Canadians Love To Dance!

The Canadian Council for the Arts, with support from the Ontario Arts Council, conducted a nation wide survey called, Yes I Dance. The survey included dancers, choreographers, and dance teachers from across the country. There were over 8,100 responses, representing 190 forms of dance. The survey was conducted to gain a better understanding of who dances in Canada, where they dance, and why.

An interactive tool was created using the information collected through the survey. The Dance Wheel allows users to explore and discover many forms of dance that Canadians are passionate about.

The Dance Wheel is beautifully multilayered. The outer ring of the wheel highlights a larger category/style of dance, that is further broken down into many forms that are represented within that category. For example, Contemporary/Modern dance is a category found on the outer ring, which includes forms such as, tap, modern, lryical, and contact improvisation to name a few.

Each category on the outer ring of the dance wheel reveals information about that group as a whole such as, the number of hours/week that are spent in this category of dance, how many years those surveyed have been dancing, and the most popular reasons people participate in the dance style (for example: enjoyment, cultural connection, artistic expression). The next layer provides a description of each of the forms of dance that are included within the category. Here you can also find video samples of the forms, and a map of where the dance forms are found across Canada.

To explore the 100 most popular dance forms in Canada, and to add your voice to this unique survey of Canadian dance, click here.

Click here to view the full report and provincial excerpts.