A desire for a more laid-back, small town-oriented and less aggressively competitive dance showcase led sisters Antoinelle Leibel and Kirsti Bennet to form the Sparkle Dance Festival three years ago.
The dance festival happens in several locations around central Alberta every year, and this past weekend, April 1-3, the festival came to Stettler for the first time, but not its last — Leibel said the festival was a big hit in the community and the Performing Arts Centre has already been booked for next year.
Over three days, roughly 330 dancers performed in 186 different entries. Dancers performed in a wide variety of dance styles, from ballet to contemporary, jazz to tap, and musical theatre to hip hop, to name a few.
"It was really well received," Leibel said.
"We started (the festival) because as dance teachers, we found a lot of the dance festivals were geared towards big studios," she explained. "They were very competitive and very expensive, and we wanted something for our small towns and rural communities."
She also said the grueling schedules of some of those dance studios also made it difficult for dancers to maintain the stamina, especially if they weren't from a school that saw dedicated, every-day practice.
"There are so many kids, boys and girls, who love to dance," she said. "This gives them a venue to showcase their skill without the pressure of the big-city competitions."
Leibel said she and her sister, who grew up in Camrose, loved small-town dancing and now run their own studio to continue the tradition.
While the audience fluctuated over the three days, the seats at the PAC were almost always a good two-thirds full, as family, friends and members of the community — both the Stettler community and dancing community — came to watch individuals and groups perform.
"I can't wait for next year," Leibel said.
