Life Alteration

"The posture in ballet is extremely complex and demanding physically. You have to tuck your booty forward, pull back your shoulders, close your ribcage, open your feet in pizza tip, have your head straight up and elegant arms. In hip hop it’s the complete opposite! We are asked to slouch forward, to open your legs wider than your shoulders, and to give some attitude."

The definition of hip hop is often confused with that of jazz although they are completely different styles. How about I begin by making this crystal clear? Hip hop is moving to the beat with some measure of aggressivity or intensified emotion. This type of dance became my passion at the speed of light and has been the greatest opportunity of my life. Dance has helped to shape me into the woman I have become today.

Dance entered my life at a very young age. My mom told me that after my swimming lessons I used to beg her to go see the little ballerina’s. That is when she knew she had to register me in ballet lessons, it was a must. So I danced classic until the age of 12, although hip hop entered my life before this time period and I still dance this style today. Around the age of 6, my mother decided to sign me up with L’école de danse Christine Bourque, the dance school my brother was already attending. That’s where my passion began and grew at a constant pace. The true differences between ballet and hip hop would obviously be the type of music danced to and the posture used in those particular styles. The music in ballet is most often a very slow smooth melody. Of course that depends on the circumstances or the story that is being told. For example in “the Nutcracker” a famous ballet, most acts are danced to slow songs except one that I can remember. That would be the scene where the boy fights with the rat. At that moment, the song used is very dramatic and rhythmed. The posture in ballet is extremely complex and demanding physically. You have to tuck your booty forward, pull back your shoulders, close your ribcage, open your feet in pizza tip, have your head straight up and elegant arms. In hip hop it’s the complete opposite! We are asked to slouch forward, to open your legs wider than your shoulders, and to give some attitude. Concerning the music, it is rhythmed music often with beatdrops. So as you can tell, they are really different.

Dance had a great influence in the woman I have grown to be today. In dance, you have to excel the choreographies in order to be noticed and be placed in front. For example, when we learn a new choreography and we get told to practice for the next class because they’re picking people who will be dancing to this particular tune. Therefore it really worked on my ego and I always forced myself to my 100% to make myself proud and to be noticed by my coaches. Since day one, I always forced myself to my maximum and gladly I was noticed, by the director herself. Soon enough, around the age 11, I became an assistant. To step in the world of coaching dance (assistant being the first step) you must be an outstanding dancer who works really hard all the time. You have to work on the corrections when you are given some by your teachers and of course the coaches have to notice you keep improving.

An assistant and a coach are more different than they seem. Assistants aren’t paid for starters. Their work is all about volunteering, but the upside about being an assistant is that you were chosen to do it. The director of this school observes every competitive group very carefully, selecting the ones that most reflect the style that we teach at this school. If ever you get chosen, it’s an honor, and to be completely honest, these kids don’t even notice they’re not getting paid, it means so much to them to be selected that paying attention to the money detail doesn’t even occur to them.

On the other hand, being a coach means being the leading teacher of a group. You make your own choreographies and dedicate yourself to teaching children and making them good. When you get to teach competitive groups such as Atomik or Golden Ladies, you make the choreographies with the director because you must receive her approval before showing anything to your students.

Dance effected my life in 2 different ways.  It gave me a job/passion to work for and it helped me shape the person I have grown to be today. To get this job I had to:

1. Work very hard
2. Keep improving
3. Always apply the comments my teachers gave me.

I asked Christine Bourque to become an assistant and she accepted. I worked for approximately 3 years as an assistant and then at the age of 13 or 14, I became a coach. I began to be paid for transmitting my passion of dance to younger kids. What a beautiful way to make money. Unlike most teenagers, I came home from school at night and couldn’t wait to “go work”.
It is starting then that I began to gain self confidence and have a strong personality. I started to be more opinionated and strong thanks to my duet Ariane. She showed me that in order to stay strong you must defend what you believe in and she taught me to be honest with myself. I became confident thanks to her and the director because they both always believed in me right from the beginning. I used to be a small innocent girl who couldn’t stand up for herself and just let people walk on her head. I now look at this weak girl and don’t recognize myself anymore. Dance changed me in a positive way and thanks to this amazing opportunity, in sec 5, I finally stood up to my class bullies and people started to respect me at school. In QEHS, I categorized myself as the peacemaker. I helped new kids and sec 1’s feel comfortable.

Briefly, my whole journey in dance really had a very positive effect on my life and I will be forever grateful I had the chance to try it. If it weren’t for hip hop, Christina (the confident girl with a strong opinion that can defend herself) would’ve remained Christina (the shy girl who lets people walk over her and can’t handle herself). Becoming assistant was the first step towards gaining the personality I am thankful to have today.

Christina