For Marcia Dysart and Ginny Steeves, dance is more than just competition. It’s technical training, injury prevention and performing for the love of it.
“There’s a lot of opportunity to dance in competition and that’s great for whoever wants to do that. However, there isn’t any opportunity for students who just want to dance to perform,” said Steeves.
The two danced together as teens and later reconnected through dance education. Dysart started a dance school in Saint John called First City Dance and from there, the women decided they wanted to create a youth dance festival that wasn’t rooted in competition, an idea they’d thrown around for a while.
Now, it’s only a week until the first Youth Dance Fest East that will bring young dancers from across New Brunswick, and educators from across the East Coast, together in Fredericton for a weekend of performance, workshops and seminars.
Dysart said there will also be an opportunity for student choreographers to have their work adjudicated, without the pressure of competition. The age range for participants stretches from 11 to those in their early 20s.
She said there will be technical classes in ballet, contemporary, improvisation and hip hop taught by various instructors, including David Moroni, one of the founders of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, and Mi’kmaw artist Sarah Prosper.
Seminars on mental health and injury prevention for young dancers are also planned, Steeves said.
“So there’s a lot of physical growth that’s happening at that same time and with that physical growth, you have to have an awareness of how to take care of growing muscles and ligaments and joints.”
Dysart said she doesn’t know of any other East Coast festivals that are quite like what they are putting together. She wants the festival to focus on individuality, creativity and dance as an art form.
Events will be held across Fredericton and more information can be found on the Youth Dance Fest East website.
The festival will also have a showcase on Saturday night where dancers will get to perform in numbers choreographed by their studios for a public audience. The student choreography adjudicators will also suggest some pieces to be incorporated into the show.
Dysart said she’s most excited to watch her students take classes from other instructors.
“I always say to my dancers, learn from as many people as you possibly can. I’m not the only person around, right, like there’s so many wonderful educators out there,” she said.
There’s something special about the energy during performance, Steeves said. Many non-competitive dancers might only get to perform twice a year during a Christmas show and an end-of-year show. So having another showcase at this festival will add an extra opportunity for performance.
“There’s nothing like a backstage where everybody is abuzz, you know, makeup and hair and everybody is doing their secret high fives that they have before they go on stage,” said Steeves.
“And when you’re back there together as part of something, as one performance, I can’t wait to kind of feel and see that energy with the dancers.”
This story was originally published in CBC News on April 8, 2023.
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