Collegiate ‘school of choice’ for RWB

December 10, 2005
Winnipeg Free Press
by Leah Janzen

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and the University of Winnipeg Collegiate are teaming up to ensure budding dancers can get quality education while honing their ballet skills.

The U of W Collediate signed a formal agreement yesterday to become the “school of choice” for RWB students enrolled in the professional program.

The collegiate will work with RWB students to accommodate their education requirement within their stringent dance schedules.

“We’ll have the positions available and will adjust and reinvent our curriculum so we can accommodate the time requirements for the students,” said Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, president of the University of Winnipeg.

Many RWB students already go to the collegiate for their schooling. Others travel to high schools around the citry to take classes. The schedule is rigorous.

Arlene Minkhorst, Royal Winnipeg Ballet School director, said dancers as young as 11 must leave their school classes to be at dance training every day by 2:45 p.m.

High school-age dancers take part in dance class from 8:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. then again from 4:40 p.m. until early evening. All are required to take university entrance courses during their stay.

“It’s an enormous challenge to do that in half-days of school,” she said.

Minkhorst said the formalization of an agreement between the RWB and collegiate will help students complete both tasks more easily.

Those already enrolled at the collegiate say it’s the best possible fit for dancers. New Brunswick native Jane Alison McKinney is a Level 4 dance student and attends Grade 10 classes at the collegiate.

She said the collegiate has been helpful in making sure she doesn’t fall behind in her school work while focusing on dance.

“The college worked on a timetable and alternative exam schedule so it works with my dance times,” McKinney said. “They’re very understanding of the work that goes into the RWB and its students.”

The dancer said it’s easy travelling back and forth between the RWB and the collegiate – just a seven-minute walk.

To date, the collegiate has only offered classes to students in grades 10 to 12. Next year, it will offer Grade 9 classes to the dancers and will provide those classes on site at the RWB.

Axworthy said tuition fees will be about $2,000 per student per year. He’s hoping donors may step forward to provide bursaries for some of the dancers to help them with the cost.

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