Dancing through the stages of life
Since she was five years old, Connie Moker Wernikowski has loved dancing! “I took ballet lessons in Prince Albert and when my teacher left, my parents drove me to Saskatoon.”
Eventually she went on to achieve a BA in Dance at York University and a master’s in education at the University of Regina. From 1994 to 2009, she served as the artistic director of Youth Ballet and Contemporary Dance of Saskatchewan.
Moker Wernikowski is a highly talented and creative professional contemporary dance artist who still maintains a healthy balance of physical activity through dance and yoga at the age of 62. “My body may be limited, but my body still moves and I’m able to express myself in an artistic way,” she says.
As owner of Big Fish Yoga, Moker Wernikowski offers instruction to people of many age groups — classes are available for beginners and up. There are also gentle levels for those with limited flexibility. Having always practiced yoga, she finds that it has made a difference in her body movement, making her more flexible. It was in 2010 that she decided to become a teacher and pass on to others what she had learned.
Being a dancer, choreographer and yoga instructor, Moker Wernikowski understands the value of being active throughout all stages of life. According to NIH Senior Health, regular physical activity and exercise are important to the physical and mental health of almost everyone, including older adults. Staying physically active and exercising regularly can produce long-term health benefits and even improve health for some older people who have diseases and disabilities.
She encourages people of all ages to do activities that they enjoy and find something that is sensitive to their body’s limitations, but adds that whatever you do, don’t let your age stop you. Moker Wernikowski says that maintaining an active lifestyle at any stage of life is also beneficial on a deeper level. “Dancing and yoga connect me to myself. They help centre me and find my inner joy. I even dance through sad times and times of grief.”
To celebrate the varied stages of life and motivate people of all ages to live an active lifestyle, Moker Wernikowski has choreographed a contemporary dance, titled Loops and Crinkles. This thoughtful and graceful performance is multigenerational, and features Moker Wernikowski, her daughter Katrina Currie along with granddaughters Evelyn Currie and Elle Wernikowski. The dance intimately praises the inherent human spirit as it moves through all of the stages of life.
Moker Wernikowski says that her daughter is also a trained dancer and that her granddaughters exude a lot of energy and spontaneity. Her focus in choreographing Loops and Crinkles was to channel that energy and include that spontaneity while demonstrating the experience and skill of herself and Currie — it is a demonstration of the beauty of youth and experience melding into one. “We hope to throw a few ‘Loops and Crinkles’ into the preconceived notions that some may have about the age and timeline for dance, and who can dance together.”
Moker Wernikowski and her family are thrilled about performing this stunningly artistic dance at the 9th Annual Healthy Dancer Canada Conference in Saskatoon. The theme for the conference this year is Dancing through Life. The Loops and Crinkles dance will be part of the opening at 9 a.m. and will encompass the conference’s theme.
As we move through life, our bodies transition from one stage to another; this does not, however, mean that we should sit on the sidelines after a certain age. Not only is keeping active through life beneficial for us on a physical level, Moker Wernikowski says that it is very important to help us maintain quality of life.