Dancing her dream

BY AMY SMITH

Kings County Register

While students head off this fall to pursue post secondary education at universities and community colleges, Jordan Sanford will be doing something entirely different.

Sanford, of Coldbrook, will be attending the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. For her acceptance into the teacher/ training program, Sanford completed a difficult audition and interview. After proving her work ethic and motivation, Sanford is thrilled to be accepted into the three-year program.

“I always knew I wanted to do something with dance. It was just a matter of what, where and how to get certified.”

Sanford will eventually graduate with her Canadian Dance Teacher's Association dance teacher's diploma, but the road to getting there will include much more than just time in the studio. While the course focuses on her technique in ballet and stage (a form of dance similar to what one would see on Broadway), she will also be required to study anatomy, child development, kinesiology and pedagogy.

The intensive program will test Sanford's physical fitness and skill, but she is going in well prepared. For 14 years, she’s been dancing in both the Valley and Halifax. Although she dabbles in hip-hop and lyrical, Sanford prefers ballet, jazz and tap.

“There are so many styles you can take, it's kind of endless what you can learn.”

She started at the Maritime Dance Academy in Bedford, taking a creative movement class. As she grew older, she was enrolled in the intensive dance-training program, where she danced three times a week, featuring two lengthy ballet classes in addition to tap and jazz classes.

“My mom enrolled me in dance because I wouldn't stop twirling - and I haven't stopped yet,” she says with a laugh.

When she moved to Coldbrook at age 12, Sanford continued dancing in Halifax, but eventually began to explore the Valley dance scene. She started to study at Dance ConXion in Berwick and has become an important figure at the school.

“I'm here every day of the week.”

This summer is her fourth year of teaching dance, and she can't wait to turn the hobby into a profession. Sanford says she enjoys seeing the improvement she can foster in a child, and the responsibility teaching has taught her.

“I like passing on my passion,” she says. “Everyone always says I'm so lucky that I know what I want to do, that I found a job that is also a hobby.”