After 62 years of teaching dancers to jete, plie and tap across the stage, Nanaimo's Bea McLeod will be honoured at a performance Sunday at the Port Theatre.
The show starts at 2 p.m. Melanie Kirk, a former student at the well known Bea McLeod School of Dance, is part of the committee planning the event, which will include about 133 dance students from eight schools from all over the mid Island area. The show will contain quite a variety of dance styles, Kirk said, including tap, jazz, musical theatre, ballet, modern and more, performed by dancers of all age groups.
"One of Bea's disappointments as a teacher and a studio owner was that over the years competition had become so fierce, it wasn't nearly as friendly as it had been at one point," Kirk said. "We thought it would be neat for one day to get all the dancers to get together and just do something regardless of their school name."
Kirk started dancing with McLeod as an adult and said she instantly felt comfortable at the school.
"She has a way with people and words, I went to sign up for a class and the next thing I knew I was teaching a tap class," Kirk said, laughing. "Bea's school was so accepting."
McLeod first started teaching in 1941 at Grantham Community Hall in Courtenay. The second show she held was standing room only with proceeds donated to the Red Cross efforts in the second World War. The Bea McLeod School of Dance opened in 1968 and last September, the doors were closed. However that wasn't the end of McLeod's dancing career. She still teaches senior dance classes at Bowen Park Senior's and out of the studio. They dance in local retirement and rest homes.
Arlene Blundell, a student in McLeod's senior tap class, the Beama tappers, is also on the planning committee for the tribute.
"It's a lot of fun," Blundell said. "We're all in the same boat and we all want to keep dancing."
Dance solos will be presented by students from various dance schools. They have won admission to summer dance classes and workshops and proceeds from ticket prices will go towards bursaries. Chelsy Arnott will be dancing with the Arts Umbrella Summer Intensive in 91原创, Adriana Barker, Sophie Carr, Natalia Perkovic Crook, and Heather Taschuk will all spend the summer training with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Summer School, Katrina MacCorquodale will attend the American Ballet Theatre Summer School in California. Rebecca McLane will be at the Laine Theatre School of Performing Arts in London, England. Sophie Servan will continue her training at the Showtime Convention in Whistler and Jee Lam will carry on with her current training at the School of Contemporary Ballet in Montreal.
Tickets are $8 and are on sale at the Port Theatre Box Office at 754-8550, Performing Fabrics at 390-2065 or by calling 754-0781.