Shouts of piqué, chassé and jeté echoed through the halls of the Jasper Activity Centre, Jasper Junior/Senior High School and the Jasper Elementary School, as renowned Canadian choreographers worked with eager students during the 10th annual Rocky Mountain Dance Project from August 8 to 13. 

The dance camp has been held in Jasper for the past 10 years, with many choreographers returning to their working vacation to teach young students in a no-stress, non-competitive environment. This year the camp welcomed 200 keen young dancers to the Jasper Activity Centre, where they eat, sleep and breath dance.

Joanne Pesusuch has been teaching at the Jasper camp for the entire 10-year run. The dance instructor, who has performed with the Backstreet Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alanis Morissette and more, said she enjoys the student’s eagerness. 

“They’re so hungry to learn,” she said. “It’s a positive week.”

When she’s not teaching in Jasper, Pesusich is the artistic director and owner of the Source Dance Company that runs out of the Harbour Dance Centre in Vancouver, B.C. 

“It’s great just being in a different location,” she said.

This year has been a bit different for Pesusich. She recently had a baby with husband Alex Pesusich, also a choreographer teaching at the camp. She has cut down her number of classes during this year’s camp, with fellow teachers taking turns babysitting while she leads her students. 

At the Jasper camp Pesusich teaches lyrical, jazz technique and musical theatre to dancers of all skill levels. Dancers at the camp must have some previous dance training. 

“They need to have some kind of knowledge of dance to come here,” Pesusich said.

On August 10 she had a group of students working on progressions, which are moves that can be incorporated into different dance styles. 

The time spent in Jasper is busy for all the students, who dance from morning well into the evening. 

“The kids are dancing six to eight hours a day,” Pesusich said. Many of the evening classes are a bit more subdued as the students get tired after giving it their all. “The classes in the evening, the kids are pretty exhausted.”

The camp works as a bit of a boot camp for aspiring dancers, showing them exactly what long days of rehearsals can feel like. Pesusich said it is a great introduction to the real world of show business. 

While in Jasper the teachers get the opportunity to go river rafting with the kids, but Pesusich said it has rained on the day they choose to go every year that she can remember. This year, she was hoping to get a decent day to try it out. 

“Hopefully it’ll be sunny,” she said. 

Classes take place inside most of the day, and the teachers and students don’t get too much time to see the town. Pesusich said she still enjoys the mountain environment and does her best to see the sights. “The air is so clean,” she said of Jasper. 

Celebrating his fifth year at the Rocky Mountain Dance Project camp as a teacher is Kevin Tookey, another well-known choreographer on the Canadian dance scene. Tookey teaches from coast to coast, with his home base in Vancouver out of the Source Dance Company. The decision to come back year after year is an easy one for the dancer who has performed with the Carolina Ballet and the Ontario Ballet Theatre. “All the faculty are like best friends,” Tookey said. 

He also has roots in Alberta, and returning is like a homecoming. 

“I’m an Alberta boy, so it’s nice to come home,” Tookey said. The choreographer teaches tap, jazz and contemporary and has appeared in many commercials and movies, and has performed on Saturday Night Live. 

Tookey said he enjoys the time spent in Jasper every year because the pressure is off the dancers. 

“There’s definitely that camp mentality,” he said. “They’re on vacation.”

With that said, Tookey adds that the dancers still make use of the time they get with the famous choreographers, participating in three to five classes a day. 

“They’re more easily inspired,” he said. 

Usually Tookey enjoys working with more advanced dancers, but this year he has taken a shining to the younger kids. 

“The junior dancers have been so fantastic,” the choreographer gushed. “I’ve really enjoyed working with the young kids.”

When they students aren’t dancing the teachers often spend evenings with them. They take time to watch dancing shows like So You Think You Can Dance, a program that  features choreographer Stacey Tookey, who also taught at the Jasper camp. 

The camp is run by Showtime Promotions, a dance company that runs festivals throughout the year. The Jasper camp is a non-competitive one that allows all the dancers to work on their skills, rather than compete against each other. Joseph Gates, with Showtime, said the dancers “check their egos at the door” when they arrive in Jasper. 

Showtime was started by Donna Burridge, who has spent years developing contacts in the dancing scene. 

“She essentially has seen a lot of these people grow up,” Gates said of the teachers at the camp. “It’s really just been a great relationship she’s been able to put together.”

The camp features a number of different styles including jazz, lyrical, hip hop, contemporary and tap. Other choreographers include Kelsey Chace, Peter Sadasino, and Liz Gordon-Tookey. 

Throughout the week the 200 dancers from all over western Canada work on a music video. This year they chose Lady Gaga’s Telephone as their song. Previous years’ videos can be found on YouTube. The dancers also get a chance to go rafting and swimming as a break to the heavy schedule of dancing.