When is a regular gym class not just a regular gym class?
When it’s a wellness class, an acting class, a dance class.
Health and wellness can incorporate these elements and more. That’s why this past spring, Carleton North High School teacher Jewel McLatchy teamed up with accomplished Spanish teacher, actor, and choreographer Raúl Márquez to offer an innovative health and wellness class for students at the school.
With funding from Arts & Culture NB, the duo created an Artists in Schools Program that had students literally jumping for joy. (See the video below!):
Teamwork
“Raúl has been doing some supply work within the district and he approached the principal here— Jason Smith—about doing an artist in school program,” said McLatchy, who wrote the grant proposal to Arts & Culture NB in January. “The idea was that we’d have Raul come in for about four sessions per group and incorporate physical movement into as many courses as we could.”
The project, which ran from April to June, was incorporated into five sections of personal wellness classes, Individual and Family Wellness 12-0, Dramatic Arts 12-0, and various gym classes. In addition to physical fitness, the project also satisfied other specified outcomes, such as speaking and listening, verbal and non-verbal communication, and sign language.
“The students absolutely loved it. One of [the classes] was mostly games and an introduction to the sign language song. Then the final session was fight-scene choreography,” she said. “Everyone participated, even some of the ones who were kind of dragging their feet at the beginning really enjoyed it.”
And, according to Márquez, the foot draggers were usually skeptical because of one element: Dance.
“I always face the same problem in the beginning. When they hear the word ‘dance’ they put up a wall. It happened in Spain too,” he said. “So, I tried to avoid the word ‘dance’. My approach is through games that challenge them with physical activities. Little by little we remove different layers of apprehension. Then, without them really noticing, they are moving and getting into the rhythm, and using their bodies to express themselves.”
Raúl’s Story
When Márquez and his wife moved to the Florenceville-Bristol area permanently in 2022, he was already an accomplished performer and teacher. He studied drama and dance at the School of Dramatic Arts in his native Seville, Spain. Upon graduation, he worked for four years at a Seville’s Danza Mobile, an arts centre for people with intellectual disabilities. Students learned theatre, dance, visual arts, and painting, he said. “It’s a beautiful place.”
After four years at the arts centre, Márquez auditioned for, and was accepted at, the competitive Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Salzburg, Austria. After completing a degree in dance, he returned to Danza Mobile for another eight years.
Next stop, New Brunswick
“Because my wife was born in Toronto and her family was in New Brunswick, we came to visit them in the summer of 2018,” Márquez said. “They were living in Saint John and we fell in love with this province and this beautiful nature. We thought that this would be a really beautiful place to raise our family.”
The couple returned to New Brunswick in 2020, during the pandemic. Their first child was born here during that time. But pandemic-related delays in processing Márquez’s work permit meant they had to return to Spain in 2021. When they finally came back for good in July 2022, they made the Florenceville-Bristol area their home.
And Márquez wasted no time in making his talents known in the community.
Said McLatchy, “One of my students had Raúl for a music class as a supply teacher, and they were talking about dance and he was really excited about it. He said, ‘hey, I wonder if we can get him to come in and do something with our English class?’”
Márquez had also been teaching movement workshops at Carleton North.
“I went there to present my ideas [to CNHS Principal Jason Smith] and tell him I was available and willing to work in the high school, and then he told me about the grant for the artist in the school program.”
So McLatchy went to work writing the grant proposal. It was approved in March and students began moving to the results in April.
Moving and Learning
“The environment [in class] is so judgment-free and I feel completely safe to explore all these facets of dance and body movement without feeling like there are eyes on me all the time,” said CNHS Grade 12 student Hannah-Rae McIntosh, who also goes by the alias ‘Indigo’.
CNHS Grade 12 student Michael Daugherty likes how Márquez “integrates other activities into his dance sessions and classes, like games that help with your body awareness. That all helps when it comes to the dance process.”
While McIntosh and Daugherty are members of the school’s theatre company, both have no extensive experience with dance. They attribute their moves seen in the Márquez-produced class video to his instruction.
“I plan on pursuing musical theater in university,” said McIntosh, a seasoned singer-songwriter who has performed for large crowds at the summer market in Florenceville-Bristol and at dramafest, “maybe not as a dancer, but I like having body awareness and knowing how to make your body look good for a camera and an audience. This is very helpful for that.”
Said Daugherty, “I don’t know if I’m going to go into a profession where I have to dance, but this definitely helps with public speaking and just being comfortable being viewed on stage. I’m pursuing a career in industrial design, but if an acting opportunity pops up, I would definitely go for that. I have a sister in Los Angeles who’s kind of in that world.”
The project was funded at Carleton North for the 2023-2024 school year but Márquez, who also works with Fredericton performing arts company Solo Chicken Productions, hopes to bring it to new places.
“It would be my dream to do these kinds of workshops and projects in different educational centers in the Fredericton area,” he said.