A Participant Shares His Perspective on Our Virtual Summer Camps

This summer, from July 27 to August 7 2020, the National Centre for Dance Therapy had the chance to offer two virtual summer camps in dance and creative arts for teenagers on the autism spectrum. Every morning, participants joined a dance class, followed, in the afternoon, by an artistic activity, that involved the Montreal Opera, the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra, an art-therapist and a scenographer.

This fall, we continue to work with the participants through our virtual adapted dance classes! Below, discover a participant’s first-hand impressions of the camp and have a look at the video we prepared.

I am a teenager on the spectrum with performance anxiety. During the lockdown period, I often suffered from panic attacks. My mother thus signed me up for this summer camp to help me change my mind and, at the end, I was more relaxed and found it easier to express myself.

I love drawing and creating my own characters, so the visual arts classes were fun for me. And now, I draw with more confidence and freedom. I also like sports and exercising, so I enjoyed the dance classes with Émilie, which were much more than just a dance class. In fact, everyone was free to choose their own moves to express their emotions, without being judged. It was like a therapy. I also love singing under the shower and now I’m even better thanks to the opera classes.

To summarize, we moved, we had fun and we made friends. We are finally like the others…

To conclude, I loved your activities. Thanks to you, I developed my talents and discovered some new ones, as opera singing. I therefore want to thank you everyone for this unforgettable moments.