Airdrie dancer Keela Dumont is a rising star — and she now has a top award to prove it.
Dumont recently took first place in the first-ever Rising Star Talent Show. Presented by the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce’s and sponsored by Melcor Developments, the competition featured six musical and four dance acts chosen from 30 applicants. Dumont won after an engaging solo jazz dance.
“Everyone was so good. Any one of us could have taken first place. I feel very lucky to have won,” says the 16-year-old St. Martin de Porres High School student.
No stranger to competitions, Elements Dance Co. studio, where Dumont takes lessons, recently placed first overall in the Summit Nationals in Richmond, B.C. Her Rising Star win marks yet another milestone in a journey that began at an early age.
“When I was one, I would climb onto the coffee table and dance to Justin Bieber,” Dumont says. “My mother put me into dance lessons when I was four, and I really loved it.”
Proud mom Loretta Dumont says it was clear her daughter needed to dance.
“She was dancing before walking. She could hear music anywhere and get moving to the beat,” says Loretta, who adds that, while she put Keela into various sports, when it came to dance lessons, “every week was so exciting. It was like we were going to Disneyland.”
That love for dance and competition has only grown.
“I worked up to pre-competitive, competitive, solo, and then groups and duets,” says Keela. “I just kept falling in love with it and kept going.”
An average day for Keela involves going to school, doing homework afterward, grabbing a bite to eat and then heading to the studio to practice, getting home around 10 p.m.
She says dance is as much about mental practice as physical, as the hours of daily training require a mental workout to build confidence.
“Before a competition, I go to the practice room and put on my headphones and try to imagine the dance, and then I’ll run it, and then I go on stage and just do it,” says Keela.
She explains dance is a subjective sport, so the outcome of competition is often be based upon what the judges think that particular day.
“I just try to be confident and do my best because, if I do my best, I always feel good, no matter what the outcome,” says Keela.
She takes about a dozen classes at Elements, but hesitates to choose one as her favourite.
“Well, I like to do hip-hop with my friends, and I’ve always done jazz. Jazz was the first solo I ever did. It’s just fun,” says Keela.
So, it’s no surprise her winning dance at Rising Star was a jazz piece, which a fellow student, who now performs in Vancouver, helped choreograph.
While her solo dance won her the competition, Keela finds group dancing less stressful.
“Elements is where my friends are; we’re like a family,” she says. “It’s fun to work on a piece together with our teacher. We all contribute to one big thing and, when we win, we all win.”
Keela says she’d like to go to school to study choreography and to teach.
“I’m passionate about teaching,” she says. “I want to teach dance and see where it goes. Maybe a studio director, a choreographer or just be a mentor.”
A special moment after the talent show confirmed to Keela that she’s on the right path.
“This little girl came up to me with her mom and told me how well I danced and that she wanted to be like me one day,” she says. “I told her that you’ll make it there if you work hard for what you want. I feel that if you believe in yourself before anything, you can make it there.”
