Just4Kicks Academy of Dance in Gravenhurst is sending 10 of its best to Prague and Poland for a pair of competitions organized by the International Dance Organization (IDO).
Carlee Brownlee, one of the academy’s instructors, says four will be travelling to Prague in October for the IDO World Tap Dance Championships while six, including her daughter Paris, will be in Poland this December for a trio of IDO events: the World Modern and Contemporary Championships, World Acrobatic Championships, and World Ballet Championships.
“They were hand-picked to dance with Canada’s best,” explains Brownlee.
She says IDO is one of the top dance federations in the world, adding it’s responsible for organizing multiple competitions annually across different disciplines and age groups.
Rachel Hrinkanic, Katalina Giordanella, Harper Charland, and Everleigh DeCaire will compete in the tap contest. Parker Tucker, Brooke Sopher, Paris Brownlee, sisters Oakley and Payton Gray, and Sophia Ferrari will join their Canadian colleagues for the modern and contemporary competition. Brownlee and Oakley Gray were also selected for Canada’s ballet team. They will be joined by Gray’s sister, Payton, and Ferrari for the acrobatics competition.
“I’m very excited but nervous at the same time,” says Giordanella. She adds it will be a big stage but knows she’s ready for the challenge.
Brownlee adds she’s excited to experience the competition and explore somewhere that she’s never been with her friends. “I like the dancing part more, though,” she says while sharing an ear-to-ear smile with her mom.
Shannon Charland, another one of the academy’s instructors, was part of the academy when she was 19 and benefited from being part of Canada’s national tap dance squad. “It was a pretty amazing experience,” she says about travelling to Germany for the event.
Now seeing her daughter Harper get to have the same opportunity is great, but she’s prouder of the growth she’s seen from her as a person, not just as a dancer. “I can see the passion that she has,” says Charland. “The fact that she has such a drive to push herself to do something like this is really incredible.”
The younger Charland says the qualification process was done in front of a panel of judges in the Village of Waterdown, near Hamilton, Ont., earlier this year. She was nervous but she danced to the best of her ability and hoped the judges picked her.
“It’s definitely been nerve wracking, but I feel really good about how everything has gone,” she says.
Being part of a large competition and standing next to some of the world’s best dancers may be difficult for some, but Hrinkanic says she’s enjoyed the process so far.
“You just remember that it’s all for fun and that makes it easier,” she adds.
