By Sian Shin
Rachael Withers was first introduced to the world of dance at the young age of four, when her mother signed her up for a ballet class. Four-year-olds being signed up for ballet classes by their moms is very common; however, it is also common for these four-year-olds to drop out and stop pursuing the art of dance. Rachael, however, confesses that her four-year-old self reveled in the attention, so she continued to develop her skills, allowing her interest in dance to eventually grow into a steadfast passion.
At the age of six, Rachael first entered the competition world and began to branch out to an extensive range of styles of dance such as tap, hip-hop, and jazz. It was as early as grade seven that Rachael realized she wanted to pursue dance as her career, so she switched studios to Danzmode Productions to provide herself with more intensive professional training.
As her dance life progressed, Rachael began travelling more, to places like New York and Los Angeles for more competitions and additional training. Nowadays, dance dominates Rachael's every day as she trains in all styles of tap, jazz, modern, contemporary, lyrical, hip-hop, and ballet. She is relentless in her pursuits, taking no breaks from dancing, even on the weekends since that is when she goes to the U.S. to attend elite classes and workshops. Competitions and conventions are now interwoven into the fabric of her life. She noted that for some shows and productions she is only given only a week’s notice to prepare.
Rachael’s list of achievements is truly impressive and extensive. This list includes: winning provincials for Overall Stage Dance in her age group; being the overall winner of the Triple Threat Dance convention, which then allowed her to tour around Canada assisting this convention as a job; being in movies such as Dog Boy, Diary of the Wimpy Kid 2 as well as various commercials such as a Verizon commercial; and performing shows in many different galas and performances on a regular basis.
Within her wide range of dance styles, Rachael states that her favourite is hip-hop, as it gives her the freedom and power to put her own personality into her dancing without the intensive demand of technique. With hip-hop, and dance in general, she feels that “Everything is whatever you want it to be”.
Rachael Withers was first introduced to the world of dance at the young age of four, when her mother signed her up for a ballet class. Four-year-olds being signed up for ballet classes by their moms is very common; however, it is also common for these four-year-olds to drop out and stop pursuing the art of dance. Rachael, however, confesses that her four-year-old self reveled in the attention, so she continued to develop her skills, allowing her interest in dance to eventually grow into a steadfast passion.
At the age of six, Rachael first entered the competition world and began to branch out to an extensive range of styles of dance such as tap, hip-hop, and jazz. It was as early as grade seven that Rachael realized she wanted to pursue dance as her career, so she switched studios to Danzmode Productions to provide herself with more intensive professional training.
As her dance life progressed, Rachael began travelling more, to places like New York and Los Angeles for more competitions and additional training. Nowadays, dance dominates Rachael's every day as she trains in all styles of tap, jazz, modern, contemporary, lyrical, hip-hop, and ballet. She is relentless in her pursuits, taking no breaks from dancing, even on the weekends since that is when she goes to the U.S. to attend elite classes and workshops. Competitions and conventions are now interwoven into the fabric of her life. She noted that for some shows and productions she is only given only a week’s notice to prepare.
Rachael’s list of achievements is truly impressive and extensive. This list includes: winning provincials for Overall Stage Dance in her age group; being the overall winner of the Triple Threat Dance convention, which then allowed her to tour around Canada assisting this convention as a job; being in movies such as Dog Boy, Diary of the Wimpy Kid 2 as well as various commercials such as a Verizon commercial; and performing shows in many different galas and performances on a regular basis.
Within her wide range of dance styles, Rachael states that her favourite is hip-hop, as it gives her the freedom and power to put her own personality into her dancing without the intensive demand of technique. With hip-hop, and dance in general, she feels that “Everything is whatever you want it to be”.
Of course it is unfair to ask an artist to explain the sources of her passion, but she does say, “It’s really rewarding. It’s not even about winning competitions; it’s just rewarding when you know that you’ve done something really well and you feel good about it. Sometimes it’s frustrating, but that only makes it extra-rewarding when you do really well.” In regards to what dance means to her, Rachael says that “Dance is an art form to express something without using words: words are only two-dimensional, but dance is more dynamic with movement.” She attributes the growth of her love of dance to her dance teacher and other dancers such as Alex Wong as well as the other dancers in her studio.
From her extensive experience in the dance world, Rachael says that she has learned some important lessons that could be beneficial for other budding dancers: “Don’t get too caught up in things like Instagram dance videos and getting likes. Don’t use those for real validation. Also, don’t get too caught up in the competitive world of dance because it’s really superficial; the real world is different.”
Rachael has big plans for her future after graduation. She plans to move to Los Angeles to fully pursue her dream of dancing as a career. She says that she will try to acquire an agent, hopefully one from Clear Talent Agency or Bloc Agency, so that she can work in the U.S. Having been a huge Disney fan her whole life, Rachael also hopes to get her first job working for Disney. Later she aspires to go into the world of commercial dance for tours for artists like Rihanna.
We look forward to seeing more of Rachael’s success in her dance career!
From her extensive experience in the dance world, Rachael says that she has learned some important lessons that could be beneficial for other budding dancers: “Don’t get too caught up in things like Instagram dance videos and getting likes. Don’t use those for real validation. Also, don’t get too caught up in the competitive world of dance because it’s really superficial; the real world is different.”
Rachael has big plans for her future after graduation. She plans to move to Los Angeles to fully pursue her dream of dancing as a career. She says that she will try to acquire an agent, hopefully one from Clear Talent Agency or Bloc Agency, so that she can work in the U.S. Having been a huge Disney fan her whole life, Rachael also hopes to get her first job working for Disney. Later she aspires to go into the world of commercial dance for tours for artists like Rihanna.
We look forward to seeing more of Rachael’s success in her dance career!
