The United Youth Ballet Company presented The Firebird and Cinderella at the Vic Juba Oct. 29. It was the first of three in their 2023-24 series. Photo courtesy of Tannis Baerg
The United Youth Ballet Company (UYBC) has teamed up with the Vic Juba Community Theatre to bring a series of inspiring shows to the Border City.
The first of three performances in the series took place on Oct. 29. The Firebird, followed by Cinderella featured dancers from across the Lakeland area.
“The mayor and his wife got to attend,” said director and FAME Dance Studio owner Sarah Makins, speaking of Mayor Gerald Aalbers and his wife, Christine.
“There are five different FAME Studio locations of kids that joined: Lloyd, Bonnyville, Cold Lake, Elk Point and Goodsoil were all apprentices in this show. I invited community leaders—a mayor or council member from each place and we had some come from Bonnyville, Cold Lake and Lloyd.”
Makins said when they started in September she wasn’t sure if the apprentices would be ready for the stage until the second or third shows of the series, but to her delight they were ready for this first performance.
“They’ve done incredibly well. It’s also to include dancers that haven’t trained for six to 12 years, 10-20 hours a week, and to use them for corps de ballet parts, and they did so well! So proud of them,” Makins exclaimed.
She said it’s also nice for the dancers to have an opportunity to perform outside of competition.
“Having a performance opportunity that doesn’t have anything to do with a dance competition to show dancers that dance is not a sport, it’s an art form that is a large event,” said Makins.
“Instead of just the odd performance here or there, it’s teaching them what it’s like to be in a dance company, on a proper stage.”
Makins says the UYBC was born out of the need for three core values that she believes need to exist in the world of ballet.
“The body-type stigma has been terrible. Everybody underweight, and a certain foot and a certain knee,” said Makins.
“Just so very tired of that, and dancers of all ages working so hard, and then to have that said—where you can’t participate because you’re this size is ridiculous.”
Another core belief that Makins thinks is of utmost importance is to give back, and to be kind in general—in dance and in life.
“That is very, very important to us. I always want to teach any dancer that I work with how to give back through dance. We would invite senior’s homes, we would invite the Bea Fisher Centre, school kids that worked really hard during the year and their teachers recommend them,” said Makins.
“All kinds of different groups have been invited and the Vic Juba has invited many groups as well. There’s so many hard-working people that just deserve a little treat.”
The next show in this series is just in time for the holiday season. The Nutcracker will hit the stage on Dec. 16, and next is Beauty and the Beast on Feb. 11. Tickets are available now at vicjubatheatre.ca
