Charlene Bosiak will perform in four shows in Canada and the United States. (submitted photo/Charlene Bosiak)

By Derek Cornet

artistic talent

‘A lifelong dream’: La Ronge dancer invited to join international tour

Jun 17, 2019 | 2:09 PM

La Ronge’s Charlene Bosiak has been invited to perform in the YRArts Global Collective, a troupe formed by one of Canada’s most prominent Middle Eastern dance companies.

The troupe was founded last fall by Arabesque Canada founder Yasmina Ramzy, who Bosiak met in 2006 when she took a professional course with her in Toronto. It wasn’t until last week, however; Bosiak was informed she was accepted into the collective, as she first had to submit videos to prove she’s able to meet expectations. As part of the group she’ll perform in Toronto and Grand Rapids, Michigan, in August, followed by Winnipeg in September and a second showing in Toronto in January 2020.

“It’s a lifelong dream. I have always wanted to be a dancer,” Bosiak said. “It’s a dream I had. On a personal level, it’s extremely important to me, but where I’ll be in 10 years? I don’t know.”

Bosiak has been dancing since childhood and was very active as a teenager having participated in a dance troupe which toured the province. In her 20s, she moved to La Ronge, and since there was no professional dance occurring, she decided to teach oriental dancing to local residents as well as attend out-of-town workshops. It was during this time Bosiak travelled to Toronto on several occasions to train with Ramzy.

“That’s when I learned true, authentic, pure Egyptian-style and it opened my mind to a whole new world, and I fell in love with the Arabesque scene the dancers were performing,” she said. “I kept going back every summer, but to be part of her company back then, you had to relocate to Toronto. That just wasn’t financially doable for me, so I stayed in La Ronge but I kept going back.”

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In order to be selected for the collective, which there are currently eight members of, Bosiak submitted videos of herself performing the needed choreography. She stated one routine took her a month to learn, while others took a few weeks. It’s easy to learn the steps, Bosiak added, but other details are harder such as getting the mood, feelings and emotions just right.

Charlene Bosiak has been training in dance since childhood. (submitted photo/Charlene Bosiak)

Ramzy mentioned all dancers chosen so far for YRArts Global Collective have either trained with her in Toronto or during a session when she was in their city. She noted the group is specially for those who aspire to be part of Arabesque Canada in Toronto, but can’t because they live elsewhere. Other members are from Montreal, Thunder Bay and cities in the United States.

“I know [Bosiak] quite well, she’s been to a lot my events and she studied with me for a while in Toronto,” Ramzy said. “I didn’t need to ask her to audition. Some people I had to ask them to audition, so I knew her capabilities already and she would be capable of pulling it off.”

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno