Professional ballet dancers raised in Cuba sharing their passion with young Calgary dancers

Elodie Phillipson, eight years old, gets some one-on-one instruction from Yairleys Sosa at the Jeunesse Classique Ballet Society

The Jeunesse Classique Ballet Society's (JCBS) artistic director and rehearsal mistress are a husband and wife team with close to 40 years of professional ballet dancing combined.

Jaciel Gomez and Yairleys Sosa began their careers with the Cuban National Ballet Company.

Sosa says ballet is taken very seriously in her home country.

"They teach you very strict things," she said. "You have (kids at just) eight years old and (when they begin) you focus (a whole) year, eight hours a day for dancing, just dancing."

Sosa danced for 15 years with the Cuban company and then had the opportunity to come to Canada with Gomez and the two danced with Alberta Ballet for four seasons. Now retired from professional dance, they're teaching Calgary kids ballet.

"My idea is that they feel like a professional dancer," said Gomez. "They feel their whole life that we have nice costumes, we have volunteers who do everything for us, we are like a company, like professional."

Gomez arrived in Calgary in July, 2011 during the Calgary Stampede and remembers being surrounded by cowboys and hockey players. He was curious why the city didn't have a more vibrant arts community. He's been sharing his love of ballet here ever since.

Gomez says when dancers learn ballet at a young age, they pick it up quickly.

"The difference between them is starting in September and now we have performance in December -- it's like (learning to become) professional dancers in two months," he said. "In two months, you see a huge difference."

Sosa agrees and says it brings her joy to watch the students at the studio improve.

"I can see when I teach and I show them, I transmit my knowledge to them," she said. "I can see them getting to be better and better dancers every day and when they stand there on the stage, for me, it's the best you know, I feel so good."

Seeing professionals on stage

Kelley McKinlay is a retired Alberta Ballet dancer and is invited to dance with the students on a number of occasions.

"One of the most important things is for young emerging artists to witness professionals on stage," he said. "(Gomez and Sosa) give these kids this opportunity to work in a professional environment, like a (dance) company and give them a taste of what it is to be a professional dancer and it's a very unique thing."

McKinlay says the two are developing the next generation of professional dancers.

"Alberta Ballet and (Decidedly Jazz  Danceworks) and all these things, because these dancers who are here could potentially be the next stars or dancers in those companies," he said. "So it's so important what they're doing."

'Ballet dad'

Tyler Rolheiser is a "ballet dad" with three daughters in JCBS who participates in various numbers from time to time. He's constantly impressed with the skill Gomez has and his ability to communicate with the young dancers.

"You can really just tell that he cares," he said. "He knows every kid's name, he knows every role and he can do everything, he can really communicate to people that this is something bigger than one person, this is a ballet and it's a show."

Rolheiser says his daughters also learn a lot from the other professional dancers brought in to help teach.

"It means everything right, it's a taste of something that is to come if they choose to keep on doing ballet," he said. "At some level in their teens, in their 20s, they'll be able to look back on this and say I'm ready, I've been prepared."

Lauren Saunders started dancing at JCBS when she was five years old and after graduating high school went on to a post graduate program with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet but injured her hip and is taking a break. She says the work ethic learned over the years with Gomez and Sosa is still with her.

"We have this one award that's dedicated to an old mistress that we used to have here, Miss Maren," she said. "So we have the Miss Maren Award and we award it to whatever dancer demonstrates her spirit, who has work ethic, beautiful artistry, is super-friendly in the studio so having an environment where everybody's in pursuit of emulating that type of attitude has really shaped the way that I am and how I act in any space that I'm in."

Sosa says the students rehearse and perform some big productions.

"So you can see a lot of kids, they start doing miniatures on Nutcracker and after many years they are doing Sugar Plum," she said. "And that's amazing to see -- they're growing right."

Learn more about the Jeunesse Classique Ballet Society here: www.jcbs.ca