5 Ways to Support Your Dance Program
Lauren is from small town Whitecourt Alberta, and right away found a strong passion for dance at the age of 5. Hiphop was the first form of dance Lauren was introduced to, but she soon began to train in a variety of styles. Lauren is very fortunate that her parents have always been very supportive of her training and would take her to different conventions in larger cities to be exposed to different teachers and styles. From going to conventions like Groove Street Production directed by Joanne and Alex Pesusich her need to dance only grew.
Going into grade 7, she decided she would want to pursue dance as a life long career. Therefore, she moved her training to Edmonton Alberta, where she trained in even more disciplines of dance at Edmonton School of Ballet, through Vimy Ridge Academy’s dance program. There she trained in more fine tuned, and specialized forms of the arts, such as Cecchetti , and RAD(classical ballet), Graham and Horton(modern), tap, hiphop and jazz. The school opened up doors for Lauren, allowing her to assist and lead classes, teach workshops that represented the school at sister schools, set choreography on other dancers in the same program, and have access to take the schools own teachers training course, then becoming a certified teacher for young kids! Vimy dance also gave Lauren the chance to travel with Edmonton Contemporary Dancers to cities such as Toronto to train and explore different dance hubs in the world. Upon graduating form Vimy Ridge Lauren received a scholarship to train with Vancouvers Source dance company! The Source dance company, directed by Joanne Pesusich, is an amazing pre professional company where Lauren got to begin her career and build a platform for herself. Training in all styles, learning about the dance industry, having the chance to work with other amazing young artists and teachers/choreographers from L.A, Vancouver, Toronto, and London!
She is now graduated from source and has shifted her focus to learning more about different street styles. Lauren has trained with Vancouvers best street style, freestyle training company lead by Natasha Gorrie, Higher Ground! There she practiced hiphop, popping, breaking, locking and litefeet! Lauren continues her freestyle training now under the wings of Chris Bonus in a company called Overryde, where dancers can incorporate any training they have into their freestyle. Lauren is a very loyal team player and is happy to continue to train with TwoFourSeven Company as well, which focuses more on competitive/creative choreography. In the past this crew is known to perform in LA, Boston and other cities, Lauren hopes to make it there one day as well! Within TwoFourSeven, Lauren has gotten to work closely with amazing choreographers like Roberta Bierman, has gotten to work on full productions, concept videos and much more. Since living in Vancouver Lauren has also had the pleasure to teach in different communities, she has experience teaching at community centres, schools, dance studios and in her company classes as well! Lauren is eager to learn and share. She strives to set a good example for her follow teammates, to create positive vibes in and out of dance class, and knows dance will take her far.
