The Guelph Youth Dance Company, Young Company and Apprentice Companies provide serious young dancers ages 9-19 with opportunities to work with a variety of professional choreographers and to perform regularly throughout the year. The company experience is inspiring, challenging and deeply enriching for young dancers considering a profession in dance.
Guelph Youth Dance Company
The GYD Company was formed in 2008, by Janet Johnson and Catrina von Radecki as a means of further celebrating, enhancing, and training young dancers. Now in the 14th year of the Guelph Youth Company, we have strong, talented, ambitious and highly creative dancers who create and perform together throughout the city of Guelph in public and accessible locations and theatres as well as frequently at the Guelph Dance Festival. These same dancers have worked with some of the best dancers and choreographers from across Canada including Suzette Sherman & David Earle (Guelph), Robert Desrosiers, Jordana Deveau, Kate Hilliard, Julia Aplin, Keiko Kitano, Lacey Smith, Mio Sakamoto, Karen Kaeja (Toronto), Lina Cruz & Suzanne Miller (Montreal), and Sylvie Desrosiers & Anik Bourvrette (Ottawa). The company has toured nationally to Nova Scotia, Toronto and Ottawa and has had exceptional International touring experiences to China and Spain.
We look forward to continuing to develop a variety of relationships with other youth organizations such as the Suzuki String School (Guelph), Carousel Dance (Waterloo) and the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, York University’s Dance Department and the School of Toronto Dance Theatre (Toronto).
Dancer’s must audition to join a Company
Company Packages include all three sessions – fall, winter and spring – of weekly classes and rehearsals made up of company ballet, company rehearsals, contemporary technique and composition.
Inspired by their success, Guelph Youth Dance has two Apprentice Companies and a Young Company that are sure to follow in their footsteps!
Apprentice and Young Companies
The Guelph Youth Apprentice Company is for young aspiring dancers 9-11 years, and the Young Company is for aspiring dancers 12-13 years.
