City dancer wins gold for 'fling'

Here and Now column by Dan Hilborn
Published May 29, 2004


Congratulations to young Burnaby dancer Sarah Peitsch-Tyerman, who won the B.C. Highland Dancing championship of ScotDance B.C. for competitors aged 13 and under earlier this month.

Sarah, who is only 12, competed in four different events to win the title for her age group. In addition to taking the gold in the exuberant Highland fling competition, she had top level finishes in the sword dance, seann truibhas and reel.

And when she travels to the Canadian championships in early July, she'll be joined by another successful young Burnaby dancer, Kaitlin Sullivan, who finished second runner up in the age nine and under category.

Sarah started dancing at the age of five and a half, and, today, her bedroom is chock full of trophies, pennants and other memorabilia from her many competitions. But this is the first time she's won a provincial championship.

"We were just bawling our eyes out, it was so unbelievable," said her very proud mother Charlene. "She puts in so much hard work, but all the kids do, too. There were 28 candidates, and all the top dancers put hours of work into it."

Sarah is currently training with Michele Yonge of the Christie School of Dancing in Burnaby, with foundational training by Mary Margaret Manifold. Sarah also takes ballet twice a week at the Kirkwood Academy.

OUTSTANDING SINGERS

Chor Leoni, the award-winning all-male choir that features five (or six) singers from Burnaby, has won the 2004 National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Recording.

The honour was for the Christmas time release of the group's latest CD, Yuletide Fires, which was awarded at the biennial Podium conference in Winnipeg by the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors.

Local members of Chor Leoni are Rev. Cliff Reinhardt, Jim Knight, pianist Ken Cormier, Peter Rohloff and soloist Steve Maddock, who sings with his soprano wife, Siri.

Also receiving awards for Yuletide Fires were producer Johnathan Quick and SkyLark Music.

According to Bruce Hoffman, director of communications for the choir, the CD was released to such high praise last November that a second production run was required even within a month (before Christmas).

The award caps a stellar season for the choir. In October, they represented Canada at the European Broadcasting Union's prestigious Let The People Sing competition.

The next public performance for this award-winning choir will be June 21 and 22 when they appear under the Bard on the Beach tents to present Canadian Safari, a "lighthearted patriotic concert of humour, Canadian folk songs - and hockey!"

Tickets to Canadian Safari are $25, and can be purchased from the Bard on the Beach box office at 604-739-0559 or through 604-522- 5601.

HAVE A WHEELY GOOD TIME

Volunteers and participants are wanted for the Burnaby Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion event coming to Swangard Stadium on Sunday, June 13.

The event offers Canadians of all ages and abilities the opportunity to wheel, skate, run or walk to raise awareness and funds to improve the quality of life for people with spinal cord injury.

While this is the second year for the event in B.C., it is the first time it has come to Burnaby, and the Burnaby Now is proud to be the local sponsor. In fact, Premier Gordon Campbell has declared June 13 Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion Day.

Volunteer will encourage residents of Burnaby and New Westminster to form teams and take part in a fun day that includes lots of entertainment and activities for the whole family.

People interested in volunteering can send an e-mail to burnaby.event@scotiabank.com or leave a phone message at 604-718- 6062.

For those already signed up as team leaders, there will be a Wheels in Motion pep rally at Burnaby City Hall on Wednesday, June 2 at 5:45 p.m.

New volunteers are also welcome to attend, and refreshments will be served.

Anyone interested in joining Burnaby Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion as a participant can register online at www.rickhansen.com.

LEO NOMINATION

Local filmmaker Jamie Alain, a graduate of the SFU school of the contemporary arts, has been nominated for a Leo Award honouring the best of British Columbia's film and television industry for his fascinating experimental music video, Toreador.

"Set in a titillating night club; an intoxicating red rose and two lonely people come together in a visual feast that shows both sides of the story," said the press release announcing the nomination.

Instead of dialogue, the soundtrack to the video features only the music of Bizet's Toreador from the opera Carmen. The video originally aired on Bravo TV in February and it is an official selection of the 2004 Seattle International Film Festival, the 2004 Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival and the 2004 Dawson City International Film Festival.

Alain has been nominated for Best Director Music Video for the project. "All of the actions are completely choreographed with Bizet's incredible music, the tight structure of which is perfect to match such a precisely structured film," he said.

The finished product features a split screen with reversed images of the two actors Joel Wirkkunen and Freda Perry.

Also working on the project was Gemini Award winner David Frazee, best known for his work on Da Vinci's Inquest, whose cinematography brings out the rich red and warm tones of the bar scene to intensify the romance.

AWARD WINNERS

Belated congratulations are in order for city residents Trond Halle and Michael Lycett of Burnaby, who both won awards at the recent Eyelens Film, Video and Animation Festival held on Galiano Island.

Halle, 38, and Lycett, who is only 17, were both students of the Gulf Island Film School that had more than 120 entries at the festival.

Halle won for outstanding adult drama for his piece Wait for Me, while Lycett won outstanding achievement in digital video for his work Ubergnome.

Both works can be viewed on the school's website at www.giftsfilms.com

BRIDGET'S AUDIOBOOKS

The union that represents workers at Burnaby City Hall has donated $1,000 to help buy and produce new audio books in the name of a former colleague who died of cancer in 1991.

CUPE local 23 has donated the funds to the Burnaby Public Library's Bridget Perrot Fund, an endowment created in honour of the former coordinator of home library services that delivers materials to city residents who are housebound due to age, illness or disability.

The Burnaby library board and staff issued a press release this week expressing their thanks for the union's donation.

"Although the library lost Bridget to cancer in 1991, her passionate advocacy for people with visual and physical disabilities lives on through the Bridget Perrot fund," said the statement.