Nanaimo will be well represented at the Performing Arts B.C. dance provincials with four students from Kirkwood Academy making the trip to Prince George June 4 to 8.
The competition features dancers and other artists from all over the province who have topped the regional competitions and been asked by the adjudicators to compete at the provincial level. It includes workshops, master classes, technique and adjudicated performances. Ballet dancers Allison Rhodes, Sophie Carr and Katrina MacCorquodale and modern dancer Margaret Trajan will have stiff competition when they get to Prince George but the girls seem excited about the challenge.
"You get a bit nervous but it's exciting," Rhodes said.
Rhodes danced in the provincial competition last year. The 18-year-old Grade 12 student received a bursary at this year's Upper Island Musical Festival and a full scholarship to the Ecole Superieure de Ballet in Montreal for the summer school program. She also received a scholarship to the University of Calgary's ballet program.
Carr, 12, is also looking forward to the competition. She will be attending the Studio Maestro in New York this August and will spend July at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet summer school.
MacCorquodale, 13, received a $200 scholarship from the Greater Victoria Dance Festival in April and $250 from the Dance Work festival. She will be spending August in California at the American Ballet Theatre.
Trajan, 14, received an Arts Umbrella scholarship for their summer program in 91原创.