由劳雷尔·莱派恩（Laurel Lepine），尼尔森·曼德拉高中舞蹈教师

音乐声震耳欲聋，脚步声在东部卡尔加里社区Saddletowne的Genesis Centre YMCA舞蹈室里回响。来自尼尔森·曼德拉高中的23名年轻舞者正在全神贯注地排练，为即将于2018年5月15日至17日期间在Decidedly Jazz Danceworks举行的东部舞蹈节上表演做准备。他们的队长是三名12年级学生Sethu Nair，Inaya Lakhani和Angad Sindhu，他们在自己的卧室镜子前花了很多时间准备编排舞蹈动作，以便在每周的排练中教给同伴们。

这些舞者中有许多没有接受过正规的舞蹈培训，但他们的决心和对舞蹈的热爱推动他们不断排练、改进和重复。包括Lester B. Pearson、Forest Lawn和Bishop McNally在内的九所学校将参加今年的舞蹈节。对许多新兴舞者来说，有机会从卡尔加里的专业舞者那里接受指导和教学是第一次的经历。该舞蹈节的主要目标是在东部城区丰富和发展舞蹈，因为在那里学生常常无法接触到舞蹈课程和专业舞蹈社区。

今年，舞蹈节获得了Kaiti Perras“热爱舞蹈纪念基金”的资助，使得对学生而言，舞蹈节变得更加容易参与和负担得起。这对于Sethu、Inaya和Angad意味着什么？有机会参加去年的舞蹈节点燃了他们关于编排自己舞蹈的创造力和想象力。

今年，曼德拉舞蹈队（Dance Empire）还有幸与来访的客座艺术家Joey Braunwarth合作，他是卡尔加里的专业舞者，来自ILLEFX舞蹈公司，为舞蹈队编排了原创的摇摆舞和街舞融合舞蹈。此外，学生Sethu接手编排了一个快节奏和复杂的街舞，而Inaya和Angad则创作了一支原创有趣的宝莱坞舞蹈。

对尼尔森·曼德拉高中（Dance Empire）的学生们来说，舞蹈正在成为他们生活中的中心舞台，并激发着他们对舞蹈的终身热爱-这证明了东部舞蹈节在Saddletowne的东北社区实现了其目标。

​by Laurel Lepine, Dance Teacher, Nelson Mandela High School

The music is loud and the feet are pounding the wood in the Dance studio at the Genesis Centre YMCA in the East Calgary community of Saddletowne. Twenty-three young dancers from Nelson Mandela High School are focused and busy rehearsing in preparation to perform at the East Side Dance Festival at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks May 15-17, 2018. Their team captains, three Grade 12 students, Sethu Nair, Inaya Lakhani and Angad Sindhu, have spent hours in front of their bedroom mirrors preparing choreography to teach to their peers at weekly rehearsals.

Many of these dancers have had no formal dance training, but their determination and love of dance pushes them to rehearse, refine and repeat. Nine schools will be participating at this year’s festival including Lester B. Pearson, Forest Lawn and Bishop McNally. The opportunity to receive mentoring and instruction at the Festival from Calgary professional dancers is, for many emerging dancers, a first time experience. The Festival’s driving mandate has been to enrich and develop Dance in the East side of the city where students often do not have access to dance lessons and the professional dance community.

This year, the Festival received the Kaiti Perras “Love of Dance Memorial Fund” allowing the Festival to be even more accessible and affordable to students. What has this meant for Sethu, Inaya and Angad? A chance to participate in last year’s festival ignited their creativity and imagination about choreographing their own dances.

This year, the Mandela dance team, Dance Empire, also benefited from working with visiting guest artist, Joey Braunwarth, a professional Calgary dancer from ILLEFX Dance Company who choreographed the team in an original fusion dance of Swing and Hip Hop for the Festival. In addition, student Sethu has taken up the reins to choreograph a high-paced and complex Hip Hop dance, while Inaya and Angad have created an original and entertaining Bollywood dance. 

The result for the students of Nelson Mandela’s Dance Empire is that dance is taking center stage in their lives and inspiring a life-long love of dance - proof that the goal of the East Side Dance Festival is being realized in the NE community of Saddletowne.