The 45-minute class, led by Natacha Corriveau of the Corriveau School of Dance, incorporated several songs into a whirlwind of dances, parachute activities and an obstacle course.

“Dance has always been a part of my life, so to pass it onto children is very rewarding,” said Corriveau. “In the city, there’s things like . . .

Cosmic Adventures or the trampoline parks, but here in the Pontiac we don’t have any of that, so this is kind of supplementing what’s missing.”

Creative Movement’s planner, Emily Haaima, is a member of The Parents’ Voice, a community organization focused on creating youth development resources and events for families in Shawville.

“I have a five and a three-year-old, so I know my three-year-old, she pretty-well doesn’t remember life before COVID,” said Haaima. “I find that age group for sure is having a hard time kind of adjusting to having a large crowd around them.”

For the parents, this sort of event provides an opportunity to reintroduce their children to meaningful, in-person social interactions after two years of unpredictable school closures and cancelled extracurricular activities.

“It’s a good movement activity for my kids and for me to come with my kids and be able to dance with them and enjoy it together,” said Hannah Kavanagh, Corriveau’s sister-in-law and one of the four parents at the event.

Creative Movement’s ability to adapt to provincial health measures and its low cost of equipment has made it the most viable event for The Parents’ Voice to host during the pandemic. Despite this, planning Creative Movement has still been a challenge for The Parents’ Voice.

“It’s definitely been tricky, especially with things changing so often,” said Haaima. “Most of our events, we have to plan a little bit ahead, you can’t just do it last minute.”

In previous years, Creative Movement was hosted annually for six weeks during the Pontiac’s winter months, but the pandemic has put a restraint on this schedule. As restrictions ease, Corriveau hopes that Creative Movement is here to stay.

“I know I was like really down during the pandemic that we couldn’t do dance and kind of had thought about my livelihood like if this continues because it’s been like two years, but when I see kids coming back after this,” said Corriveau. “It’s wonderful.”

Creative Movement will be held at the Shawville Lions Hall every Monday from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. until April 11.

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