The journey of dance
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The end of the 2016-17 season is just over a week away for Danscene. The Tillsonburg dance studio, celebrating its 20th year, will wrap up with a June 30th year-end Extravaganza at The Sanderson Centre, featuring their youngest primary dancers, juniors, intermediates and seniors, both recreational and competitive.
From pre-schoolers to teenagers, they all love Extravaganza, including Jordan Pottelberg, 9, who has been dancing since she was 3.
Over the years Pottelberg has learned dance basics like steps and point work. She learned to how do a releve, plie, saute, tendu and more.
Now a junior level dancer, she just finished her third year of competitive dance and her first as a soloist. Pottelberg competed in a tap trio, jazz trio, and tap solo.
"For tap, I like being loud. In jazz, I like battements and splits."
She spent the year working "very hard" to develop her tap skills, including training in ballet, getting the right 'sound' and arm movements for tap, dancing Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and solo Fridays.
"Ballet's not my favourite, but I like it.
"I like doing a solo," she said, noting her highlight this year was Kick It Up - Niagara Falls, her first competition of the season.
"My first solo," she said, admitting she was a bit nervous. "It went fast."
Pottelberg won an overall award (highest junior soloist) at Kick It Up, and continued winning overalls through the year.
Now she's ready to move on to new, more challenging material in 2017-18.
"It's still pretty hard," said Pottelberg, anticipating more hard work in the future.
Her goal is to "get all my sounds good in tap, stretch my feet more for jazz."
And have fun, which is what Turtlefest and the upcoming year-end Extravaganza in Brantford are all about.
"I like Turtlefest because I get to perform outside in front of a crowd. And I like the year-end show because it's like the end of the year and it's the last time I do that dance."
There was no judging at Turtlefest, nor at the Extravaganza, which means no pressure or at least a different kind of pressure. But competitions also provide the kind of pressure she loves - and will be looking forward to next year.
Kelsey Sanderson also started dance when she was 3, but she's at the other end of Danscene spectrum. A competitive dancer since she was 8, the 17-year-old will be attending University of Guelph in the fall.
"My first dance was Teddy Bear Picnic," said Sanderson. "And I had a teddy bear."
In 2008, her first competitive season, Sanderson remembers the jazz group Shake Your Tail Feather with Carly Donker, Madison Hughes and Natalie White.
"We had these huge 'tails' - it was fun."
Like most young dancers, she aspired to be hit the bigtime.
"When you're little, you always think you're going to be 'famous,'" Sanderson smiled. "But... then reality sets in."
Ballet was her passion for many years, and there were some highs along the way including a role in Nutcracker.
"That was really fun. You get exposed to 'showbiz' and it's a huge change, going from a studio setting to a company. It's intimidating.
"I was obsessed with ballet at one point," she said, noting that seemed to change last year.
"Grade 11 was a rough year, but I think this year has been a really good year."
Since starting competitive dance, Sanderson has tried all styles available at Danscene, from jazz and ballet to tap, acro, lyrical and musical theatre. Even hip hop.
"I did hip hop one year... a duet with Lea - that was a long time ago."
This season, her final year at Danscene, was a good one.
"As you get older, you get closer to all your dance buddies. It was kind of more close knit. And I loved my solo this year... I don't know how to explain it, it just felt more 'me' I guess."
Dancing at university is always an option, she said, "but it just won't be the same... definitely not the same."
She is definitely considering it, however.
"I've grown up here, pretty much every day from like 4:30 till 9:30, so to go from doing everything to doing nothing, it would be just a huge change. I think I will miss doing something."
For Sanderson, it was her last Turtlefest, which she has performed at almost since its inception, and it will be her last year-end Extravaganza.
"It will be (emotional), the last time on the Sanderson Centre stage. I kind of want to say I'm not looking forward to it, but then I am because it's always like the highlight. It's a nice way to end the year.
"But it will be ending my 'career,'" she said, expecting to share some laughs and some tears before the curtains close.