TISDALE — After performing with the Tisdale Dance Centre for around 15 years, it was time for a final dance for Nicole Becker, Cassidy Greif and Danae Harpham.
So the trio did a special graduating performance of their own at the dance centre’s recital May 6.
“My sister started dancing when she was five and I wanted to be just like her, so I started when I was two and a half,” Harpham said.
Greif started when she was three.
“Throughout the years, I had to make a lot of decisions on whether I wanted to do dance or other sports and I think that a lot of it was the environment. I had so many friends and it was just always so much fun,” she said, adding she also liked the variety of dances.
Becker started at around the same time as Greif.
“You grow up together and you don’t want to leave that environment,” she said.
“You get to travel and do stuff like go to different competitions and I think that’s a lot of fun.”
For all three dancers, their favourite part of their experience is the friendship they’ve built over the years across a large age range, from their peers to the adults to the younger children.
“Nicole, Danae and I have been dancing together for 14 years and I think that just makes us really close and we have a special bond,” Greif said. “For sure it’s the people that make it so much fun.”
Harpham said she also liked the competitions.
“I really like being on stage and it’s just like a really fun atmosphere,” she said. “There’s a lot of people there that I’m friends with.”
All three had advice for the next generation of dancers.
“Work hard and dance because it’s easy to get caught up in all of the technical stuff in dance when you just need to go back to your roots and remember, ‘I’m here to dance,’” Becker said.
“I would say keep trying new things, definitely,” Harpham said. “Don’t say you can’t do it until you try it and just give it your all.”
“I would probably say just to keep trying and keep working on things because not everyone gets a certain move on the first try,” Greif said.
“It takes a lot of practice but there’s always people there to help you and it’s a lot of fun.”
Greif added that it’s also important to not worry so much about competitions and that it’s important to have fun.
Becker said in the future, she’d like to be involved in dance somehow, but it would depend on what life is like in the city, Greif said she doesn’t think she’ll do anything, while Harpham has a scholarship to dance with The Source dance studio in Vancouver next year.
