Shine up your dance shoes, the Paula Ross Dance Society (PRDS) turns 50 this year and is looking for new board members to keep things moving.
Co-chairs Lindsay Morrison and Miranda Oliwa have been involved with the organization for 15 years, but have moved and are hoping the exciting 50th anniversary milestone will bring new, local parents to the dance floor.
“Both of us are no longer living in the community, so we just want to hand it back to the community. We’ve done what we can and we’ve built a lot up from where we started. The next step for the society is to really have people on the ground. Take what we’ve got going and make it bigger,” said Morrison from her home in Calgary, Alberta.
Founded in 1973 by prolific B.C. dance artist Paula Ross, the volunteer-driven society supports dance and performing arts opportunities for children, youth and adults across the West Coast. Past projects include: costuming Glee concerts, Sandra Hinder’s advance ballet class, awarding youth bursaries for dance opportunities, and loaning out a portable dance floor.
“The pandemic set us back, but now is a good opportunity to rebuild. It would be a shame to let it fade away. There are a lot of people interested in dance that could benefit from it,” said Oliwa, who now lives in Victoria.
Tofino resident Samantha Hackett, a former figure skater, recently joined the PRDS board after watching her six-year-old daughter fall in love with YouTube ballet videos during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Paula Ross Dance Society is a really great platform to link all the different performing arts pieces together and support it all in a general way,” said Hackett.
“It’s not about putting together dance classes, it’s about connecting instructors with the district or other instructors. We bring unique dance experiences to the coast,” she said.
Anyone interested in helping grow the PRDS is encouraged to reach out to paularossdance@gmail.com.