Snap Dance Studios held its annual dance workshops on Friday with a special twist designed to build a relationship with dancers from Calgary's Forest Lawn community.
The partnership was born following the Dance Evolutions Festival back in April after a positive interaction between Snap Dance Studios dancers and those from Forest Lawn High School's dance program.
Kelsey McMahon, Forest Lawn High School's dance instructor, reached out to Snap Dance Studios following the competition to commend its dancers for displaying a high degree of class and sportsmanship.
"I was so shocked and surprised, in a good way, in the way they handled themselves at the competition," said McMahon, adding it is rare to have another team be so supportive of a competitor. "Often in the competitive dance world it's very about winning and very cutthroat."
However, that was not the sentiment Snap dancers brought to the competition. In an email to Snap Dance Studios, McMahon described how the Cochrane dancers made an effort to help her students belong. During rehearsal the Snap dancers gave the Forest Lawn dancers, candy, hugs and posed for a group photo. For the rest of the competition the two dance clubs made efforts to encourage and cheer each other on.
"I cannot express how much this means to my students as they often feel that they do not belong and that they are "less than" the other dancers as they do not come from the same backgrounds or experience the same privileges as most of the other dancers present at these events," the email read. McMahon added in a later interview that her students come to her program often as older students starting out, unlike many studio dancers who have been dancing since they were three.
Courtney Sproule, owner of Snap Dance Studios, said the the partnership between her students and Forest Lawn was an easy sell.
"We just had such a wicked bond," Sproule said of the two teams, which led to the idea of inviting them to the workshops on Friday. "Our competition funds are paying for this, but they won some money too and they are paying for a pizza party ... it's like this whole connection and a cool opportunity for all our competition kids."
During the Friday evening, students along with various instructors from Snap Dance and Calgary worked on hip-hop, jazz and contemporary dance, which both Sproule and McMahon said was an amazing opportunity for learning.
"I would love to keep it up. This is so rare that two teams come together and have this bonding experience," said Sproule.
McMahon said she would love to see similar relationships built across the dance community.
"It would be wonderful if the whole culture could change," she said.
