As the community gears up for the Morden Corn & Apple Festival this weekend, one unique feature of the festival — a stage devoted entirely to the community’s youth — is sure to impart the festive spirit to fairgoers of all ages with its lively performances.
"I'm going to be situated by the Youth Stage pretty much the entire weekend,” says Tristan Klassen, who is involved with both DanceWorks and Candlewick. “Even if I wasn't helping with volunteering, I would probably be . . . at the Youth Stage with everything that [is] going on there. We have such a wide variety of acts.”
This evening (August 23rd), the Youth Stage will come to life with the DanceWorks All-Styles Dance Battle from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. The competition will be complete with judges and a live DJ.
"All of the students will participate. Each student will get at least two rounds,” says Klassen. “The judges will put them into kind of like a bracket format [after the preliminary round], and then from then on, it’s a knockout round, so . . . we have one dancer pitted against another and they go head-to-head.”
For Klassen, the show is always a good one.
“These kids are crazy talented. It is amazing to see not just the wide variety of talent, but how each dancer has their own unique flavour, and how that all kind of comes together in such a beautiful way,” he says. “I've taught some of [these dancers] for years now, and just watching them grow exponentially and seeing their passion for dance and seeing that on the stage in a real life setting like that . . . [is] just something different.”
Space is still available in the competition for dancers under 18.
“It's a little bit intimidating sometimes, but I always say that the only way you can get better at this is . . . just to go for it,” says Klassen. “I've been encouraging students all month to register for this.”
Klassen is no stranger to the DanceWorks competition — he competed himself when he was a teenager.
As another incentive to perform, Klassen notes that all entrants will receive ride tickets, and there will also be other prizes for the winners of the competition. To register, email danceworks.mb@gmail.com, text 204-822-9981, or just show up today before 5:30 to register in person. The stage is located near Coffee Culture in Morden.
There will also be some free concessions provided by Youth for Christ.
The dance battle is not the only thrilling event on the schedule for the Youth Stage this weekend. At 8:30 p.m. tonight, there will be a late show (called the “Not So Late Show”) with comedian Matt Falk. At 11 p.m., local young filmmakers will show off their talents with a film festival.
On Saturday, there will be sports programming. Children are invited to three-on-three basketball from 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. and street hockey from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. There will also be a triple threat camp performance, and Saturday evening will feature a line-up of music by local musicians.
Sunday, the Youth Stage will host a children’s worship session, and then there will be a strongman competition to conclude the events.
While the performances on the Youth Stage will thrill and entertain every demographic of fairgoers this weekend, the events will showcase and celebrate the youth in the community.
“This is all youth based. Everything that you see from this stage . . . has a high amount of youth involvement,” says Klassen. “It's going to be a really, really good time.”
To see the Corn & Apple Festival’s complete schedule, click here.
~With files from Connie Bailey and Ty Hildebrand~