By Greg Nikkel
Weyburn dancer Autumn Alexander travelled to Los Angeles for her fourth time to take an intensive dance training session there, and said this was one of the best experiences she has had yet.
The 17-year-old travelled there with her mother Melanie, and younger sister Emilie, in the last week of August, staying in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
Autumn was in a group of eight dancers for the week, all from Canada except for one girl from Georgia, and was one of two who were there on a full scholarship. This was the first time she had won a full scholarship at a dance competition through her studio, Marley’s Dance Effex, in the spring.
The group trained with a top choreographer, whose stage name is Stixx, to create a dance performance for a choreographers’ ball, where their talents were showcased to dancers and choreographers in the industry in Los Angeles.
“He was really good. He works with Selena Gomez, and lately has been working with Olivia Holt. He starts a lot of young artists out,” said Autumn, noting they put in eight to 10-hour days dancing.
The best part of her experience, she said, was the group of girls were all very similar in age, body type, dancing experience and style, and from about the second day on they became the best of friends, working very well together as a group.
A pleasant surprise for her was that one other dancer from Montmartre, Saskatchewan, was there, that she had met before and worked with somewhat.
“We all love the same type of dance. When we got the dance choreographed, it was the fastest a group had ever come together for them, and he was so satisfied with our performance. He said usually a group has to put in lots of extra hours,” said Autumn, adding the group became really close, more so than any other group she had been with before.
“This was the best, most enjoyable time I’ve ever had in Los Angeles. We were really close as dancers, and all the moms were close too. It was so different than anything I’ve done before,” said Autumn, noting that by developing a good friendship between them, they were able to open up more as dancers and had a better group performance as a result.
The girls were able to take some other classes during their week, including an acting class, a yoga class and one for salsa dancing. One day was spent at a large dance studio in L.A., called “The Edge”, and the girls were able to sign up for a class or two during their visit there. Each dancer also had a professional photo shoot, to provide head shots and dance shots for their resumes.
“There’s a bunch of drop-in classes they have every day. We just went for the day and picked a class we liked. I got to take one with one of my favourite contemporary dance teachers,” said Autumn.
The choreographer’s ball was on the second-last day of her week there, and was held in a dance nightclub. The event featured mostly hip-hop dance groups, including one group that had won a national competition, while theirs was the only group to do a contemporary-style dance.
A highlight of her stay in L.A. was to sit in on a broadcast of the TV dance show, “So You Think You Can Dance”, the second time she had been able to see the show live. This time, she was seated right behind where the judges were, and as a result she received text messages from friends saying they had seen her on the show.
Asked if she would like to compete on the show, Autumn said she would, but her dream would be to choreograph on a show like that.
“I like dancing a lot, but I feel choreography is what I would like to do,” she said, noting she has had that as a dream since she was younger when she saw dancer and choreographer Travis Wall.
“I like it when the dance tells a story. I usually try to get an emotion across to the audience, not just do a lot of movement to the music, which a lot of dances are,” said Autumn. “Even when you choreograph, you can still dance, but you have more opportunities that way if you can choreograph and dance.”
An important piece of advice she was told was to make sure she had a good, positive attitude, and to develop good connections with dancers and choreographers.
“You could be the best dancer in the room, but if you’re not nice or humble, they won’t want to work with you. Your attitude is everything. Also, the most important thing is to have connections and know as many dancers as you can. If you know somebody from meeting them or dancing with them when they were younger, they might hire you later on if they know you. If you’re nice, they’re going to want to work with you,” said Autumn.
As a dancer, there are many avenues of opportunity open to her, and she is considering her options, whether to go to the U.S. to work in Los Angeles or New York, or to work in Vancouver or Toronto here in Canada. If she stays in this country, she feels Vancouver has the most opportunities for dancing, as a lot of TV shows and movies are produced there, and even commercials where dancers are used.
Autumn was able to stay in Los Angeles with her mom and sister for a couple of days after her dance training was done with, and they were able to do some sightseeing, including visiting the Hollywood sign, the observatory and taking a guided tour of stars homes, and they spent some time at the beach in Santa Monica.
