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#Giving Tuesday 2021 : What Kind of Impact Will Your #GivingTuesday Donations Make?

By November 29, 2021No Comments

Since March of 2020, our small but mighty JUNTOS team has been working hard to develop and implement new virtual programming that has continued to create real global impact far beyond the limits of their Zoom boxesThough the team is has been working remotely from four different countries and various time zones, we are happy to say that their perseverance has produced concrete ripples of impact that has created positive international impact – miles away from the isolation of their Zoom boxes.

Over the last year of JUNTOSVirtual, these ripples have broken the confines of the Zoom box to impact over 215 participants from 12 organizations in 5 different countries, on top of the 28 new graduates of our Global Teacher training program and 5 Master Class instructors, all of whom continue to create change in their own communities!

This #GivingTuesday, JUNTOS is aiming to raise $10,000 to support our newest program, JUNTOSVirtual. During the winter of 2021 and spring of 2022, we aim to provide over 200 hours of virtual dance performance and arts education programming to underserved communities – both in the U.S and internationally!

Are you ready to move outside the Zoom box with us?

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Join us on November 30th, 2021 for #GivingTuesday and help us make a global impact through dance!
Thanks to two generous anonymous donors, you can double your impact!
Together, they have pledged to match donations up to $5,000 USD raised from #GivingTuesday (November 30th) through December 7th!

What Kind of Impact Will Your #GivingTuesday Donation Make?

$25 USD brings 30 minutes of a leadership-focused virtual dance workshop to one of our Community Alliances!

How Dance Builds Leadership Skills!

1. Improvisation

Sometimes things don’t go our way. We can try to force the situation, or we can improvise and adjust. This can take the form of attempting a skill or piece of choreography that doesn’t work out. Whether a mistake was made, or you just forget the step.

It’s not the end of the world. You can improvise instead, and create a new move out of the one that didn’t work.

“Life is like dancing. If we have a big floor, many people will dance. Some will get angry when the rhythm changes. But life is changing all the time.”

– Miguel Angel Ruiz
2. Clear communication

You can tell people anything you want, but if it’s not clear and accessible, it will not translate.

Our bodies communicate so much more than our words, and while people may not be consciously paying attention to your body, clear body language will allow them to see what you’re saying.

3. Creating comfort and safety

No one wants to make the people around them feel awkward and uncomfortable. By understanding what your body language communicates to others, you’re better able to make people feel comfortable around you, and they’ll begin to feel safe being vulnerable and honest with you!

“Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor.”

– H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
4. Take the opportunity!

Sometimes we take too long thinking about an opportunity and we miss it. In dance, there are a lot of challenging opportunities to face. Maybe you go for it right away, but maybe you don’t. Maybe you have to think about it.

That’s okay! There’s always another song. Sure, you always want to try to take advantage of a good opportunity, or it might be gone forever but, if you miss it, no worries!

It’s never the only one. There’s always another opportunity around the corner!

5. The best leaders can also follow!

Dance teaches that every good leader knows how to follow respectfully. Sometimes someone does something unexpected, and you have to choose whether to ignore it or to follow them and trust them to create something wonderful.

By learning the challenges your followers face, empathy can be developed so that decisions made will always take into account the risks and benefits for everyone involved. If you only have half the picture, you’re missing valuable information.

$50 USD supports 30 participants anywhere in the world with a one-hour confidence-building movement workshop!

4 Ways Dance Builds Confidence and Self-Esteem

  1. Dance improves self-confidence and self-esteem by providing an opportunity for people from all walks of life to express themselves and learn something fun and new.
  2. We often forget that dance doesn’t have to be for an audience, but that’s the beauty of recreational dancing! When we focus on learning new movements, we begin to let go of the fear of judgment from others, and we stop judging ourselves, gain confidence, and break through the fear!
  3. Dancing helps to increase self-esteem and self-image! As you discover all that your body can do, you can’t help but feel proud! There is a special power in having control of your own mind/body connection.
  4. Because it demands mindfulness and presence, dancing helps to keep you grounded and in tune with the current events so that you can let go of the stress and worries of the past and future!

$100 USD creates a ripple of change by

sponsoring one Global Teacher scholarship!

How JUNTOSVirtual Impacts our Global Teachers!

JUNTOSVirtual is an opportunity for Community Alliances and Dance Volunteers to collaborate year-round through virtual exchanges of dance classes and performances. JUNTOSVirtual fosters leadership, development, and unity across international communities from a distance. Kennedy Hill has been a JUNTOSVirtual Global Teacher since graduating from our training program in January, and since then she has taught multiple virtual dance workshops to the children of our Community Alliance, Fundación Salvación!

"As cliche as it is, dance really is a universal language. Although I've been able to work on my Spanish, working with JUNTOS and our Community Alliances has given me the tools to sharpen my nonverbal communication skills. I've narrowed down how much time spend overthinking about the what-ifs and commit to the now. I've found that I teach with a new kind of confidence, and it's because I finally understand that teaching itself can be a form of outreach. It takes some amount of selflessness and vulnerability to connect with others while also sharing new information. Students don't need a teacher that's a "know it all"; they need someone energetic, believes in what they do and sees far enough ahead to what they can be Not only has JUNTOS allowed me to reach this conclusion for myself as an educator, but they model it for me as a lifelong student."

– Kennedy HillJUNTOSVirtual Global Teacher (Jan 2021-present)

$250 USD helps one of our international Community Alliances bring one month of JUNTOSVirtual programming to their community!

How JUNTOSVirtual Programming Impacts our Community Alliances

One of the most beautiful silver linings of the past year and all of its challenges is the beautiful and flourishing relationship between JUNTOS and Fundación Salvación. Since 1996, Fundación Salvación has worked as a non-profit organization that focuses on the protection, restoration, and transformation of the most vulnerable members of their community in Huehuetenango, Guatemala.

Since November of 2020, we have held 25 dance workshops with the students at Fundación Salvación over Zoom and we can’t wait for the next time, so that we can experience these workshops with them in person!

"The physical activity helped to establish a healthy body, but also a healthy mind through dance. The experience with JUNTOS developed confidence, group skills, and self-expression for the students of Fundación Salvación. To see them watch, learn, and dance together was wonderful, all through a Zoom call!"

– Jhonatan HernándezProgram Director at Fundación Salvación

$600 USD impacts an entire Community Alliance and 2 Global Teachers with JUNTOSVirtual workshops & 1 performance.

Our JUNTOSVirtual Community Workshop Series is an ongoing initiative to stay connected to our Community Alliances abroad through virtual dance and movement workshops with our Global Teachers.

Click here to watch highlights from some of our Community Workshop Series Performances