Exciting things are happening at Forever Dance Alaska, formerly known as Vergine’s Dance Studio in Soldotna the Aurora Dancers’ will be making a Valentine’s weekend appearance at the Renee C. Henderson Auditorium at Kenai Central High School when they present “The Traveler.” The competition winning Aurora Dancers is auditioned based and comprised of four dance companies or age group classes at Forever Dance Alaska; the Senior Company, Junior, Flames and Pre-Company. The entire troupe is auditioned based and is called the Aurora Company. The 2016 showcase has been choreographed by veteran instructors formerly with Vergine’s, Kacia Oliver, Clayton Cunningham and Mr. Jessie. Kacia, who teaches jazz and tap dance grew up in Soldotna and began her dance training at Vergine’s. While dancing in the Aurora Company, she had the opportunity to work under choreographers such as Bené Arnold from Ballet West, and Bill Brawley of the Young Americans as well as take master classes from well-known performers such as Sascha Radetsky, and Paula Abdul. She recently danced professionally at Universal Studios Florida.

Ballet instructor Clayton Cunningham Clayton began his training at the English National Ballet School. Upon graduation, he has danced with the English National Ballet company among others and spent almost six seasons with the St. Louis Ballet under the direction of Gen Horiuchi (of New York City Ballet) and is very excited to be back teaching under the new Forever Dance Alaska. More about Mr. Jessie in a related story in this week’s Dispatch.

Owner Darcy Swanson is a life-long Alaskan and has lived on the Kenai Peninsula for 18 years where she is raising seven children with her husband Aaron. “When Vergine decided to retire I’d been teaching here for seven years and felt compelled to keep the opportunity for high quality dance available not only for my children, 5 of which dance here but for all the youth of the Peninsula,” Swanson told the Dispatch in an interview. “Dance is something that speaks to the soul, it’s a way to communicate with others using their body as their instrument and is a passion that bridges language barriers that they take with them their whole life and can be a vehicle to escape the stresses in their life and become free by leaving it all on the dance floor,” she said. With only a few weeks left before the Aurora Dancers’ annual showcase be presented Valentine’s weekend the energy level at Forever Dance is magnifying at warp speed, “It’s going to be an amazing production, ‘The Traveler’ goes through time all the way from caveman days to alien humanoids of the future searching for something, we don’t know what it is but you’ll find out at the end. The talent, effort and costumes in this show is truly over the top and we hope the community will come out to support our local dancers and the arts in our community,” she said.

The Traveler opens Saturday, February 13th at 7:00pm at the KCHS Auditorium with another show on Sunday the 14th at 4:00pm. Reserved seating tickets are available in advance at Forever Dance Alaska in Soldotna across from the VFW on Shady Lane and at the door. For more information about learning to dance forever at any age call Forever Dance Alaska at 907-262-1641 or log on to www.foreverdancealaska.com.