Dancers get chance to show their moves

A cluster of ballet dancers quietly stretched and practised standing on their pointe shoes backstage as they waited to showcase their talents before an adjudicator at the Brandon Festival of the Arts.

Adeline Galinski, 14, rolled her shoulders back, fixed her bun and adjusted the shiny pink ribbons on her shoes before the announcer called her name and she pranced onto the stage.

Her facial expressions captivated the audience as she portrayed a character and made a total of 13 pique turns throughout her performance of “Cupid Variation from Don Quixote.”

Although Galinski said she felt nervous about performing on Friday morning, it was soothing to know that she wasn’t just doing it for a judge — she was doing it because it’s her passion.

“I’m mostly just, like, looking forward to getting to put my hard work on the stage and show everyone what I’ve been working towards,” she said.

Her goals for the performance centred on feeling “more confident and not always focusing on the negative things,” she said, adding that she wanted to be “fully present.”

The dancers at Steppin’ Time Dance Studio, where Galinski has danced since she was two years old, have been rehearsing their solos about three times per week since late November.

They work tirelessly for months only to perform at the festival in the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium for about two minutes.

Galinski finished her performance by blowing a kiss to the audience and then rushed to hug her dance teacher backstage, followed by her mother, who was waiting to take her picture.

Another ballet dancer helped Paytience Baldwin, 15, adjust her sparkly, sapphire blue ballerina tutu, diamond tiara and detached tulle sleeves moments before she went onstage.

Baldwin said she felt nervous, but ready to dance to the “Bluebird Variation” from “The Sleeping Beauty.”

“I’ve wanted to be a ballerina since I was four, but it’s so elegant and … when you’re up there and doing it, it’s just whimsical,” she said.

Baldwin has been dancing for 11 years in total and only took up ballet pointe in the last four years, she said. This season was her first year dancing with the Brandon School of Dance as she recently moved to Manitoba from Minot, N.D.

Her mother travelled from North Dakota to watch her perform in the festival, alongside her “Canadian mom” whom she lives with.

“It means a lot that they’re coming to watch,” she said beaming.

Baldwin has been rehearsing for the festival since the fall and takes dancing very seriously. She dances six days per week with up to six classes each night that start once the school day ends and last until 10 p.m.

“I want to become a professional ballerina,” she said, adding that she also dreams of becoming a teacher.

“I grew up in a small town … I did not have proper ballet training, and so I want to take that to other small towns.”

Both Baldwin and Galinski said dancing in pointe shoes requires a tremendous amount of strength as their entire body weight relies on their big toes to balance.

“I think that’s something people don’t recognize or know just at the first glance because our job is to make our dancing look easy,” Galinski said.

While ballerinas may appear “light as a feather” during a performance, their mind is racing with thoughts about how precise each position must be.

“We do plies since we’re, like, two years old, and you probably never master it in your whole entire life,” Galinski said.

Wearing pointe shoes makes her feel like she’s “on top of the world,” despite how painful it can be for all 10 toes to be squished against a wooden block, she said.

“Yes, you complain about it every day, but also, I wouldn’t, like, not want to do it because the feeling I get for it is something I’m very grateful for,” Galinsky said.

Baldwin said pointe shoes feel “weird at first” but eventually dancers get used to it. The risk of injury is much scarier.

“You could break an ankle, you could break your foot, you could break toes. You could be off dancing for who knows how long, or infinity, because you did something wrong,” she said.

Every dancer has their own process for how to break in and take care of their pointe shoes, which includes bending and airing out each pair, Baldwin said.

It’s not uncommon in pointe ballet for people to need a new pair every couple of months as the shoes go flat from a mix of moisture, sweat and pressure.

When Galinski buys new shoes, she customizes them by sewing on her own ribbons and elastic.

Shoes can be customized with different ribbons, the number of elastics, how they are bent and the length of the shank in the soles.

When all eight pointe ballet dancers had completed their solo or duet performances, adjudicator Christopher Bull joined them onstage to provide feedback and offer congratulatory remarks as they accepted awards.

Bull told the dancers that they can never spend enough time practising at the ballet barre. He reminded them to press deeper to reach the same height when they jump, especially when they feel tired toward the end of their dance.

“The audience appreciates a little bit of work, but they don’t want to see the difficulty. So, you got to work harder in the end to make it look easier in the end,” he told the group.

Galinski and Baldwin were met with a loud applause when they received gold in their category.

Both dancers embraced their respective teachers in a large group huddle with their fellow dance peers after receiving their awards.

Steppin’ Time Dance Studio teacher Tamara Hicks said it’s very rewarding to see the growth of her students.

“It’s just a really full circle moment because you’ve seen them go through the blood, sweat and tears, and suddenly they’re shining out there on stage,” she said.

After the showcase today, where a wide range of dancers are selected to perform, her students will direct their attention back to preparing for the Royal Academy of Dance exams in March.

“It is a lot of work, but I would not change it for anything,” Hicks said.

The Brandon Festival of the Arts began Feb. 8 and run until March 22. It includes performances in guitar, brass and woodwind, strings, piano, choral, vocal soloists and speech arts.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com