Explore your exercise creativity, initiative, and community through movement and reflective dialogue with Learning to Lead!
About
Learning to Lead is a movement experience program centered around the health and wellness of students who identify as racialized or BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) womxn at U of T, presented by KPE’s Indigeneity, Diaspora, Equity and Anti-racism in Sport (IDEAS) Research Lab and the Well Being Collective @ Hart House.
Learning to Lead is an 8-week program consisting of weekly 60-minute group sessions. The sessions consist of two components:
- Movement Experience: Beginner-friendly movement, with opportunities to strengthen, dance and move.
- Facilitated Discussion: Instructor-led discussion, with opportunities to explore confidence, impostor phenomenon, sensuality, empowerment, self-care and more.
The Learning to Lead program will run in the Exercise and Dance studio at the Hart House Fitness Centre every Wednesday, starting January 24, 2024.
If you are an undergraduate or graduate student at the University of Toronto who identifies as a racialized womxn, you're invited to join Learning to Lead!
Learning to Lead offers participants the opportunity to engage in a voluntary research component focused on embodied learning and leadership for racialized womxn. Participants who choose to take part in the research component will have the opportunity to share their experiences during the program and in post-program interviews. Participants who engage in the research will have the opportunity to learn about and benefit from the outcomes of the study and will be compensated for their participation.
If participants have any questions about the program or the research component, please email the program coordinator, Jasmine Lew at [email protected].
Instructors
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Deniece Bell
Denice is an H&PE enthusiast, teacher for over 15 years, and graduate student here at U of T. DBell is currently pursuing a masters in Kinesiology with an emphasis on equity in sport. Deniece has been a part of a number of initiatives and developments for the advancement of sport via collaborations with Ophea, the IDEAS lab, Motus Training Studios and other grassroots programs. Her research is focused on decolonizing fitness and finding ways to support anti-racism in sport. DBell is also an LGBTQ2S+ advocate. A fitness coach by industry standards, Deniece avoids focusing on one specific form of movement. Her history in athletics helped establish her movement and strength practices, but also her struggles. Her focus is now on the joy and healing that movement can bring using a variety of forms (e.g. Kettlebells, gymnastics, martial arts, splashing around in the water, etc...), but most importantly, while engaged in shenanigans with her family. Follow her on Instagram @coachdeebell
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Damali Fraiser
Damali is a results-oriented compassionate Kettlebell Baddie, author, speaker, fitness and nutrition expert and owner of Lift off Strength & Wellness. Damali is known for her unapologetic opposition to diet culture in the kettlebell community and as a passionate educator who will help you learn to train with kettlebells or teach kettlebells from an intersectional lens, judgement-free, for every BODY.With an intersectional lens, Damali brings to the wellness space a unique blend of technical experience with her expertise in physical fitness and exercise. A U of T Engineering Alumni, Damali has 20 years of process engineering, software development lifecycle, project and organizational change management to complement 10 years in health and wellness as a Kettlebell and Nutrition Coach. Damali explores the strength of the community seen through kettlebell exercises. She believes the body is a community, each system depends on every other system. When we don't see ourselves represented in our communities it becomes a source of disconnection within our bodies. Damali speaks at conferences, workshops and corporate functions advocating for an active lifestyle where diversity, equity, inclusion and intersectionality are prioritized as a movement towards self-love for every BODY.
Follow her on Instagram @Damali.Fraiser or TikTok @liftoffstrength for trauma-informed, size-inclusive kettlebell tips & tricks.