Ten-year-old Tifa Dezic is North Battleford's only entertainer booked for this year's Telemiracle.
The Grade 4 Lawrence School student will be dancing on the Telemiracle stage in Regina Sunday, March 6 between 2 and 4 p.m.
Tifa is a dedicated dancer, attending ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop and lyrical classes at Dance Connection four times a week. She's been dancing since she was three years old and competing in dance festivals since she was 6, earning 19 medals for group routines plus a second and a third place medal in solo competitions.
How does she feel about dancing at Telemiracle?
"Great," she says. "I'm happy."
There's nothing Tifa likes better than to dance. She's participated in many activities, including gymnastics, cheer and skating, but dancing always comes out on top. One day, she hopes to open her own dance studio and she'd love to appear on the reality show Dance Moms (although, her mom laughs, there's no way she'd appear) or the Canadian teen dance drama The Next Step.
While she loves to dance, she's also happy about contributing to Telemiracle, celebrating its 40th edition this year. She and her family have some fundraising plans in the works so she will not only be dancing, but presenting a cheque as well.
Her mom, Twilla Gagne, says it started when she and Tifa saw an advertisement on television Oct. 1 for auditions to be part of the entertainment for this special year of Telemiracle.
Her first idea was to choreograph a dance with two of her friends, but that didn't work out.
She was disappointed, but her mom told her she could still go ahead and audition with a solo.
It was something of a process, but she got there.
Her mom explains.
"She loves dancing. So Tifa started picking out her song and started choreographing her dance. She got halfway through the song and dance and said to me, 'This isn't what I want to do.' This happened two more times."
Her mom was starting to get nervous. There were only five days left before her audition date of Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. in Saskatoon.
"She finally picked her song and did a fast dance. She said to me, 'This is the song I want.' Her choreographing started. It was on a Monday before auditions that she started and finished it on the Wednesday the 4th. She had less than four days to know the dance off by heart."
The song Tifa picked was a top-10 electropop song called Die Young by American recording artist Ke$ha.
Her mom says Tifa was a very busy girl with regular dance lessons four days a week, and she used her free time to get the routine finished.
But it paid off.
"Nov. 8 finally came," says Gagne. "Tifa was nervous all day. She did her performance and did an awesome job. She had a limit of five minutes on stage and had to talk to the producers for a few minutes to answer some questions."
Then came the waiting-for-word part that is so hard. There had been 200 auditions, with 61 acts to be chosen.
"A few weeks went by and we never received anything," says Gagne. "Finally, Dec. 4 we received a letter."
Not knowing, of course, what was in the letter, Tifa's mom did her best to prepare her enthusiastic dancer for whatever news would be contained inside it.
"Before we opened the letter, I said to Tifa, 'No matter what this letter says, you are an amazing dancer and person. I am very proud of you.'"
Then the moment came.
"I opened the letter and started reading it. The letter started by saying, 'Thank you for auditioning to be part of our telethon.' I said, 'Oh, oh, Tifa, I don't think you got in.'"
But it was good news.
"Then I kept on reading," says Gagne. "It said, 'We're excited about our Telemiracle 40 Saskatchewan talent, and we are thrilled to invite you to be part of our anniversary celebration lineup!'"
It was a noisy reaction.
"I screamed, hugged her, and we were jumping up and down. I was crying, saying to her she made it. Tifa had tears in her eyes and the biggest smile ever. I was one happy mama."
Now, between rehearsing for Telemiracle and continuing with her regular dance classes, Tifa and her family are planning some fundraising activities such as bingos, bake sales and prize draws.
"I'm hoping to get prizes, gift cards and certificates to do our best to raise the most we can for Telemiracle 40," says Gagne.
Financially, Gagne's family doesn't always find things easy, but they are happy to contribute.
"We want to help and be part of helping those in need," she says. "We are very lucky people; we have our good health to be thankful for. We are very rich in that way."
Rainbow Toyota of North Battleford will be providing the transportation to Regina for the performance, for which Tifa and her mom are thankful.
Gagne is proud that her daughter is representing the talent of North Battleford. She adds, however, that a fellow student from Dance Connection, Presli O'Donnell of Unity, will also be performing.
Telemiracle 40 will be broadcast from Conexus Arts Centre in Regina March 5 and 6 beginning at 9 p.m. The doors open at 8 p.m. and admission is free of charge.
The money raised by the telethon helps the Kinsmen Foundation assist Saskatchewan people to acquire special needs equipment and access to medical treatment.
