When former Slave Lake resident and dance instructor Reanna Maitland opens the doors to her dance school this summer, she says students can expect to learn from instructors with oodles of years of experience on the dance floor – and in the world of dance too.
Maitland is accepting pre-registrations at the Potpourri Mall location Thursday (June 19) evening, and again next Thursday, same time and place.
She and co-instructors Jessie McCracken and Jennifer Hansen – all former Slave Lake dancers — will be at the head of the class teaching everything from ballet to tap and Latin rhythms.
Classes will go from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. July 7 – 11, “unless people want more.” Those time slots will accommodate everyone from beginners to advanced dancers, she says.
And “if there’s enough interest, instructors will also offer a pre-school ballet and jazz class for 30 minutes – from 9:30 to 10:00 each day, for dancers with little or no experience.”
Beginning students should expect two hours of instruction each day, she says, working up to the advanced dancer level when dancers will be doing their routines for four or five hours. But the sessions will be anything but ‘routine’, she promises.
“Every day will be different.”
One constant, however, will be the vast variety of experience from instructors, including that of Maitland and McCracken – both of whom just returned from a year of professional dance in Cancun, Mexico. And from Hansen who just completed a degree in dance at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
The Mexican experience all began as a vacation three years ago, says Maitland, when the two chums were encouraged by an acquaintance to audition for a job at the hotel where they were staying.
That session lasted just three months, she says. But a year ago, the two decided to repeat the experience – for a longer duration. They hopped a plane to Cancun and when they arrived, “auditioned at every place we could find in Cancun.” And in less than a week had landed themselves full time jobs as dancers – and the hotel’s public relations department.
‘Working’ at a posh hotel resort in Mexico might sound like a dream job to the layman. But working from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m ., then again from 8:00 p.m. until 12:30 a.m., six days a week was no walk on the beach.
“It was hard – but amazing,” says Maitland of the job that saw the dancers doing everything from rehearsing to performing to mingling with the guests.
She admits that the first time she worked in Cancun, “people really wondered what I was doing.”
But going back for a full year has enriched her as a person – and a dancer, Maitland insists.
“It’ done so much for my dance. I used to be so technical – everything in the right place. But now I realize it’s all about performing and reaching out to the audience.”

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