Putting best foot forward at dance competition

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This article was published 27/02/2017 (3390 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Already donning her dance tights backstage a half-hour prior to a performance on Sunday, Mignon Visser, 17, appeared calm before facing a packed Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium audience.

The difficult part of the Brandon Festival of the Arts was already over.

She’d faced adjudication and carried forward.

Facing an audience is the fun part, she said, explaining that her passion for dance is driven by its ability to share stories with an audience.

“You get to be someone else, and sometimes you get to tell your own story,” she said.

It’s always more difficult when adjudicators are present, sharing their insights and tips after each performance in order to narrow in on dancers for awards as well as determine who would perform at the final day’s “best of the week” showcase.

While Visser said that she how recognizes the judicator process’s value as a means of getting outside feedback and improving one’s craft, she said that she used to beat herself up after receiving negative reviews.

“It toughens you up a little bit because not everyone in life is going to like you,” Visser said.

“You should just be yourself,” fellow Brandon School of Dance student Camilla Hood, 12, cheerfully added with a smile, eliciting agreement from Visser.

Sunday’s showcase capped off the dance portion of this year’s Brandon Festival of the Arts.

Between Monday and Sunday, more than 500 dances were performed in Brandon to decent-sized crowds, Brandon Festival of the Arts president William Gordon said, noting that evening performances are always the best-attended.

In addition to capping the festival’s dance portion, Sunday’s showcase also marked the annual event’s midpoint.

Speech arts, guitar and piano performances having already taken place and vocal, strings, brass and woodwinds performances are scheduled to take place from March 1-7, with a special encore performance set for March 12.

It’s an important opportunity for young performers to take part in, Gordon said, noting that it both gives them an annual event to work toward as well as links them up with outside adjudicators evaluating their work at an arm’s length in order to help point them in the right direction.

This evaluation can provide a nice cherry on top of a lot of hard work, said Steppin’ Time Dance Studio student Jayden Case, 17.

The Brandon Festival of the Arts always makes this time of year special, volunteer board member Kathie Gordon said, listing its merits as: “Seeing all the dancers who worked so hard preparing to perform for an audience, watching them grow throughout the week, hearing the positive comments from the judicators as well as suggestions for improvements.”

The Brandon Festival of the Arts continues on Wednesday, with twice daily shows at Knox United Church (451 18th St.) at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. through Saturday.

The final evening show on Saturday, featuring the week’s best performers as determined by adjudicators, will be held at the Lorne Watson Recital Hall in the School of Music Building at Brandon University.

Admission to these shows is $5. More information on the festival can be found online at brandonfestivalofthearts.ca.

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