More than 3,500 students show their skills at District Dance Festival

Grade 5 & 6 students from Cougar Creek Elementary had the Bell Performing Arts Centre rockin' at this year's District Dance Festival, performing to a mashup of Starship's "We Built This City" and Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" from the Rock of Ages film.The Surrey Schools District Dance Festival is well underway, with 132 ensembles taking the stage at the Bell Performing Arts Centre, highlighting the talent of elementary and secondary dance students in Surrey and White Rock.

Arts education helping teacher Tricia Liversidge said it’s the largest district festival in recent years, with 3,834 students and staff from 48 elementary schools and seven secondary schools participating.

“We are definitely way bigger than last year,” said Liversidge. “There are a lot more classes that are engaging in activities like dance, things that seemed so much more difficult in the last couple of years.

“It’s such a wonderful feeling being backstage and having so many of the kids coming through – I get this wonderful opportunity to feed off their excited energy. It’s invigorating.”

By comparison, last year’s dance festival saw 50 ensembles over three days, whereas this year’s festival runs across seven days. Performances began on April 3, 5 & 6 and continue this week from April 18-20 before finishing Monday, April 24.

With so many acts, Liversidge said the festival is brimming with variety and creativity in the songs and performances. Some styles of dance include hip-hop, bhangra, giddha, contemporary, jazz and musical theatre, often telling a visual story through dance.

“There’s such exploration, we’ve had a lot of creative dance where the students are involved in choreographing parts of their performance,” she said. “It’s so wonderful to have both bhangra and giddha in some of the performances, there are so many different possibilities.”

For some elementary schools, Liversidge said leadership students from their feeder secondary schools have worked with elementary classes to help choreograph dances.

“For example, some of the École Salish leadership students who are in the dance program go over to Regent Road to work with the kids and teach them, so they have that connection with a secondary school,” she said. “It’s a great way for the students in elementary school to see the types of programs they could participate in when they get older. It also builds a relationship with the teacher and creates a bit more comfort in stepping into the secondary schools.”

The District Dance Festival continues today (April 19), tomorrow and Monday, April 24 at the Bell Performing Arts Centre.