Twenty hours a week – minimum – 12-year-old Paige McLachlan is at the dance studio training.
While it is the Grade 7 Alice Brown Elementary student’s dream to become a professional dancer and then a dance teacher, she admits getting up in front of a crowd to perform has not always been easy.
In fact, when she first took a dance class at age three, stage fright got the best of her. She was unable to perform in the class finale, bringing her dancing career to an abrupt end – or so her mother Tracey thought.
The youngest of four children, Paige didn’t gravitate to playing soccer or other sports like her three brothers. Much to her mother’s surprise, Paige turned nine and asked if she could try dance again.
She started with a recreational jazz class, then quickly evolved to competitive dance, now training in ballet, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, contemporary, and stage dance.
She first auditioned for the 2013 Langley Has Talent, but didn’t make the cut. This year, however, she came back more confident and more determined than ever and made it through to the finals.
Paige will be joined by 12 other competitors (another young dancer, a number of musicians and singers, and even an aerial gymnast) at Saturday’s competition, which is being held at the Christian Life Assembly church on 56th Avenue.
The fourth annual Rotary Club hosted event begins at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:15.
Tickets are available online at www.langleyhastalent.com.