DIDSBURY - A couple of local dance groups participated in the Sparkle Dance Festival in Olds this past weekend. Spotlight Dance Studio sent several dancers as did Dawn's School of Dance in Carstairs. There were also studios from Red Deer, Olds, Sundre, Airdre and more.
For Spotlight it was their first time at the Sparkle Festival in Olds. Instructor Alyssa Jensen said it went very well.
"For a lot of the dancers it was their first time participating in a dance festival, and for some it was even their very first time performing dance on a stage," said Jensen. "I am a very proud dance teacher seeing how fearless they all were to just get up on the stage and perform. The highlight of the weekend for sure was having a lot of first-time dancers come off the stage after their performance just beaming and asking to go back on again."
Spotlight dancers picked up gold in junior lyrical and junior ballet, and silver in junior hip hop and junior jazz.
The dancers are back at work at the studio training for their next performance at Bethany Didsbury on April 8 and the Central Alberta Dance Festival in Red Deer on April 25 and 26.
Jensen said the dancers have had a great first year so far and have really progressed. The club and studio have only been around since September of last year and Jensen said it's gone really well.
"The season has gone better than I could have imagined," she said. "The town, the dance parents/families and students have been so welcoming and supportive since the first community event I attended with Spotlight Dance in Didsbury at the Mountainview Market in May of 2016."
The club has eight full season dance groups currently and four of those performed in Olds. All eight groups will be performing at the year-end recital in the multi-purpose room at the Didsbury Memorial Complex on May 20.
Jensen said the club will be taking registration for next season starting in June. For more information or to sign up visit their website at spotlightdancedidsbury.weebly.com.
