When she was four years old, Nanoose resident Bronwen Luck joined ballet, but following an unfortunate incident she quit, unaware a decade later she would become a shining star in the discipline.
“This girl was pulling my hair so I quit,” she laughed.
About six years later she re-joined, this time in hip hop. It was then she decided she wanted to immerse herself in dance classes and dedicated much of her free time to joining the Parksville Ballet School.
She now practices three to four hours a day, six days a week, plus extra time to learn solos, and intensive summer camps.
Besides the Parksville Ballet School she also dances with Helix Dance Theatre in Parksville. She practises ballet, modern dance, jazz, flamenco and musical theatre, and it seems all this practicing has paid off.
Last year, when she was 15, she competed at the North Island Festival of Performing Arts (NIFPA) and won in her category, sending her to the Performing Arts of B.C. Festival, also known as provincials.
This year she competed in the senior competition, with dancers up to 20 years old, and won first place again for modern dance.
“The competition was pretty stiff,” said her mother Roxanne.
“They were older girls and really good dancers, but I’m her biggest fan so I wasn’t that surprised,” she beamed.
Had Bronwen not made it to provincials at NIFPA this year, she still would have qualified, as she also snagged first place at the Upper Island Music Festival in Nanaimo for modern dance.
A humble Bronwen said she went into NIFPA confident this year, but was competing against many of her best friends, who are all great dancers, she said.
“I had a lot of confidence because you can’t do it without confidence, but if didn’t (win) I wouldn’t be sad or anything, because I (would have known) the person above me deserved it.”
Bronwen hopes for a professional career in dance and eventually would like to work with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, a modern ballet company.
In the meantime Bronwen can be seen performing, with a number of other dancers, at a Helix Dance Theatre event at Ballenas Secondary School on May 6 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15, $10 for students.
For details visit www.helixdance.org. Bronwen will head to Kamloops for provincials from June 5 through 9.
reporter@pqbnews.com
