From April 9-16, 24 Snappers and their families travelled to New York City to take classes, attend Broadway shows and explore the Big Apple – and what an amazing week it was!

Our week kicked off with a private workshop with Kristen and Lisa Jantzie, two small-town Alberta girls who are now members of the Radio City Rockettes, Eric Coles (Mary Poppins, Rock of Ages) and Victor Wisehart (An American in Paris), where our dancers learned original choreography from the Broadway musical Mary Poppins.

We took part in The Rockette Experience at Radio City Music Hall, where we were taught by two Radio City Rockettes (one being Kristen and Lisa’s little sister Alison Jantzie, who is also a member of the dance troupe). Snappers learned two routines from the Rockette’s infamous Christmas Spectacular and participated in a mock audition.

Our dancers also had the privilege of taking part in a workshop and classes at the world-famous Broadway Dance Centre, took a private hip hop class with NYC hip hop dancer/teacher/choreographer Jamie J, attended Aladdin and School of Rock on Broadway and got backstage tours of both. We even got to meet the cast members of School of Rock after the show and try on original Disney Broadway costumes!

Finally, on Friday evening the group took The Ride experience, an interactive tour of the City and then performed a flashmob in Times Square, as entertainment for guests of The Ride and many passers by (some even tried to join in!)

In addition to all of that dancing we also went to the top of the Empire State Building, took a tour of the city, attended Amateur Night at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, took a boat cruise out to the Statue of Liberty, went to Ellen’s Stardust Diner and took a tour of Radio City Music Hall.

Thank you to all of our dancers for all of you hard work, you impressed us in every single class and were true professionals! Finally, a huge thank you to Andrea Lympany and A Balancing Act Tours for organizing such a fantastic trip and keeping us on time and on track all week – we couldn’t have done it without you.