The young dance company of Fernie’s SoleBeats studio has reeled in a number of awards in the past couple of months for their feats on stage after years without in-person competitions.
“We’re back,” said owner and director, Cat Javier.
“That was the nicest thing, is we were allowed to be back and dancing on stage now.”
There are seven kids in the company ranging from age seven to 15.
The first event was in April at the Dance for Dreams competition in Medicine Hat, where the kids danced for the Native Women’s Association of Canada. SoleBeats dancers left with recognitions including two outstandings, three excellents, a studio highscore duet award, and a trophy for recognization for dancing for charity, according to an Instagram post from the studio.
The next event saw the dancers compete in Dance Works in Kimberley and bring home two Golds and four Silvers.
At the end of April, they went to Calgary for the Abstract Movement Festival and did ‘outstanding’, another Instagram post reads. Fernie’s company brought home five Golds, one Highgold, one Diamond, seven Excellence in Dance awards, one Most Outstanding, and one Most Promising.
In Calgary, Isolde Boronowski won the highest scoring solo in the whole pre-competitive division, as well as the first runner up for the highest scoring solo of the whole competition, according to Ashley Schram, a teacher and administrator at SoleBeats.
The last event was in Kelowna at the Great Canadian Dance Challenge, and the team brought home two golds.
Javier said it was ‘awesome’ to see the kids dance in live events, especially given the fact that competitions over the last while have been held on Zoom.
“It’s so inspiring to go see and support other artists in your field, especially when they’re so young. It’s a big motivation for those of us who are still performing.”
The final event of the little dancers’ season is coming up on June 26 at the Fernie Community Centre.
“If our community would love to come out and support not only our competitive company team, but the rest of our SoleBeats fantastic mini little artists running around here, we have our year-end show which we are super stoked to be back on stage, June 26, and it starts at 4 p.m.”
Tickets are available online or at the SoleBeats studio, and are going for $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $5 for kids six and over. Kids under five can attend for free.
Javier said there is no particular theme for the event.
“We let the kids shine at what they’re doing the best.”
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