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A new dance company, The Dance Project, begins classes this week. Owner Kasey Stephan Charlebois wanted to create a company that involved her students more than ever before. “Before we even opened our doors, we started working with the kids to find out what classes they were most interested in taking,” she said. “From there we developed a program that works for them but I still get to ensure that they learn both technique and the fun stuff.”
She was surprised that many of her former students wanted technique-based classes. “It’s great to know they care about it.”
Older students – those more than eight years old – can also practice junior choreography. “Once the festivals and competitions are done for the year, during May and June they’ll be able to explore creatively and perform their own creations for their families at our year-end show. They may need some guidance, but I’m excited to see what they come up with.”
Charlebois was a dance teacher at the Huntsville School of Ballet which closed its doors earlier this year, and is the company manager for the live stage productions at Deerhurst Resort. And now she and the other teachers at The Dance Project are accepting registrations for new students until January for this year’s classes.
For students new to dance, there are combo classes available that include an introduction to ballet, jazz, musical theatre, hip hop, and lyrical dance. “They’ll explore (those disciplines) until January and then as a class they’ll decide what they most connected with and continue with that. One class might really love jazz or ballet; another might choose to do a bit of everything.”
Former parents and students also told Charlebois that busy schedules sometimes meant they couldn’t participate the way they wanted to. Enter technique-only classes, which are provided separate from the company’s competitive classes. “It allows the students who are very busy – maybe they have a heavy school schedule or maybe another sport is consuming their time – to still develop their skills and not feel like they are missing out on dance.”
Kasey Stephan Charlebois, owner of The Dance Project
Charlebois came from an athletic family but from an early age “it was clear I wasn’t going to be a star like my siblings. My parents put me in dance at an early age because I danced everywhere,” she said. “It was my gateway into active living – I discovered yoga and pilates and Zumba because of it. Now, as an adult, I have an active life and I’m thankful that my parents saw dance as something positive for me. It was a place for me to be expressive and creative.”
It’s a philosophy that has carried over into her company. “I recently heard on CBC radio a program on how amazing it is for children to learn to be creative, how it helps them to process what’s going on in their life. (Creative pursuits) give them a channel to express themselves in a very safe environment.” She wants to pass that ability on to her students.
She also revels in passing on the legacy of dance. “You have these ballet masters who have trained for 60 years and pass what they’ve learned on to their students some of whom pass it on to students of their own. I often hear my own teachers as I’m teaching my students. It is a privilege to pass along this long history of dance.”
Photo supplied by The Dance Project.
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