Grayce Keay dances with the Senior Jazz group that performed Big Spender at the High Prairie Repertoire Dance Society year-end recital April 14-15.

Richard Froese
South Peace News
An up-and-coming local dancer may be headed to New York for a two-week training time as part of a scholarship she won at a dance festival in Dawson Creek.

Grayce Keay, a dancer with the High Prairie Repertoire Dance Society, won a $3,000 Performance Intensive Scholarship at the Standing Ovation Dance Festival held April 28-30.

“I want to go to New York because it’s a better opportunity for me,” says Keay, 16, and a Grade 10 student at E.W. Pratt High School.
“It fits better with what I want to do in my future, to pursue a career in dance.”

Keay also has the option to go to Los Angeles for the trip from planned from Dec. 26 to Jan. 4.

She has yet to confirm her decision.

During the New York trip, she will get to dance on the Broadway stage, be part of a flash mob in Time Square, attend Broadway shows, and participate in dance classes with famous choreographers.

The trip to L.A. would include lessons from famous choreographers at a training school called Edge, and time to see a show of Dancing with the Stars.

“Every dance festival awards a scholarship and this is the first one I received,” says Keay, who started with Repertoire when she was 11 years old.
“I was surprised, I didn’t think it would happen to me.”

Adjudicators choose someone that stands out on stage, she says.

“On both my solos, I got platinum, and the outstanding award,” Keay says. “That helps when you get noticed on your solos.”

She appreciates her instructors Brianna Panasiuk, Angela Meunier, Jake Poloz, and Leah Kyzysztan.

“They all help me in the different genres and motivate me so much,” Keay says.

Grayce is the daughter of Fred and Shauna Keay.