Amy Tepperman

Transcript

we're going to begin with a little experiment so I'm going to stomp my foot two times after which please answer me back One Clap okay so it's going to sound like this got it okay so shoulders back get yourself ready our goal we want to sound like one person clapping every time okay here we go perfect okay we're gonna do it again only this time every time you clap I want you to choose a different way to do it on you around you on the table don't forget to double high five the people around you as well okay here we go okay now just observe

the difference between the first time and the second time the first time sounded amazing there is so much power in unity your faces however looked a little like that where's the second time we kept that sense of unity but we added in freedom of choice and individuality then your faces look like this I became really fascinated with combining these two opposite truths about human beings our unity and our individuality because we we often separate them it's either about our togetherness or about our differences and look at the magic we create when we combine them so I'd love to share with you what I learned from

facilitating dance parties with thousands of children that has led me to believe that this combination of these two things is a really key component to what creates a positive community so in 2010 I began facilitating these dance experiences in public Elementary and high schools and I've had the privilege of having a massive sample size so thousands of kids all different ages all different demographics all parts of Ontario Canada and sometimes Beyond and there was one Trend that really caught my attention because I felt like I was gaining some insight into where in our human childhood development we actually start to go off course when it

comes to creating a positive community and when is that moment grade five yes so what happens around 10 11 years old okay so we're going to park that age for a moment let me share with you what these dance experiences would look like and feel like kindergarten to around grade four because let me tell you they are off the hook the kids are just they're just having an absolute blast and it's it's not a free-for-all so just like we did in the beginning with the clap we joined them on a movement and then encourage them to freely and independently move around the space and this

idea of unity and individuality it just comes really naturally to the little ones because they all do the same thing but one kid's going that way one kid's going that way one's going backwards one's going sideways one's making a circle and there's just this natural positivity in the room now grade five hits and it's a little bit of a different Dynamic now so now we join them together on a move we ask them to move around the space and the instinct is now to Clump together and move in these cliques and packs and follow each other around the room and this makes perfect sense this

is when this sense of belonging kicks in this is a very deeply ingrained survival Instinct that never really goes away I think we can all relate to times in our lives when we have the need to belong or make our decisions based on what we think other people might think but it's heartbreaking because we see these kids just start to lose their individuality you know because when one kid in the group goes that way whole group goes that way one kid makes a circle they all make a circle one kid starts the floss and now they all start to fall off and you know what's

interesting though is I say grade five is it's still a pretty good marker of when this starts to happen but what is kind of concerning is in the last couple years this is starting to creep in around grade three grade four a little bit and now when we once had this unity and individuality now we have segregation and sameness now we have this US versus themness and the irony is that when all we want is to belong that's when we create this separation so when we would see this Dynamic start to happen we'd sit them down and we'd have a conversation and what started to

come up was that belonging doesn't necessarily mean the same and we are all individuals part of one group and as long as we respect that Oneness we respect that cooperation we are free and encouraged to be our own individual creative selves and now when we get back and do it again Magic the positivity of the grade one dance party would return so I thought to myself wow what an amazing Visual and experiential metaphor to what creates a positive community and how in my own life can I combine these two things in ways that I contribute to and I belong to communities you know within our

schools and in our workplaces where we can be United on the same Mission or the same vision or purpose yet encourage differences of opinion or multiple ways of achieving results or within our families imagine we're United by love yet support and respect each other's different life paths and decisions and imagine within ourselves United on this one human team we release ourselves as the Judgment in our minds of our own and each other's differences because it is clearly all that individuality that makes up the unified whole and if we can do that I think the world might feel more like a grade one dance party

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.