Three South Delta dancers are set to make their mark on the world stage.
Myrra Ethier and Audrey Habros, who train at Studio West Dance, and Grace Armstrong, who trains at Deas Island Dance, were selected last fall to be part of the largest and most prestigious dance team in all of Canada.
The team of 49 dancers will attend the IDO World Ballet & Jazz Championships and the IDO World Modern/Contemporary Championships near Warsaw, Poland, Dec. 1 to 8.
The International Dance Organization (IDO) has more than 250,000 member dancers from six continents. Considered the “Olympics of Dance” with only three medals awarded for each division, national anthems will be played and flags raised when the top three competitors take to the podium.
For Armstrong, 14, Ethier, 15, and Habros, 15, the competition is a once in a lifetime experience.
All three are on the junior team performing in two group formation dances as well as dual dances in both modern and jazz disciplines.
All of them have been practicing every weekend for the past year while also practicing and competing for their respective dance studios. Factor in school, homework and some social time, their schedules have been daunting, to say the least.
“It’s really cool,” said Armstrong. “It seems like it would be a lot of pressure, but everyone is from so many different places that you kind of get used to being on the team.”
Habros said it feels like one big family now.
“Rehearsing together for so many hours, it’s just one big unit of people,” she said. “It’s also nice when you start seeing friendly faces at all the other local competitions because they dance at other studios, so you recognize them and they are your friends, so it’s a really good feeling.”
Ethier said it’s pretty crazy to wear the maple leaf and know you’ll be competing for your country.
“It’s pretty cool to get this jacket and know that, yes, I’m representing Canada,” she said.
Despite support from other countries around the globe for their dancers, here in Canada there is no government assistance for Team Canada Dance, so each member must raise their own funds to attend the competitions.
That’s meant bottle drives, an upcoming pub night in Langley and other fundraising events, which is another commitment for the dancers.
Also making the trip to Poland will be Studio West choreographer Tina Leger.
This is her first time at the competition. She was asked by Team Canada to choreograph for the children’s team and mainly the youngest dancers.
“I’m excited and super nervous. I think it’s crazy to take all these kids to the other side of the world, but I’m intrigued by what we are going to see there,” she said. “We’ve only competed locally and sometimes we have gone down to the U.S., but never internationally, so the style will be so much different. I’ve heard it’s not like a theatre – it’s like a stadium atmosphere with big crowds, the flags, the anthems, so it’s going to be quite the experience.”
Leger said all the dance studios have been so supportive of the Team Canada competitors.
“There has been this lovely sense of community between all the studios and all the directors of the studios who have been super supportive of their dancers coming and doing this on the weekends,” added Leger.
