It’s ‘Overture! Curtain! Lights!’ for Grade 12 dance students at Ottawa’s Canterbury High School. Students are showcasing their work on stage for the first time in three years, despite a cancelled class. “I’ve been looking forward to this pretty much my entire high school experience,” says Kampbell Featherstone. Students prepare their own pieces to show in front of an audience. “The big reason why I came to Canterbury,” said Natasha Prystasz, “I’ve always dreamed of creating my own piece and getting to share it with my fellow dancers in my class.” The

Artists painting murals in real-time, lines snaking up to food trucks and trumpet sounds blaring from the City Hall stage as crowds dance and sway to tunes straight from New Orleans — this is PVDFest. The three-day fête returned to downtown after a quiet two years during which the pandemic kept the party away. From Friday to Sunday, nothing could rain on the revelry. Rows of merchants and outposts filling plastic drink cups to the brim took over Providence’s streets where visitors roamed between musical acts. For some, it was a

Sisters Ava and Emily Radics from Saskatoon have always loved to dance. The sisters joined Dance Collective YXE, an all-inclusive dance program offering classes of every genre as well as programs for those in wheelchairs and those with cognitive and physical impairments. Their passion started when they were just kids copying moves they saw on TV. “Then we just started doing duets and we finally found a group where we can both be a part of it and it was inclusive for both of us,” Ava said. “We offer a variety of

This story is from the Arizona Republic, azcentral.com. Ballet Arizona dancer Colleen Hoopes was shot and killed in her home early Friday morning. She was 25. Her husband was arrested in connection with the shooting. “We are heartbroken to learn of the passing of Company Dancer Colleen Hoopes," said a statement on behalf of Ballet Arizona to The Arizona Republic. "Colleen was an integral part of the Ballet Arizona family and will be missed deeply. She was passionate and dedicated to her art form and a bright light to us all. Our hearts go

A teenager who was named BBC Young Dancer 2022 has "really inspired" other young dancers, her instructor has said. Adhya Shastry, 17, won the BBC Four competition earlier this month. She started dancing Bharatanatyam, the classical Indian dance form, aged nine at the Kalakunj performing arts group in Reading. Adhya, who is studying for her A Levels, said winning the title had opened up "endless possibilities" for her. The grand final for BBC Young Dancer 2022 saw 10 talented dancers between the ages of 17 and 24 compete for the coveted title at

All of the ways by which Kelsey Peterson defined herself crumbled the moment she decided to dive into Lake Superior. At the time, Peterson was a 27-year-old dancer and yoga teacher who regarded herself as sexy, sensual, confident and strong. "My whole life, for so long, was about what I could do with my body," Peterson told me. "One split second takes all that away." Peterson, who grew up in the Twin Cities and along Bay Lake in Crow Wing County, had been boating with friends on the July 4th

Husnain is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer who resides in the National Capital. He along with eight other dancers runs a dance academy called ‘We Are One.’ Established in 2016, this academy today trains over 90 students, the youngest of whom is eight and the oldest student is 65. The one fact that distinguishes him and his teachers from all the other dance academies is that they are all Persons with a Disability (PwD). While some, like Husnain, are wheelchair-bound, others have speech and hearing impairments. However, what connects

When Carly Stasko started to dance on Lake Nipissing it was a way to raise her spirits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now she's turned that act of self-care into a short documentary. Stasko gained attention on social media, and from local news outlets, when she posted videos of herself dancing on Lake Nipissing. Through a Facebook group she heard about an opportunity to get funding from the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in Toronto for creative projects. She thought her compilation of videos could be transformed into something bigger, and applied. "I

Chinese dancer-choreographer Liu Yan's onstage journey started when she was a little girl. At age 10, Liu stood out among her peers and was enrolled in the middle school affiliated to the Beijing Dance Academy. Before she left her hometown in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, her father, who is a judge, told Liu to develop more interests like reading rather than a singular passion, dancing. "My parents took turns taking long train rides to Beijing to be with me during weekends back then. When my father came to

TAMPA, Fla. – The 23rd annual Youth America Grand Prix dance competition is underway in Tampa at the Straz Center for Performing Arts and there’s one dancer performing at the main event who has a close tie to Ukraine. Maievskyi Vsevolod is from Kyiv. It was there he learned the basics of ballet. “I’m born in Ukraine in Kyiv and I graduate in Kyiv Ballet School,” he said. Vsevolod said until three weeks ago, his family was still living in Kyiv. The 6-foot-2 ballet star has found a way