From contemporary to ballet and everything in between, dancers took to the stage in Gatineau, Que. for the Hit The Floor Dance Competition at the Hilton Lac-Leamy for one of the most prestigious dance competitions in the country this weekend. Fifteen-year-old Juliette Rimland is performing with her dance school from the Montreal-area and says it is a big competition for dancers. “It’s a really big deal,” she explains ahead of her performance. “The talent is incredible here.” Hit the Dance Floor founder Nicholas Bejin says 3,000 dancers from Quebec and Ontario have landed in Gatineau for the competition. He says that over the course of five days, more than 1,000 routines have been performed. “You can see a lot of different styles. We have hip hop styles, we also have ballet, jazz contemporary,” he told CTV News Ottawa. Édwidge Théagène is among the thousands of competitors. On Sunday, she told CTV News Ottawa she was performing her first fusion solo dance. It required months of hard work and practice to be here, the 21-year-old dancer explains. “It really pushes me to go above and beyond,” she says. “I would like to do this as a career later on. So, that is such a big opportunity for me to be able to dance… and push myself above and beyond.” It’s the first of three Hit the Floor competitions – which runs in three different cities: Gatineau, Saint-Hyacinthe in April, and Quebec City in May. Bejin says that it makes it the largest multi-style dance competition in the country. He explains that with so many people arriving in the region, it’s expected to bring a more than a $7.8-million dollar boost to Gatineau. “(There are) 27,000 spectators who come to visit us this weekend,” he says. “It’s really amazing.” Amara Barner is a judge and says the competitors are reviewed on technique, choreography and performance – but also on passion. “I think a passionate performer cannot contain their passion within their body,” she says. “So then, there’s a really clear reason of why you’re dancing, why you need to be sharing it.” Melanie Hattem is a coach with l’Académie de Danse de Montréal, who’s Afro Academy dance troupe won 1st place in the showcase. She says the competition is intense. “You always have to put in the most amount of work to give your best chances,” she said. “But you can never go in there with any expectation because you just know that you’re going to be surrounded with such incredible talent.”
