A dance festival held earlier this week and one on April 15 to 17 will pay tribute to Divine Dance Academy founder Trish deCoverley, who died last month from a heart attack.
Joy McIlwain, deCoverley's sister and the owner of Joy's School of Dance in Innisfail, said much like last year's inaugural format, funds raised from the performances will be going toward scholarships for the dancers. Money from program sales will be going into a trust fund for deCoverley's five children. McIlwain said some of the money raised from the two events will also be going into a perpetual Trish deCoverley Memorial Scholarship that would be handed out annually to dancers.
There will be two main scholarships handed out to dancers at the end of the festivals, the memorial scholarship and then smaller scholarships given to dancers throughout the events. McIlwain said some of the scholarships are meant to recognize dancers who have put in a great effort but aren't recognized by adjudicators in other ways.
“Just because there are sometimes dancers who don't do solos or may not otherwise be as easily recognized. That way, if there's somebody who stands up in a group and the adjudicator really wants to acknowledge the talent or commitment or personality that they've shown, they can select them from out of the group,” she said.
“Diamonds and Dance,” was to run Monday and today at the TransCanada Theatre, with about 250 participants taking part. A second festival, “Glitter and Gold,” will run April 15 to 17 at the TransCanada Theatre. About 250 dancers from Sundre, Trochu, Innisfail, Olds and other communities will take part.
"(By giving several scholarships) if there's somebody who stands up in a group and the adjudicator really wants to acknowledge the talent or commitment or personality that they've shown, they can select them from out of the group,"Joy McIlwain, organizer, dance festivals
