Foremost Dance Club focuses on skill development

By Justin Seward

Commentator/Courier

Lauren Walker has coached the Foremost Dance Club for 14 years and runs a recreational program for local dancers ages three to 14.

The Dance Club offers tap, jazz and ballet.

“For me the biggest thing is the kids get an opportunity to move their bodies and interact with other children and other adults that’s not their parents,” she said.

“It’s important that they learn the skills, but I think it’s also important for them to learn the social skills that come with working individually but also as a group.”

The goal for the younger dancers, most of which are three-year-olds, it’s about following basic instruction and for the seniors it’s about learning combinations and piecing individual steps together in order to work on a rhythm, says Walker.

Walker said numbers have been fairly steady the last few years.

“Our older kids have graduated and we don’t have as many older kids—there’s just not many older students in the area right now—but there’s (a) lot of young kids coming up,” she said.

“So our younger classes are significantly bigger than they used to be.”

“I think it offers children of all socio-economic groups the opportunity to participate in something and belong to something,” she said.

“It is especially in these times, it’s not easy and it’s not feasible for all families to take their children to other communities to do those activities. So, I think it’s really important that we keep as many opportunities open in our small communities for our children because there are so many life lessons that come from these kinds of experiences when you’re young.”

The season runs from September to March.

Walker can be contacted at (403) 317-4100 or president Danielle Gruninger at (403) 331-7228 for more information.

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