M’CHIGEENG—A large, boisterous crowd filled the auditorium at Manitoulin Secondary School on Saturday evening, May 25. Rows and rows of families, babies in strollers, toddlers on laps, parents and grandparents catching up with friends and neighbours as they waited for the show to begin. The show was ‘The Pirates and the Sea,’ performed by a cast of Body Stories Dance students, a very large group of dancers ranging in age from three to 13.
“There are around 80 students performing this year, just over, or just under 80, we’ll find out tomorrow,” Candace Irwin, dance teacher and director of Body Stories, said over the phone. “There are lots of little ones who are sometimes unsure.” Ms. Irwin went on to talk about the production her students would be performing. “The general story of the show, which is made up from my and some of the students’ imaginations is: There’s a sailor who used to be a pirate and he decides to leave the pirates and sail this other ship. His past pirate friends are not too excited about this choice, so they decide to take over his ship and capture him, but what they don’t know is that the spirits of the sea are watching, and they don’t like that they’ve captured the sailor, so they create a magic storm that sends these pirates to the bottom of the sea. The pirates are then sent on a quest to find some pieces of their ship that have been taken from them by these sea spirits, and if they can find them, they get to go back up to the surface and if not, they get to live their days at the bottom of the ocean.”
Spoiler alert: they did find the missing pieces of their ship and they were allowed to once again return to the surface. A grand celebratory dance concluded the show. The dances, 15 in all, showcased the talents of these many students from Little Current, Manitowaning and Kagawong, and the scenery added much to the effect of being at sea. Each time the smaller dance students came onto the stage, as various little sea creatures, the audience audibly sighed, clapped and cheered. Sometimes, the appreciative dancers would stop what they were doing, smile and wave.
The older dancers’ movements were planned and practiced and the younger dancers were learning what creative movement is and how to express it. There was much interaction between to the two groups, with older and younger working together, one instructing while the other paid attention and followed the appropriate movements. The audience responded enthusiastically.
At the end of the show, with the entire cast on stage to lengthy and exuberant applause, Ms. Irwin said, “I have one more thing to share with you all. As many of you know, I’m really about making sure that everyone knows they’re a dancer. I truly believe that dance is something that’s for everybody, and that is my life’s work, to try and make it more accessible to everyone to enjoy. So, I’m so excited to announce that Body Stories Dance has officially become a non-profit with the hope of trying to continue to make dance more accessible on the Island in order to reach people across the Island both with dance and performance programming.” Ms. Irwin encouraged everyone in the audience to take part in a survey that was included on the last page of the program, to help the organization grow, and a chance to win $100 off the 2024/2025 dance season.
The smiles and light hearts were visible on each person leaving the auditorium. “They’ve really come so far in a year’s time,” said one proud grandmother, while others nodded. Perhaps, leaving this wonderful performance of their children, their nieces and nephews, grandchildren, or in some cases, their school students, each member of the audience began to believe that they, themselves, in fact, could be dancers too.
