At age nine, Manhattan MacLennan walked into her first competitive hip-hop class and felt something shift.
She had started dancing at three, though not always willingly, and remembers kicking and screaming before ballet class. But hip-hop felt different and it was then that she really fell in love with dance.
Now 21 and in her final term at Carleton University, MacLennan is the co-founder and director of Give Dance a Chance, a mobile workshop that operates on a pay-what-you-can model. She started the initiative this past November as an assignment in her communications event management course.
The next workshop, scheduled for March 29, will be the first beyond the classroom, with the goal of making dance more accessible and welcoming for adults across Ottawa.
Unlike a traditional studio, Give Dance a Chance operates as a mobile workshop that will partner with local spaces to host pop-up classes throughout the year.
During MacLennan’s 10 years of competitive dance, she trained with instructors who embodied the harsh stereotypes associated with the competitive dance world.
“I had some instructors who weren’t the kindest,” said MacLennan.
Those experiences have shaped how she approaches teaching.
Six years into her own teaching career, MacLennan creates a space where students feel supported.
“I still make sure that everyone I teach feels welcome, included and accommodated for my class,” she said.
MacLennan built Give Dance a Chance around this philosophy.
Participants register and prepay online. The workshop is open to dancers 16 and older, and while it operates on a pay-what-you-can model, there is a minimum fee of $8.
She says the model reflects her belief that dance is often financially inaccessible and can feel elitist.
The day concludes with a community mingle, where dancers are welcome to stay and chat with other dancers and instructors within the Ottawa dance community.
The workshop also gives instructors the space to teach in a setting based around accessibility and community.
Natalie Lopez, one of the instructors at the upcoming workshop, began dancing at two years old and describes dance as her first love. After moving to Ottawa for school, she continued with Carleton’s Ravens Rhythm cheer and dance team for four years before graduating in 2020.
She stepped away from dance for 18 months during the pandemic, when studio options were limited. When classes reopened, she returned as a coach for Ravens Rhythm and began teaching hip-hop and pom funk moves.
“Starting or returning to dance as an adult can already feel intimidating, and that is before you add in financial barriers to dance education,” said Lopez.
She says pay-what-you-can gives more people the opportunity to try new styles or continue their dance training.
At Give Dance a Chance, she will teach pom funk, a style that blends jazz, hip-hop and cheerleading steps.
For dancers like Claire Borgaonkar, the workshop offers a way back into the studio.
Borgaonkar, a Carleton University alumna who graduated in 2022, has been dancing since she was three years old. She has trained in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary and hip-hop, describing dance as a central part of her childhood.
University and the pandemic limited her opportunities to dance. Over the past year and a half, she has been trying to reconnect with her passion.
“Dance classes are expensive, the bills do add up, so having this option is a low-cost way for people to get introduced to it, and see if it’s something for them,” said Borgaonkar.
At the first workshop, she said she enjoyed the social at the end of the day.
“It built that sense of community, and I got to meet new faces and new friends,” she added.
For MacLennan, the workshop is more than just leaps and pointed feet.
“You don’t have to perform for anyone but yourself and do what you want to do in that moment,” she said.
So far, many of the participants are former dancers looking to reconnect after time away from the studio, though the workshop also welcomes new dancers.
Without the pressure of performance and high expectations, dancers can show up and move for themselves.
MacLennan says she has seen adults return to dance after years away, rediscovering something they once loved.
Instructor Sally Riche, for example, returned to dance after nearly 10 years away.
“What made me stay this time was not just the movement,” she said. “It was the community.”
Riche describes her hip-hop style as grounded and laid-back, reflecting what she calls a “chill, fun vibe.”
She says finding that supportive environment motivated her to begin teaching, with the goal of creating the kind of space she did not have growing up.
For MacLennan, moments like these are what affirm the impact of the space she is building.
“What I hope people get out of the workshop is to feel free and themselves in the space.”
