Friday June 27 (7:00PM);
Saturday June 28 (7:00PM);
Sunday June 29, 2008 (12:00PM)

Culture Shock Canada and Maestro Productions are proud to present CULTURE SHOCK CANADA SHOWCASE WEEKEND 2008, hosted at the Carleton Alumni Theatre, Southam Hall, 1125 Colonel By Drive. As result of previous success over the past few years, Showcase 2008 will be our biggest show yet!

This exciting weekend of hip hop dance will welcome dancers and instructors from Kingston, Montreal, Toronto, New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Diego and of course our hometown Ottawa. Join us on Friday June 27th for the Youth Showcase and Saturday June 28th for the Culture Shock Canada Showcase.

Produced and directed by Culture Shock Canada's National Executive Director Marc-André Clément, this showcase weekend will also reward Community Hip Hop Program Leadership Awards to several selected youth who have shown outstanding contribution, commitment, positive attitude, cooperation, respect, support and dedication. Also, a Future Shock Dancer will be rewarded by their peers and one instructor will be awarded the Youth Outreach Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to Culture Shock Canada youth outreach programs.

The CULTURE SHOCK CANADA SHOWCASE WEEKEND 2008 will cap off Sunday June 29th with a full day of Hip Hop Master Classes at La Cité collégiale, 810 Aviation Parkway. These classes will feature a variety of instructors including Rana Khoury (Culture Shock Ottawa), Steve Bolton (8 Count - Montreal), Joseph Nontanovan (Culture Shock Washington D.C.), Dennis Caindec (Culture Shock Los Angeles) and Jasmine Jenkins (Culture Shock San Diego).

For further details please email Marc-André Clement at (613) 868-1263

A University of Ottawa Ph.D. student has studied the benefits of a Culture Shock Canada hip-hop dance program on the well-being of adolescents in South-East Ottawa

Physical activity plays a huge role in positive development and well-being for youth. An evaluation and research project looked at the benefits of a community-based hip-hop dance program at promoting well-being for adolescents in a multicultural, underprivileged South-East Ottawa neighborhood. Hip-hop is a form of dance that does not require exceptional abilities, strength, endurance, or special equipment, but rather, emphasizes social interaction and freedom of individual expression. This project represented a collaborative effort between South-East Ottawa Centre for a Healthy Community, Culture Shock Canada, Heron Road Community Centre, and the University of Ottawa. This project is used a pretest-posttest non-experimental design to study whether participation in a culturally-relevant, non-competitive, and fun hip-hop program lead to improved psychological, social, and physical well-being for adolescents. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used.

For more information regarding the evaluation and research project, contact Julie Beaulac (jbeau080@uottawa.ca).