If dancing is a conversation between body and soul, then Bearspaw was alight in creative discussion this weekend at the annual Dance Invasion festival.
Hundreds of dancers from across southern Alberta “tripped the light fantastic,” including about 120 students from Cochrane’s Eurythmics Dance Studio and 130 from Snap Dance Studios on Railway Street East.
Eurythmics’ owner and instructor Jodi Aasen said the four days of tap, hip hop, jazz and more was not only a competition, but a celebration of dance – and the camaraderie between her own club and fellow artists from around the province was inspirational to see.
“We had kids there that weren’t even dancing – and they were there all day,” she said. “It just shows that our dancers, with all their hard work and team spirit, they support each other, they support other studios and they love watching the other dancers.”
Saturday night, 25 of the highest-ranked groups took to the stage in front of a full house for a rousing final dance-off. Snap had five performances in the extreme challenge: an energetic Cholas for Life, a mystical ballet rendition of The Hymn, a tap performance called New Dorp New York, a hip hop number titled All About the Hunnids and the Rebel Rouse jazz combo.
Cholas for Life and New Dorp New York both took top spots in their respective intermediate divisions.
Eurythmics also represented Cochrane with a lively tap performance of Hip Hip Chin Chin, the anthemic Rise, as well as Nothing Matters, an emotional contemporary piece. The squad closed out the night with the dynamic Beyhive, which celebrated girl power.
Awards-wise, the club dominated in the advanced category, earning four of the top five spots.
“All the kids are just so happy. They work really hard in class,” said Aasen of the results, adding it’s the journey more than the destination that her students find so rewarding.
“They’re not there to win, they just want to do well. When they do win, it’s just icing on the cake.”
Snap’s studio manager Alison Stutz echoed the sentiments.
“It’s … what they work for all year,” she said. “It’s just great for our entire community. The kids have a blast – it’s what they love to do.”
Two more competitions round out the dance season for 2017: Banff’s Dance Extreme Festival at the end of the month, and another in Calgary at the beginning of May.
