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Dance Academy of Prince Rupert presents Born to Entertain

There wasn’t a seat left in the Lester Centre of the Arts when the Dance Academy of Prince Rupert presented “Born to Entertain” last week, the dance group’s year end performance that showcased an arrangement of different dance styles including ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, musical theater, acrobatics, and more.
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The Dance Academy of Prince Rupert put on it's Born to Entertain show on Saturday.

There wasn’t a seat left in the Lester Centre of the Arts when the Dance Academy of Prince Rupert presented “Born to Entertain” last week, the dance group’s year end performance that showcased an arrangement of different dance styles including ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, musical theater, acrobatics, and more.

“Dance evolves but still retains the essence of the art expressed so many years before. It is this that I find so appealing that throughout the generations so much has remained from the original.  You see the century old basics of ballet, observe the current dance styles, that trigger memories of dances seen before and best of all you see the familiar joy in the children’s faces as they perform. It is always a trip down memory lane and that feeling of continuity is why I love dance,” said Teresa Mackereth, founder of the Prince Rupert Dance Academy.

The year-end recital started out with a few music and dance numbers from the popular play “Hairspray”. Over 30 dance students of all ages took the stage, dancing to numbers choreographed by Jennifer Kloopers.

Throughout the show, many younger dancers took the stage with adorable dances like “Neverland” and “The Bird Dance” choreographed by Teresa Mackereth, “The Bear Necessities” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” choreographed by Meghan MacRae, and “Super Mario” choreographed for the all boys dance class by Jennifer Kloppers.  One of the audience’s favorites consisted of “The War of 1812” choreographed by Shannon Valle, a hilarious group dance where dancers recreated the war against the Americans, a routine that received the top spot in it’s category at this year’s BC Annual Dance Competition in May.

Senior dance students Kimberly Truong and Kelsey Basso not only performed in several different style group dances and their own solos during the show, they also took successful stabs at choreographing dance routines, with Truong creating the “Jump Jive ‘N Wail” dance, and Basso making “Wow”, a dance that took the top spot in it’s category at the BC Annual Dance Competition.

After the dance routines the awards were handed out. Students Kimberly Truong and Charmaine Gibson received the top awards of the year, the Achievement Awards. Both dancers have done tremendous in festivals and competitions this year, taking home trophies, awards and cash prizes.