Calgary adult contemporary dance collective hosting show called ‘FrequenSee’

En Corps Dance Collective will present its first performance of "FrequenSee" Friday night. It's the annual big show for the group, which brings together adult d

A Calgary contemporary dance collective is preparing to host its biggest show of the season, called FrequenSee.

En Corps is made up of 26 adult dancers.

Its show is described in a press release as “a visually stunning and emotionally moving dance performance that brings together light, sound and human movement in a transformative way, inviting audiences to slow down, tune in and feel more connected to themselves, to nature and to the world’s hidden harmonies.”

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“The whole purpose in my mind around it was making the frequencies that surround us –especially within music – but also in the greater world and cosmos and universe, visible in the body,” said Olivia Sengl, artistic director. “Which is essentially what dance is, but I really wanted to just focus in on the actual frequencies that have scientifically been proven to benefit the body, mind and spirit in some way or another.”

The show runs Feb. 27 and 28, with three performances at the Decidedly Jazz Danceworks Theatre.

“We do one big show every February, that’s our main production,” said Sengl. “Then we also do smaller works throughout the year. We do photo shoots, smaller shows and all of that is driven by our members, so they bring proposals to the board and then those are selected. It’s all collaborative within our collective.”

The dancers in that collective all have a passion for dancing and didn’t want to stop after high school and entering post secondary school or starting their careers.

“They might be a nurse, they might be an engineer in their day job, they might have kids and not have time to pursue that in a professional atmosphere,” said Mira Gitelman, En Corps board VP and dancer. “But we still want to create a high level, engaging artistic environment where they can come, they can feel included.”

En Corps Dance Collective is a registered non-profit dance collective based in Calgary.

This year it received a $30,000 grant from Calgary Arts Development to pay for choreography fees and theatre rental.

“We were so excited to be successful in that,” said Gitelman. “Because we are now able to pay our dancers with rates set out by the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artist/West Chapter.”

Karen Vito, 34-year-old dancer, has been a member for six years and only began dancing when she was in grade 11.

“I fell in love after watching The Nutcracker and I was like, ‘Mom, can I do that?’" she said. “Because I’ve always been an introvert, and ever since then, it’s like my way of expressing myself. I’ve become a more confident person through dance.”

Tamia Corea, 20, has been dancing for 17 years and wanted to continue dancing as an adult because she loves the adrenalin rush that comes with performing on stage.

“I’m in university right now, I’m taking nursing so I still love school and I love academics, but dance was something that I just couldn’t let go and I couldn’t kind of let that part of myself leave,” she said. “That community just was so important to me, so I found opportunities to still continue after high school.”

Jillian Sanborn, 24, began dancing when she was just three years old and grew up as a competitive dancer. She’s graduated from the University of Calgary’s dance program combined with an education degree and now teaches dance in a public high school. This is her first year in the collective.

“It’s been a long time since I danced in kind of a team environment and that’s been the biggest joy from this experience for me is getting back with a supportive group of team members of castmates,” she said. “We are so blessed as a community in Calgary to have so many opportunities for dancers, but this I think this is especially special because so many of us have other jobs, but we all have this shared talent that we get to showcase together, which is really cool.”

Sengl is impressed at the dancer’s commitment to work as a team to make FrequenSee and her vision come to life on stage.

“We’re a nonprofit organization, so we completely rely on the fundraising that we do as a collective donation, sponsorships, grants that we apply for,” she said. “And then the biggest is the ticket sales from the shows, that goes a long way.”