For the past five decades, Halifax Dance has been sharing a passion for dance through classes, performances and community engagement. “Teaching dance classes is one of the things we do, but it’s not all that we do,” said Kate Houston, interim executive director of this registered charity and not-for-profit.
Houston highlighted the school’s outreach programs in retirement facilities, elementary schools and Halifax’s Central Library. They also support local professional performance companies and community organizations by offering subsidized studio space.
“I don’t believe there’s anywhere else in the city that can support the professional companies like we do, and that’s really important for the sustainment of professionals in Atlantic Canada,” said Houston. “There are so many talented companies and dancers here.” There are currently nine performance companies in residence: The Dance Institute, Drifted Collective, Kinetic, Mocean Dance, Phin Performing Arts, SiNS, Votive Dance, The Woods and Zimmerdans.
Halifax Dance started as a grassroots dance co-operative a few years before the company was officially established. “We were just a group of people that were really interested in exploring creative movement and contact improv, which is how we found our way to further technical training,” recalled Penelope Evans, one of the founders who still teaches classes there. “It was very organic.… We all kept on going out and finding things to make this happen, and it became a very strong passion.”
The school is based in the Maritime Centre in downtown Halifax in a brand new space that opened in 2018. “I remember, I used to drag around a Califone record player and a big leather bag full of LPs to get to some studio somewhere,” said Evans, referring to the early years of Halifax Dance. “Now we have this gorgeous, high-ceilinged, five-studio place.… It’s just a beautiful place.”
Evans spoke about the company’s growth since its humble beginnings, acknowledging that countless people have made it possible. Halifax Dance has also had an enormous impact on her personally.
“It’s just been an amazing journey for me.… I’m the last remaining original in the studio still teaching,” she said. “I’m teaching the grandchildren of the kids I taught.”
“I’ve taught so many classes, so many kids, so many adults.… It’s been my whole life. I was never expecting to be a dance teacher. The whole thing fell in my lap,” Evans added.
Houston began her dancing journey at Halifax Dance when she was three years old and went through the school’s Intensive Training Program. After leaving Halifax for eight years to pursue her dance education and career in other parts of the country, she returned in 2017 to work as an instructor and the school’s program director. Houston will step back into her role as program director in January when Amy Wttewaall returns as executive director.
“It’s been really nice to come back and help Halifax Dance continue,” Houston commented, expressing her gratitude for the support of her early instructors and “all the people over the past 50 years who built this.” Instructors who shaped Halifax Dance into what it is today include Veronique Mackenzie, Mary Lou Martin, Marel Eager, Andrea Leigh-Smith, Leica Hardy and Evans; they shifted the organization from a dance co-operative into a school and not-for-profit.
Recreational students of all ages and abilities are welcomed at Halifax Dance, with classes offered for all ages and abilities in ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap, breaking, hip hop, modern and creative movement. Outside of recreational classes, the school also offers an Intensive Training Program for dancers aged eight to 18. Students in this program also have the opportunity to audition for their pre-professional Young Company.
Houston said she is is especially proud of Halifax Dance’s “Inclusive Movement program for children, teens and adults with disabilities that has been going on for 18 years.” The program was started by Jen Briand, who also has a long history with the organization. Like Houston, Briand started dancing with Halifax Dance in her childhood and graduated from the school’s Intensive Training Program.
Inclusivity was an important factor in the design of the school’s studios, which are wheelchair accessible and have dimmable lighting and sound-absorbing panels.
Halifax Dance’s official anniversary celebration took place on May 4 with their presentation of Decades of Dance, an event that brought together current and former staff, alumni, donors, its board of directors and other supporters. The event included archival photographs, a DJ, a silent auction, a photo booth and performances from the Young Company and the companies-in-residence. A special piece joined current staff with former staff and alumni.
“It was a really fun night and was very nice to have everyone from different parts of the organization together … to all share why Halifax Dance means so much to them,” said Houston.
On June 8, the school will be closing their 50th year with Flashback, a year-end recital featuring music from the 1970s. Approximately 350 dancers will perform over the course of the day via a matinee and evening performance at Dalhousie University’s Rebecca Cohn Auditorium.
Both Evans and Houston expressed their immense pride in what Halifax Dance has become over its five-decade history. “The staff, we all care so much about what we do.… I really believe we’re all doing this for the right reasons,” said Houston, “to better everyone who comes in here, make sure they feel safe and happy … spread the love of dance and … support the community any way we can.”
In the future, Houston hopes to continue showing up for the local arts community and expanding on inclusive programs like their Aging Actively classes for older adults. “I would like to get the organization to a place where we can expand our reach into the community and also have more capacity to support the professional community,” she said.
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