UNITY — Parents, grandparents and interested members of the community gathered in the Unity Composite High School senior gym March 17 to watch 30 Stand Out Dance Collective students perform. The afternoon was filled with trios, duos and solos in a variety of dances, such as jazz, hip hop, ballet, tap, acro, lyrical and contemporary.
The variety of genres meant the audience was also treated to a mix of musical numbers, ranging from the beautiful and peaceful “An Irish Blessing,” to which adult student Linda Bloem performed a ballet number, to upbeat songs such as “Heartbeat, Drumbeat” with young Rowyn Martin tap dancing a solo.
Choreographers Courtney Smith, Cori Udell, Shelby Martin, Myah Strueby, Margaret Stephen, Emily Smith and Madison Gilbert outdid themselves with the creativity in some of the numbers. The dancers reinforced the vision of the choreographers not only with their performances but also with their facial expressions.
Although many numbers stood out, of particular note was the unique performance of Ripley Wells in her acro solo “Come to Life,” choregraphed by Courtney, and the hip hop trio of Kendyl Martin and Oaklyn and Maddyn Salewski dancing to “Girl Gang,” choregraphed by Udell.
Students Keira Schumack and Taylor Sernecky also showed off their creativity along with their dance skills in their excellent self-choreographed contemporary solos – Keira to “Listen Before I Go” and Taylor to “July.”
Graduating from UCHS and SODC this year is Grace Heck. Grace has been dancing since she was five years old and her favourite genre has always been lyrical. To close out the afternoon’s program, Grace performed a lyrical solo to “Dancin’ On My Own,” choregraphed by Courtney. Grace’s future plans include attending NAIT in Edmonton, Alta., to become an MRI techonologist.
Dancers, instructors and parents barely had time to catch their breath, after those performances for the hometown crowd, before hitting the road to Saskatoon March 19 for the start of dance competition season.
Along with door prizes and a raffle, SODC had a special draw for dance moms. Recognizing that dance competitions can add up the expenses for parents, SODC wanted to give back, putting up $150 cash for a draw to help out with those costs. Robin Belliveau, mom of Kaysen, was the winner.
