Get on Your Feet! Prince Rupert’s youngest and finest dancers show off their talent

Dancers from young children adorably tottering on stage to elegant seniors graduating from the Dance Academy of Prince Rupert showcased their talent over the weekend at the Lester Centre of the Arts.

‘Get On Your Feet!’ was the title of the two days of entertaining dance performances for the academy’s annual year end showcase held Saturday and Sunday.

“It gives the performers the chance to show their performance skills and the technique that they’ve learned during the past year. It’s a chance for friends and family to show their pride in the performers,” said Teresa Mackereth, director of the academy for over 40 years and president of B.C. Dance.

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There was a host of different ages and talents on display, from ballet to hip hop, and jazz to variety dance. Mackereth also emphasized the stage it gives for the academy’s teachers to show off their work.

“Some of the teachers choreograph over 20 groups and 15 solos during the year, so it’s an excellent chance to show their choreography skills,” she said.

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One of these choreographers is Meghan MacRae, who herself choreographed 21 of this weekend’s routines. She was very enthused with the showcase.

“I thought they were amazing and excellent and everybody was dancing their hearts out today. I see that they’re going to take everything that they’ve learned from dance and being a dancer, and apply that to their everyday life and I do believe that a few of them will be moving on to become professional dancers,” she said.

Among the Highlights:

Sunday’s show began with an animated performance entitled ‘Big Doll House’ followed shortly after by ‘Woody’s Roundup’ danced by preschoolers outfitted in the iconic Toy Story outfits.

The senior modern dance production of ‘For the Arts’ captivated the crowd, while a new take on ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ saw the famous Queen song paired with the stylistic features of the tap dance medium.

An interpretive vision of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, called ‘Welcome to Wonderland’, had an array of colorful and eccentric costumes. The variety routine is a favorite among the students, as the genre allows them to experiment with playing different characters.

An emotional rendition of Ben E. King’s classic ‘Stand By Me’ followed, after which those in attendance were treated to a musical discourse in ‘Seasonal Debate’. This performance, along with several others during the weekend, highlighted the dancing skills of Taylor Jackson, who just last week was awarded first place at B.C. provincials in the variety solo category.

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The lively ‘Distortion’ was one of the final big numbers of the evening, before the show concluded with an electric production of ‘Coincidance’. These two, along with ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ and ‘Big Doll House’ all won top placement awards at the B.C. Academy of Dance awards in May.

“Prince Rupert has an extreme large dance community, and because of the B.C. Annual Dance Competition we have been really instrumental in bringing dance in Prince Rupert and the north up to a whole new standard,” said Mackereth. “Between the two studios [in Prince Rupert] there’s probably well over 300 dancers. So I think it shows that dance will always proposer in Prince Rupert.”