Jenn Hicks
Toronto-Based Dance Fitness Instructor
Recovery From The Inside Out
My fullest concentration of energy is available to me only when I integrate all the parts of who I am, openly, allowing power from particular sources of my living to flow back and forth freely through all my different selves, without the restrictions of externally imposed definition. Only then can I bring myself and my energies as a whole to the service of those struggles which I embrace as part of my living.
—Audre Lorde
Jenn (she/her) started attending dance fitness classes as a way of recovering from a long struggle with adulthood anorexia and exercise addiction. Experiencing firsthand the positive impact embodied movement had and still has on her life, Jenn knew she needed to bring it to her world.
In 2008, Jenn started integrating her love of dance and movement with her professional world by teaching Nia for the Royal Conservatory’s Living Through the Arts (LTTA) Program, a program through which research studies have proven movement's importance as part of a healthcare regimen. Jenn also introduced dance fitness classes to people living with aphasia, brain injuries, and stroke at Baycrest Health Centre’s Memory-Link Program, adolescents at The Hospital for Sick Children’s Eating Disorders Day Treatment Program, caregivers and clients at the Alzheimer Society of Toronto, adolescents with mental health concerns at New Outlook, and young adults with mental health needs at The Residences on Bayview. In 2015, Jenn began developing creative movement programming for seniors with memory loss at the University Health Network’s Dotsa Bitove Wellness Academy. Across the board, Jenn's classes provide a safe place for anyone to become more self-aware, lower stress levels, and increase both fitness levels and overall health.
Jenn has training in different movement modalities including The Nia Technique and The Groove Method. She is also a Certified Personal Trainer and a Size Inclusive Fitness Specialist. She has taught classes all over the world including in Canada, USA, Croatia, Columbia, India, and Costa Rica. She has been featured in The Toronto Star, The Globe & Mail, The Times of India, Moods Magazine, NOW Magazine, on radio (CFRB 1010), and in three books, The Truth About Exercise Addiction by Katherine Schreiber & Heather A. Hausenblas; Mess: The Hospital Anthology edited by Julie Devaney and Dave Molenhuis and The Suicide Magnet: Inside the Battle to Erect a Safety Barrier on Toronto's Bloor Viaduct by Paul McLaughlin.
Jenn is a Health At Every Size (HAES) informed instructor and is a proud member of the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) and the Body Positive Fitness Alliance. She currently teaches online and in person from Toronto, Canada.
Press Mentions
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I respectfully thank and acknowledge the original stewards of this land on which I live and work. T'karonto is the traditional territory of many nations including: the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Chippewa and the Haudenosaune. Today this place is still the home to many diverse Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and I am grateful to be a settler here living and working on this land. Like almost all property in Canada, this land was obtained, generally in unconscionable ways, from Indigenous peoples and I continue to benefit from access to land gained through the exploitation of others. Knowing where I live doesn't change the past but a thorough understanding of the ongoing consequences of this past empowers me to respect and participate in a future that supports human justice and flourishing for all individuals.