Laszlo Tamasik Dance Academy (LTDA) artistic director and dance coach Paige Anderson is humble, but proud, of how well her competitive dance teams did at the Shine Dance Festival in Mission last month.
“We weren’t expecting it,” said Anderson.
Competing against 15 other dance academies, the qathet-based company brought home an impressive amount of praise, accolades and awards for its group and solo numbers. The senior competitive division snagged awards for their hip-hop, lyrical and musical theatre numbers, while the junior A company won fourth overall for a large group contemporary dance called Bohemian Rhapsody.
Dancer Katie McKamey won overall for her solo acro-dance performance and Georgia Malamas won the most promising dancer award, which landed her a scholarship to attend a dance convention.
“We had 50 [competitive] dancers all together, split between five different teams,” said Anderson, who also won a mentor award, but she wants to keep the focus on her students.
Anderson has been teaching dance since 1998 and took over as LTDA artistic director about eight years ago.
“I love training and watching dancers that I’ve been with every week since they were nine-years old, to see them grow and develop over time and now be a part of the senior team,” said Anderson. “My absolute favourite part is when they put on performances and shows. “I find the shows more exciting [than the competitions].”
Although the company has dancers who compete, non-competitive streams of dance are also offered. Competitive dancers are required to take ballet, but it’s up to them if they want to focus on contemporary, hip-hop, musical theatre or other types.
Anderson admits that the shows are magical, and is excited about two coming up.
Once Upon a Time, a journey through the land of childhood stories, is happening the evening of May 27 in Evergreen Theatre. On June 2 and 3, they will perform We Hope You Can Dance, showcasing the talents of LTDA dancers, also at the same Powell River Recreation Complex venue.
Tickets can be purchased at the Peak (cash only), Unit-F 4493 Marine Avenue.
