The Estevan Recreational Dance Club will have a recital for its members, although it won’t be what they’ve had in the past.
The club’s annual celebration was scheduled for March 14, but it was called off after the COVID-19 pandemic hit Saskatchewan right before the event.
“We were a day out from performing, the kids were ready to go, we were all excited, but we knew it couldn’t go on. So we have decided to have about three weeks of practising with the kids … get them back up to performance quality and do a little recording of them,” said owner Brooke Wilson.
A performance DVD will be recorded at the end of September at the Estevan Church of God. It will showcase the talents of the 190 members of the club, who range from age three to adult.
The adults will be part of the video as well.
“Each routine will get a time slot to come in. They’ll come in with costumes, and with hair and makeup done, and they’ll all be regulated for COVID standards, of course, but they’ll come in, they’ll do their routine, and get it videotaped, and they will head out and we’ll bring in the next routine.”
The video will be edited in the order they were supposed to perform in six months ago, and then the videos will be distributed to the families.
Wilson is confident the three weeks of practice will be enough to get the members back to the level they were at previously.
“They will get their 45-minute or half an hour class time three times a week, and honestly you would be surprised with how well kids do with their muscle memory and remembering our routines,” she said.
Once they’re back in the dance space with their friends and the music playing, Wilson is confident the routines will be as good as they were before.
Prior to the recital’s cancellation, the kids were doing great work. She was proud of their progress, and she was confident it was going to be their best recital yet.
“We were so excited to get on stage and show everybody what we’ve been working on, so it was really, really tough to postpone that recital, for me especially, having worked with pretty much all of the kids.”
The members were heartbroken when the recital was postponed, after they worked so hard towards the culmination of the season. But they knew this had to happen because of how quickly everything was progressing.
Wilson’s not sure how long it will take for the video to be ready. When the dance club did their video of the 2019 recital, it took a few months to prepare. Based on those timelines, Wilson hopes this year it can be ready for Christmas.
Wilson said she has missed working with the kids, and she looks forward to seeing them again. They are looking at options for their 2020-21 season, including a location to host in-person classes, but online sessions also be an option as a backup choice.
