Tuning up for Terpsichore
Article content
After competitions in Niagara Falls’ Kick It Up and On Stage in Brantford last month, Danscene’s junior dance team has been tuning up their routines.
Danscene’s Emily Christiaens, 10, who did hip hop last year, added jazz and musical theatre for her second competitive dance season.
They did well in Niagara Falls, said Christiaens, ‘for the first competition.’
“When we watched the tapes (from Niagara Falls) we made our corrections and then made it ‘bigger’ and ‘together’ more. We’re all together – the same timing and counts.
“It was better (in Brantford).”
Kennedy Elku, 8, dances in the Tillsonburg studio’s junior acro group. She agreed, Niagara Falls was “good,” recalling her first-ever competition on the weekend of April 4-7.
“This is my first year in competitive,” said Elku. “Yeah, I was a little nervous. It was ‘sort of’ better (in Brantford).”
Her acro group, Gift of a Friend, with five in the number, improved a few things preparing for On Stage two weeks later.
“Working together, strengthening our legs and arms,” said Elku, who improved her armstand. “Toes pointed.”
This past week, said Elku, they’ve been focusing on ‘smiles,’ adding it gets easier every week.
“But there’s always something to fix, right?” smiled Danscene studio director Angela Farkas, who was showing some of the junior dancers their judging critiques Saturday.
George Van Louwe, 10, needing to take a deep breath, said she competes in jazz, tap, musical theatre, hip hop, and lyrical.
“I don’t do acro,” Van Louwe smiled, noting tap was her favourite, but definitely not the easiest.
“Tap is listening to the music and you just do what the music tells you to do, what sounds right.”
All her marks so far, said Van Louwe, have been ‘all around the same area.’ There was improvement in the tap.
“By not making our sounds muffled by having heels on the ground. Having high three-quarter pointe.”
Mackenzie Squires, 11, competes in a six-person lyrical group, Forever Friends.
“It was exciting,” said Squires, recalling her first-ever competition in Niagara Falls.
“I’ve been dancing since I was 2, but not at this studio.”
Nerves were not a problem, she said.
“I don’t get nervous when I dance.”
“How about backstage when they call your number?” asked Danscene teammate Mackenzie Simmonds.
“I don’t get nervous,” said Squires, shaking her head. “My mom even tells me that. I get more excited than nervous.”
The lyrical group did well, she said, and after Niagara Falls they improved “spacing” and “timing” and “straight knees on chenee (turns).”
How long it takes to improve those elements, said Squires, “depends on how hard you work.”
In her third competitive season, Brooke Sanderson, 8, dances in just about everything – solos, duets, and groups. Everything but ballet.
“I like tap,” she said, noting her favourite, but there was a notable pause when asked why. “It’s the hardest.
“And I like groups… because there’s other people to dance with.”
Sanderson agreed there was improvement after Kick It Up. Specifically, she put her foot on her knee for pirouettes, and she didn’t need judges to point out that particular improvement.
“I saw it myself. At the first competition I fell out of my pirouette. Brantford was better.”
Jillian McPherson, 10, like Sanderson, has been competing for three years.
“The first competition’s usually a little nervous,” said McPherson. “The competition in Brantford I was not really nervous because I already did it once.”
McPherson competes in all the dance styles except for tap and ballet.
“I like doing the jazz duet,” she said, noting her favourite.
This year’s jazz duet includes elements from last season, and “about half of it” – including some harder elements – from classes this season.
McPherson’s focus over the last few weeks has been ‘stretched arms.’
“It’s just… sometimes hard to remember.”
Mackenzie Simmonds, 11, has been dancing since she was much ‘younger.’
“I don’t know how old I was – like 3, 4 or 5. I started going competitive four years ago in a tap trio… and we did pretty good,” said Simmonds, recalling a trio that included Danscene’s Kelsey Sanderson.
“I like how you can impress people with your face, and how you can move your legs, instead of ‘cool moves.’ I like the challenge.
“A lot of people do tap, but most people stick around jazz and hip hop and musical theatre. I like the others, I like jazz, but… I don’t know. I like hip hop, I’ve just never really tried it, I guess. At some point I’d like to, maybe. But not right now.”
So she continues to focus on tap – and excels at it. Her tap solo, Million Bucks, won third overall at a competition this year, a reward for months – and years – of hard work.
“I don’t want to be the best, I want to be better than I am now,” she said, summing up her dance philosophy.
Simmonds took last year off for health reasons.
“I have fallen arches, so my knees… they just hurt a lot when I walked. I couldn’t dance. The fallen arches are part of the reason why, and growing, that’s part of the reason too.
“I don’t think it was the tap that caused it though.”
She started dancing again last September, and so far her knees have been ‘good.’
“Once in a while,” she smiled, “they give me problems, but most of the time they’re okay.
“I’m going to keep going,” she nodded.
Like riding a bike, she didn’t miss a beat when she returned to competitions last month.
“I think I was actually better than was before I took my year off because I was so happy to be back.”
But like every dancer, she has areas to improve.
“My facial expression in my solo, and trying to use the whole stage.”
Her intermediate tap number, She Can’t Dance, includes Kelsey Sanderson, Rebecca Moore, Gabby Holt, and new competitive tap dancers Chris Pitre-McBride and Tessa Starkey.
“I like the group because it’s like a group effort, everyone has to help out. I feel part of a team. But I like doing my solo, too, because I don’t have to act with the group, I don’t have to be perfect and look like the group, I can just be myself.”
As a group, she said they’re trying to make their sounds ‘together.’
“Because you could hear everyone’s individual sound, and it’s supposed to sound like it’s one pair of tap shoes. That’s what Miss Angie says.
“And then our faces for the group, we need to have lots of expression because once you’re in the intermediate category you can’t just smile, you have to have more attitudes.”
Danscene’s next competition is Terpsichore, May 2-4, also in Brantford. They’ll be back in Niagara Falls, May 10-12, for StarCatcher, then it’s their competitive finale, Dancefest in Peterborough, May 24-26.
SATURDAY VISIT
Danscene ballet instructor Jocelyn Huot, one of six students graduating from this year’s National Ballet School teacher training program, had a visitor Saturday afternoon from her Toronto school.
“My director from the school does studio visits,” said Huot. “You teach a class, in the environment where you work, and she watches. Then she’ll talk to you about what she thought, with little helpful hints and stuff. She’s not marking you. There’s a little pressure, but the kids helped me relax.
“Probably the kids were more nervous,” she laughed. “I was pretty nervous, but they were… they were very good. As the class went on they relaxed, so it was fine by the end.”
Huot is getting closer and closer to a June graduation.
“Fifty-three days,” she smiled. “I’m excited.”
She will continue working at the National Ballet School in their summer program, which are auditions for kids to get into the school’s full-time program.
“I’ve worked there the past two years in the summer as a counselor.
“Next, I’m still unsure. I really want to work for Disney Cruise Line – that’s my goal. But until then, I’ll still probably be teaching here.”
She had auditioned last October, but the contract started in November and she was not able to take it.