Dancers from around the region were at the EA Rawlinson Centre from March 20-22 for the fifth annual Stars on Stage.
Jenna Trawin co-owner of the Performing Arts Warehouse said the annual event is the main fundraiser for the studio. Roughly 400 dancers competed at the event, with 100 coming from the Performing Arts Warehouse. The others came from La Ronge, Nipawin, and Melfort.
Along with these competitors there was also one entry from the PACI Dance Program
Trawin said that the dance competition is more about growth for dancers as well as being competitive.
“Everybody that dances receives a mark and a medal, so it’s more personal improvement, personal growth,” she said. “We’re still kind of early in the competition season right now.”
A small group from the Melfort Dance Centre performs a Lyrical dance during Stars on Stage at the EA Rawlinson Centre on Saturday.
This was the second Dance Festival related to the Performing Arts Warehouse after the Dance Blast earlier in the month.
“Lots of these dancers, this is their first or second time stepping onto the stage and they can use the feedback that they’re getting at this competition to go on to their next,” she explained.
Trawin said that the nature of the competition helps to ease first time competitive dancers into the season.
She explained that the non-competitive supportive nature of the festival extends throughout the Rawlinson Centre.
“Backstage is actually really friendly,” she said. “You see other studios cheering for other studios and it’s a really welcoming atmosphere back here.”
Trawin said the dates of the festival change year to year, since it’s such a short season. She said March and April are typically when everyone’s wrapping up, so that changes which studios can come.
Trawin added that the festival could always accommodate more studios.
“It’s open to any studio that wants to attend. We can accommodate all the entries.”
Trawin said on Saturday that the festival had been going well and thanked all of the audience for their support.
“There’s been such a good audience,” she said. “There’s lots of audience here supporting the dancers and as dancers we don’t get as many opportunities for people to watch us versus a hockey player or something. It’s really nice to see that there’s been so many people coming out to watch the dancers and support our festival.”
The adjudicators for the festival were Heather Cook and Alexis Bracuk.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
