Ammena Dance Company made a triumphant return to performing at the Yates Theatre in Lethbridge on Saturday night.
Financial stress due to COVID-19 restrictions and closures almost caused the company to close its doors for good last year.
Lise-Anne Talhami, owner and choreographer, said it’s been a hard year.
She started Ammena back in 2004 with a dream of bringing the community together through dance.
The company is made up of mostly adult dancers.
Before the pandemic, Talhami had more than 630 students registered for classes each week. When restrictions and closures started, attendance was cut by about 70 per cent with fewer than 70 students.
Talhami was at risk of closing her doors as studio rent and other expenses started piling up.
That’s when Taunya Pickles, a dancer at Ammena, put together a GoFundMe that helped raise more than $15,000 for the company.
“Part of this for us is the community and the family that we have to dance with. Without that, it just wasn’t the same for a lot of people. It looked like we were going to have to shut the studio down,” said Pickles.
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Most of the people that donated were current and past dancers, friends and family and community members that saw how important the studio was to its dancers.
“Our world’s in a really sad, devastating spot. You go to the studio, and you have that hour and it’s like everything is just gone. You’re just so focused on being in the moment and being in your body,” said Talhami.
The studio was able to open back up fully in Sept. 2021 and start preparing for the year-end show.
Dancer Haley Catton said she had her doubts up until showtime that it was actually going to happen.
“Is this going to get snatched away at any time?” wondered Catton. “Now that we’re here I just feel so happy.”
On Saturday, Ammena dancers performed for an almost sold-out crowd of more than 300 people.
“It was really amazing last night,” said Talhami. “It felt like real life all over again!”
Talhami hopes that the studio can continue to get back to normal and rebuild the community it once had.
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