The Canadian director of the Royal Academy of Dance was in North Battleford Thursday to visit The Dance Connection in what he calls "the fun part" of his job.
It was the week of the studio's annual summer dance school, and Clarke MacIntosh arrived to find upwards of 80 young dancers in the midst of a class change. The timing was perfect for a quickly organized group photo opportunity followed by an impromptu interview with the News-Optimist before the real business of the visit got underway.
With his home in Stratford, Ont., and his office in Toronto, MacIntosh said he travels across Canada a couple of times each year with two purposes in mind.
One is to deliver updates and reports to the members of the Royal Academy of Dance. It is a membership organization, after all, he pointed out, and exists to serve its members.
The other purpose of travelling across the country is to meet with members, visit their schools and find out what's happening in their areas so he can take their experiences back to the academy.
MacIntosh began his duties as national director for Canada in April of 2011. The Royal Academy of Dance, headquartered in London, England, is the world's largest examining and teaching organization for classical ballet. It has over 15,500 members in 82 countries. Its patron is Queen Elizabeth II.
The Dance Connection, owned by Virginia Winterhalt, instructs dancers in several dance disciplines including ballet, held to be the foundation of technique that influences many other dance forms. On staff is ballet teacher Margaret Stephen, a member of the Royal Academy of Dance, which offers an internationally recognized portfolio of examinations designed to motivate and encourage students of all ages and levels of ability. Stephen, who trained in ballet, tap and highland dance in Scotland and is a former performer with The Scottish Ballet, has been teaching at The Dance Connection since 1991. She also holds a position of practical teaching supervisor with RAD, which means she works with other dancers training to become teachers.
Stephen and Winterhalt were thrilled to have MacIntosh visit The Dance Connection, where 82 students from across Saskatchewan and Alberta were taking part in an intensive summer school focusing on technique. Stephen, who was acquainted with MacIntosh from earlier academy events, said they had received a phone call from the Toronto office asking if, since the director was travelling to Saskatoon for business, could he also visit their summer dance camp in North Battleford.
Of course, the answer was 'Yes!' and a plan was laid for him to drive to North Battleford from Saskatoon before returning to Ontario. Stephen said she, as a teacher, and Winterhalt, as a studio owner, appreciate this kind of outreach; it makes the academy more accessible.
"He is so approachable," said Stephen of MacIntosh, who spent more than four hours at the studio, even sitting in on one of Stephen's classes. She said she was pleased to be able to introduce the national director to her students. Now, when she tells them she's sending their paperwork off to Toronto, they have a visual connection to the unseen organization that plays such a large part in their dance studies.
There was also time to talk about academy business, one of the goals of the visit, before heading back to Ontario.
MacIntosh has travelled extensively. Even his commute from home to office is several hours.
Working with RAD, he travels to England as well. It's hard for people there, he said, to imagine having to travel across five time zones to meet with members, as he does in Canada.
He also sees all kinds of weather in his travels. He recalls one international trip during which he left Ohio one day in October when it was 15 C, flew to Vancouver, B.C., then Calgary, Alta., where it was -5 C, and landed to a blizzard at Saskatoon, where it was -25 C with three feet of snow.
Before taking his position with RAD, MacIntosh was executive director of RCM Examinations, a division of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada. In 2006 he co-founded Novus Via Music Group Inc., a student-focused music publishing company with the goal of offering a standardized curriculum for developing musicians. He has a graduate diploma in Arts Administration from York University, Toronto and a masters in Business Administration, also from York. He has a BA in Music and Philosophy from the University of Alberta. He is an accomplished pianist and also studied cello, French horn and voice.
Summer camp at The Dance Connection is about concentrating on technique, says Winterhalt. It runs for four days during "school" hours, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with every student taking part in all the dance forms offered - ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop and lyrical.
There are three age groups at the camp: junior, ages seven to nine; intermediate, ages 10 to 12; and senior, ages 13 to 17. Each dancer has five classes per day, one in each form.
Some summer schools incorporate a performance or recital, but this camp does not, says Winterhalt. That way students can focus on improving their technique without the distraction of preparing for a performance.
"It's intensive," she says.
Teaching at this year's camp are the studio's three staff members, Winterhalt, Stephen and Sarah Rasmussen, along with two guest instructors.
Winterhalt likes to invite a variety of guest teachers to expose the students to different styles, in teaching and in dancing. She also likes to invite guest teachers who are working in the industry, as an opportunity for students to learn more about the dance world outside of the classroom.
"So they are also learning inspirationally," says Winterhalt.
This year's guest teachers are Sasha Kozak and Breanna English.
Kozak is a past guest teacher and former student of The Dance Connection, one of several studio alumni who have earned successful careers in the industry. He has been working professionally for the past 13 years, and has been seen in numerous movies, TV shows, music videos and commercials. He has over 1,000 live performances to his credit, and as a teacher, has taught at approximately 50 studios across North America.
English is a multi-talented performer and award-winning choreographer whose passion has led her to travel and train in dance all over the world. Her list of television and film appearances includes features films and commercials, and she has performed with many stars, as well as on cruise ships and at Disneyland in Tokyo, Japan. She currently teaches at Port Moody School of Dance in British Columbia.
Assisting the teachers are students Ashlyn Schwab and Cassandra Knisely, who has recently been accepted to the renowned Broadway Dance Centre in New York.
