Skip to content

Backbeat dancers bring Celtic culture

Thirteen young dancers will have Okotoks’ performing arts centre reverberating in a pulse-pounding performance this weekend.
TThe Backbeat Irish Dancers perform for an Okotoks audience last year. This year’ s show takes place at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre on Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
TThe Backbeat Irish Dancers perform for an Okotoks audience last year. This year’ s show takes place at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre on Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Thirteen young dancers will have Okotoks’ performing arts centre reverberating in a pulse-pounding performance this weekend.

The Backbeat Irish Dancers will combine traditional Irish dance with a modern twist in their annual December performance at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

“It’s a high-energy Irish dance show,” said director Ali Hampshire. “It’s based on traditional Irish-step dancing, which has evolved drastically, especially over the last 40 to 50 years. It’s an intimate setting so you get to see these dancers right up close.”

Hampshire said the Possak Hampshire Academy of Irish Dance formed the troupe of high-level performers ages 11 to 23 last year to help promote its high-level dancers and give them the opportunity to perform locally.

The dancers work almost daily to prepare for competitions that take them around the world, said Hampshire.

The troupe competed in the Western Canadian Championships earlier this month in Calgary which qualified 12 dancers for the North American Championships next July in New Orleans and five for the World Championships next April in Dublin.

“These dancers are in class five days a week,” Hampshire said. “They’re training upwards of 20 hours a week. Most of them are up at 5:30 a.m. and training and then going to school and coming home and getting on their costumes and getting on the dance floor. They really do train like high-level athletes.”

Hampshire said the dancers learn their choreography then spend hours polishing their moves, strengthening their bodies and ensuring their technique is solid.

The troupe combines traditional Irish dance music and choreography with a modern twist, yet using the basics of Irish-step dancing, said Hampshire.

“It’s really just hearing the rhythm and hearing that pulse-pounding beat,” she said. “Getting 10 to 20 dancers on stage working in unison can be quite stunning.”

Hampshire said the dance troupe recently added three new members.

“They’ve been getting used to the numbers and learning the pieces and working with the rest of the group,” she said.

Eleven-year-old Becky Thiem joined the Backbeat Irish Dancers two weeks ago.

“It’s been a lot of hard work,” she said. “It is kind of difficult to dance in the Irish style. In Irish dance you have to have your core straight, your foot to your head and your toes pointed and turned out.”

Thiem said Irish dance comes with two types of shoes, hard shoes for tapping and soft shoes for lyrical, and that no two dancers perform alike

“Nobody else in your school has the exact same steps as you,” she said. “It’s like your own dance that the teachers fit it so it’s just for you.”

Thiem said those watching this weekend’s show might have a hard time sitting still in their seats.

“When and if they watch the show on Dec. 3 I feel like they will get giddiness in themselves that will make them want to jump up and dance,” she said. “That’s how I felt when I watched my friend who introduced me to Irish dance. I feel like they are going to dance on the spot and just groove to the music. It’s got its own style. It’s not like any other music that I know.”

Grace Karasz, 11, joined the Backbeat Irish Dancers last year, after four years of Irish dancing for the opportunity to perform on stage more often.

“It’s a smaller group and we do lots of different shows throughout the year,” she said. “It helps with your presentation and it helps a lot with technique and working well with others. It’s just fun to be with everyone and be able to dance in group dances with them and just have fun with it. ”

While Karasz admits she gets a little nervous before performing, once she steps on stage it goes away.

The performers are well rehearsed, having spent hours perfecting their numbers.

“We’ve been extending classes to work on different numbers,” she said. “We’re doing some new dances and we are doing some previous dances. There is a lot of different styles that people are bringing into the show. There’s people who are really good with their rhythms and people who are really good with doing solos. Everyone brings their own thing to the table.”

Tickets to watch the Backbeat Irish Dancers cost $15 and can be purchased at www.eventbrite.ca

Proceeds from ticket sales will help cover the cost of the dancers travelling to the North American and World Irish Dance Championships in 2017.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks