Arts & Entertainment

The Art of Dance in Halifax

ballet
Back in 1973 a group of women saw the need to create a space to teach and promote dance, and most importantly: to create art. Nearly 35 years later that need is still running—or dancing—strong. The original founded dance cooperative has evolved into something much, much bigger. The largest movement arts school east of Montreal, in fact. With a membership of approximately 1,400 students, Halifax Dance has lived all over town: Barrington Street, Queen Street, the Brewery Market. Their newest location to call home is in the Maritime Centre, at the bottom of Spring Garden Road in the heart of downtown Halifax. Five bright and spacious sprung-floor dance studios occupy the 9,500 square feet that make up the new home for this premiere school of dance.

There are two locker rooms each equipped with clean, new showers. The costume closet is brimming with sequined dresses and puffy tutus. A tune from a piano or beat of a drum can often be heard reverberating off the walls as live accompaniment for dancers in the studios. But the number one pet peeve of Halifax Dances’ Artistic Adminstrator Tim Keenan is that people think that Halifax Dance is rich.

“We are a struggling arts organization just like many others,” Keenan says. Halifax Dance is a not-for-profit organization. Keenan explains that 45 per cent of their revenue comes from dancers’ tuitions fees. The rest is made up from fundraising, private and corporate donations and a small portion comes from government funding. New initiatives have recently been established to help boost this revenue. One of these initiatives is the New Home Campaign, to help fund the expense of relocating from the Brewery Market to the Maritime Centre, which took place in the fall of 2006. The campaign will help to cover the costs of the move as well as replacing studio floors, mirrors, and buying new equipment.

The second initiative is to set up an endowment fund for the future.

“We’re always renting [space],” says Keenan. “We would like to buy a new home. Ten to 12 years from now, with the endowment fund, that might happen.” Approximately $53,000 for the New Home Campaign has been raised so far, just over one-third of the $150,000 goal.

Until the day comes that Halifax Dance can find a permanent home of its own, the new location is working out just fine. In fact, the space is allowing for Halifax Dance to tap into the business community. Lunchtime dance and fitness classes are offered, making it very convenient for those who work in the offices in the Maritime Centre to work out, use the shower facilities, grab their lunch from the food court and be back to work in an hour. Halifax Dance also offers a ‘joggers membership’ to provide the use of their locker room facilities to those who take a run during their workday.

For children as young as three there are creative movement classes. There are teen and adult classes in everything from ballet, jazz and tap to hip hop, modern, belly dance, Irish dance, and Flamenco.

Then there is the Intensive Training Program (ITP) for young dancers who want to seriously pursue dance. Auditions are open for anyone over the age of eight. The dancers that come out of the program are wellformed young adults who have built self-esteem, confidence and have a strong understanding of teamwork and discipline. Depending on their level, dancers put in anywhere from two to eight hours of dance a week, made up of comprehensive ballet training as well as classes in creative movement, composition, jazz, modern and improvisation.

General Manager Denise Rooney says she has even seen 70-year-old seniors come for tap class. “Anybody at all can come in here and take a class, and have a good time,” says Rooney. “And they always come back.”

As often the students do. Ruth-Ellen Kroll grew up in the city, dancing at Halifax Dance for over ten years before moving to New York City and dancing with the renowned Parsons Dance Company. Now relocated back in Nova Scotia, Kroll has returned to Halifax Dance to work.

“It’s the premier dance school in Nova Scotia,” she says. “That’s where I wanted to be based. And it’s great. The people are really wonderful to work with and they are really accommodating of what I want to do.” Kroll has started a professional program at Halifax Dance and teaches advanced ITP, which according to Kroll is “really an honour.”

With a maximum of 16 students per class, dancers at Halifax Dance receive individual, focused attention. And Halifax Dance is unique in its longevity. “Structurally, we are great,” says Rooney. “Many other schools have modeled their set-up on ours.”

Halifax Dance is recognized nationally for the caliber of training provided to its students. Many, like Kroll, go on to university dance training programs and professional dance companies. Others have started their own dance companies. Halifax Dance is home to senior companyin-residence Gwen Noah Dance Society, and companies-in-residence Mocean Dance and Verve Mwendo. All continue promoting dance and presenting original dance theatre to captivated audiences.

Halifax Dance is also home to the Young Company, a troupe of preprofessionals who are working towards a career in dance. They perform every year in the holiday presentation of The Nutcracker at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, and in their Spring Season showcase, this year on May 11 and 12 at the Sir James Dunn Theatre.

So with its new home, new home campaign and endowment fund for the future, Halifax Dance continues to, as it did 35 years ago, provide a space for artists to teach and promote dance and, most importantly: create art.

Originally published in the Spring 2007 issue of Lifestyle Nova Scotia Magazine.