While most of the key players in last week’s International Choral Kathaumixw festival were likely fluffing their pillows, printing off “do not disturb” signs and preparing for a well-deserved nap this past Sunday, choreographer Carol Coulson had other ideas.
Indeed, it was rather fitting that as a large crew of volunteers was working to vacate Hap Parker Arena and transform it back into a suitable home for hockey, Coulson was at Powell River Academy of Music setting up shop for a summer dance program that began the very next day.
Historical Dance, as she calls it, has quietly waltzed, tangoed and cha-cha’d under the radar for six years, growing steadily around the core group of 20 piano students it began for. This year nearly 50 are enrolled and the 200 costumes Coulson brought from her home in Burnaby will be put to very good use.
The program began at the suggestion of piano instructor Olga Tereshchenko who grew up watching opera and dance on stage and credits that exposure as an important component to her own musical development. “I studied music but nobody particularly explained to me what a waltz was, or what a polonaise was or what a minuet was,” she said. “It came naturally because I watched them and listened to them, but when I started to work here [in Powell River] I realized how difficult it is to explain them to children.”
Tereshchenko decided instead to have Coulson explain them and organized a week-long dance intensive where her students and a few friends could experience the various types of dance found in their piano repertoire.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. “My students have been delighted about it,” she said. “And the parents too, so I decided to continue.” Several families have been participating since inaugural year and others, who have moved out of Powell River, have returned each summer to dance or lend a hand.
By the time dress rehearsals in full costume begin on Friday, July 13, Tereshchenko’s students will have assumed the roles of characters from another era. Several of their mothers, however, will have assumed the role of seamstress. Other parents and friends work behind the scenes, doing everything from operating the compact disc player during daily rehearsals to bringing snacks and taking care of registration. “We couldn’t do this without all of them,” Coulson said.
While the program certainly has its musical benefits, Tereshchenko said the social atmosphere created is another enjoyable reward. “Piano lessons can be lonely with just the student and I,” she said, “so dance is a perfect way to bring together the children who I teach.”
Other than a few requests for certain pieces or styles on occasion, Tereshchenko has left much of the program’s creative direction to Coulson who picks an annual theme, selects each piece of music, choreographs all the dances and sews all the elaborate costumes.
“The first year we did Louis XIV and the minuets and the pavanes and all that kind of thing,” said Coulson. “It was just fabulous. I came with the white wigs and the embroidered coats and everything.” This year, she said, the group would be covering a host of different dances from Biblical times right up to the elaborate musicals of the present day.
Coulson only has four days left to pull it all together, but for the choreographer of two Grey Cup celebrations, the 1984 Papal visit to Vancouver, the opening ceremonies for Expo 86 and 14 consecutive Kathaumixw festivals, the prospect of 50 amateur dancers from ages five to 20 isn’t too worrisome. “They’re picking it up so quickly,” she said. “It’s great.”
Participation in Historical Dance is currently invitation-only due to space constraints but interested readers are welcome to watch the performance at 7 pm this Saturday, July 14 at Academy Hall, 7280 Kemano Street.
