend the knees while exerting an equivalent force backwards, to keep their balance. “You have to really listen to the other person,” advises speaker Kevin Qian, aka K-Ching. At the end of the exercise, he and his colleague take the opportunity to have a discussion with the students on listening to each other and on healthy relationships. One stone, two shots.
If some young people still have a little difficulty in abandoning themselves to the movements, others participate with heart. Especially the boys. Katrina Journeau confirms it: girls seem to be more afraid of judgement, at least at first.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Arthur and Téa, on the left, do an exercise with speakers Kevin Qian and Tamara Journeau.
“At their age, it’s not easy not to pay attention to what other people think,” notes teacher Amélie Jacques, who also takes part in the workshops. But they are getting better at it. There are some who are very erased in class, but whom I see in a new light in these workshops. »
The students appreciate the effect the dance has on them. “Sometimes it calms me down,” says Estéban, 10. Also, I have more energy and I feel like moving more. »
“It freaks me out when I’m angry. I love it,” Téa says.
“It makes me feel good,” adds Arthur. It makes me more energetic and more in my work. »
The pandemic has had the effect of expanding the clientele of Prima Danse, which has existed since 2010. “Before, you had to convince people that dance could do good, says Katrina Journeau. Today, we are called. »