Workshop from Home (WFH) is a holistic approach to an online dance program created by ABBD alumni Youran Lee and Megan Myklegard. We interviewed them to find out more about their newest venture!
ABBD: What is WFH?
YL & MM: It stands for ‘Workshop from Home,’ and it’s a 4 week online dance program with 2 meetings a week (1 dance, 1 lecture). There are 2 tracks, beginner and int/adv, so people can feel more comfortable in whatever level they want to place themselves in. There are a lot of community building discussions beyond movement which will cover dance history, the creative process, content creation, and mental health. Our goal is to have a holistic view of dance with the community.
ABBD: What was the intention in creating this program?
YL & MM: The idea started off with creating a program specifically for beginners. We also looked into our own NY/NJ community and felt there wasn’t a lot of time for these people in our own community to be showcased. So we wanted to combine those two ideas.
ABBD: Why should students take this program?
YL & MM: What is different about our program is that we are offering a lot of teachers and lectures rather than one person and a mentorship under them. We want to help people improve on their versatility and wanted to include other voices as well. A reason for people to join is to learn from lots of different people for an affordable price as well.
ABBD: Is there a minimum skill level? Who can sign up?
YL & MM: Anybody can sign up! The beginner level will be arranged from absolute beginners to more advanced beginners and we are hoping it will be beneficial for anybody in between those levels. Intermediate and advanced dancers in our community are always welcome as well.
ABBD: Tell us about the organizations you are supporting through this program?
YL & MM: WHF is donating 20% of their proceeds to The Love Land Foundation, The Black Feminist Project, Milwaukee Freedom Fund, and Housing Justice For All. We felt that these organizations were not only really important to us as people, but also relevant to what’s going on in our world and our community right now.
ABBD: Are there any tools/insights you gained from ABBD that inspired or helped you launch this?
YL & MM: Both of our final projects kinda had to do with this. Mine was a physical 7 week program for beginners and Megan’s was an online program, so we just fused both of our ideas. The main thing ABBD gave us is the confidence to do this. And also a lot of ideas with how Sorah structured her classes and the syllabus she created — how organized everything was. It allowed us to have a better picture of our goals, not only with this program, but with everything that we want to do with dance.
What Megan and I loved about ABBD was that we were kinda in a dance slump and didn't really have motivation at that time to be dancing, and the program was a chance to study and talk about dance without having to throw ourselves into classes right away - so we got inspiration from that. Motivating one another in a class setting and having an accountability group and really finding reasons to push ourselves beyond just ‘we gotta take class at home and it just feels monotonous.’ I really hope this can be a chance for people to form accountability groups in our community.
—
WFH is a program that any and all dancers can benefit from. Whether you’re just getting started or looking for a challenge, Youran and Megan are offering both a beginner track and an int/adv tack filled with movement, lessons, and lectures to help you grow from a diverse list of instructors. WFH is a unique opportunity to expand your movement, inform your mind, and strengthen your versatility, while also being held accountable for your own personal goals. Go to @WFH.dance to sign up by clicking the link in their bio before September 13th!