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Continuing the dream – Red Deer dancer returning to Royal Winnipeg Ballet School

Aug 19, 2017 | 6:00 AM

After being selected to attend the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School in the fall of 2016, Ainsley Nivens has proven herself to instructors and will be returning this September.

Nivens was one of only 70 students selected to attend for the full school year, and one of only 10 in her age group.

“It was so amazing, it was even more than I could have imagined. It was such a good experience and I grew a lot as a dancer and as a person,” said Nivens.

She attended the summer program for all of this past July and is home for just one month before returning heading back. She added that as a full-year student staying for the month of July, they act as mentors and instructors work to see if students they’re looking to accept are a good fit or not.

“The summer program is a whole bunch of other kids auditioning for the school. We [the full-year students] are basically there so they can, not compare really, but see how other dancers would fit in with the kids who are already at the school. From there they’ll decide who they would like to join the program.”

Training in the professional division, Nivens says it’s a lot of work and that they train in conjunction with regular school studies from Monday to Saturday throughout the school year. She added that the instructors give a lot of corrections and that without their guidance she wouldn’t have made the major improvements that she did throughout the school year.

“They’re giving us tips to not say ‘oh be better’ but more like ‘this will help you and keep you improving and become better’ because they want you to succeed.”

Nivens said she still has aspirations to join a company as a professional ballerina. “That would be so amazing, but it’s going to take a lot of work. But I know I’ll, at least I hope that I’ll, be able to make it.”

During her time at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Nivens said the students had the pleasure of meeting prima ballerina Evelyn Hart.

“She was this amazing dancer who was basically given to the school because [the National Ballet of Canada] didn’t think she would become anything. Then RWB trained her and then she won the biggest ballet competition in the world.”

Nivens said meeting Hart was an incredible experience and talking to her about her passion and her experience has further spurred on her dreams to continue on to be a professional ballerina.

While there weren’t any opportunities for Nivens to perform in ballets with other companies this past year, she did perform alongside her peers in the year end showcase called Spotlight.

With September right around the corner Nivens is thinking about her return to the school, but knows that it’s always a year-by-year evaluation as to whether she would be returning. She would like to finish her schooling there.

“We have goal settings in the year and at your last goal setting they tell you how much they think you’ve improved and whether you’re a good fit for the school or now and whether they want you back. At the end of May is when that happens.”

Nivens said she plans to continue to work hard in her schooling and hopefully keep returning year after year.