Canada Tour

Grandpa's funeral was two days after BYUI's Dance Alliance tour started. We were devastated both at Boyd's passing and also that we'd have to miss 1/4 of the tour that Gary had spent all year working for - he felt that he was letting the dancers down not to have their "dance dad" with them on the beginning of their adventure. Not very rational, considering all that we had just gone through, but still. This show and those dancers meant a lot to him and we were excited to join them as soon as possible. Luckily our friends Tad and DeeDee Sakota were staying at our house to watch Sophie and Spencer during the week and a half we'd be gone, so once we got back to Idaho, we unloaded the van, got everyone unpacked, repacked Gary, Mag and I and Gar went to pick up the BYUI rental van to get us up to Calgary. We left first thing the next morning!

After a relatively uneventful drive up to Calgary (via Raymond, and a nice hotel stay and church in Lethbridge), we met up with the dancers as they were gathering to do a fireside at a ward house. They saw us, we saw them... and we ran into each others' arms and burst into tears! So happy to be reunited. The Fishers, who had stepped in both as tour directors and mom/daughter show narrators, left immediately for a family vacation in Banff and things were back to normal!

 Touring Calgary

 Lots of silly poses

 Maggie had two special friends who really took care of her on tour - Danica Gille and Courtney Kelly. We were so grateful to them!

 

Danica, Courtney, Maggie, me, Gar

 

 Sorry, we had to take a picture of this sign, because, well... self-explanatory.

From Calgary we made our way to Banff, where we all got to stay in the same hotel. Usually we get put in "billets" (sent out with host families in groups of 2 or 3 for the night) so when we get a group hotel stay... we really enjoy it! We went out to dinner (I got a killer steak at Outback Steak House!) and shopping in the little tourist trap stores of the beautiful town before heading back to the hotel to play games. So fun!

Photo break at Lake Louise, before ending up in Banff. So lovely! So unusual! The light green water from the glaciers above the hotel... beautiful! We only had time to run around and take some pictures though - that's tour!

 

Evan flying Maggie

Lexie, Maggie and Cassie

And let me say, I just loved touring with this show so much. When on tour, it's a show every night (except Sundays and occasional "holidays") and it was a gift to be a part of "the Masterpiece". The dances were fun and unique, and the message we had to share with the audience each night - that we are all God's beautiful creations, and we share in his infinite creative power and potential - just filled my heart with joy. What a choice life experience! To add to my many!

Evan, Becca Witt, Camille Jones, Kamrie, Becca Urie, Hannah

 Glam on the stage with Lexie and Cameron in 70's, and behind the set - chaos!

Moving on from  mountainous Western Canada to flat, farmy Central Canada- Medicine Hat, Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert and finally Winnipeg.

 We're ready for our engagement photo! We had such a lovely time at the Regina temple - the dancers all got to do baptisms, while I assisted them in the changing room and helped out the staff of the temple. It's a tiny area - something like two wards and lots of inactives, but the faithful members are all actively involved in the running of the sessions and maintenance of the grounds of this little jewel of a temple. They were shocked when they found out they were getting a temple in this relatively isolated spot - but thrilled!

Me, Gary and Little Jenny!

One of our wonderful host moms. She met us at the temple to he

Tim our tour bus driver, who got to be thrown into the first number as a museum -goer! (with Becca the "tour guide") He loved being part of the show, and we loved getting to know him!

Our performance at Saskatoon was something of a miracle- with only a few weeks to go until tour, the original venue we had cancelled. The only other feasible structure was connected to the beautiful local Catholic cathedral, in their community center.  The ward fed us dinner as usual prior to the show, then we warmed up, arranged our costumes, and did our thing! The audience was spectacular, and very receptive. We had a lot of special performances on tour, but this was one of the top!

Our little Desgas ballerinas... and salsa Lexie

Some of the gang in their first costumes, on their way to "the museum"

Lexie, Jennie and Mags (who had 35 new big siblings taking great care of her on tour)

One of my favorite dances, the "apple" dance (the apple represents creativity and comes into play again in the finale). Inspired by Magritte's Son of Man painting.

Mag getting attacked by the Chinese Fire Elements...

... while Metal warms up with those tricky spinning stars!

Ahhh, the pillow dance - always a crowd favorite! Inspired by Dali's Persistence of Memory. Hilarious! Kamrie always brought the house down. Good blend of humor and entertainment and weight in this show.

You go, Indian babes!

The Pieta dance... heartbreaking in its beauty

Dani killed it every night as the Wicked Queen from Snow White!

And Daniel and Becca's Romeo and Juliet cabaret was set to one of my favorite songs from Civil Wars, Don't Go Without Me.

We did school performances and service projects. The proceeds of one of our performances, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan went towards helping a local Native American dance group. We did a joint workshop with them - tons of fun!

The tour took us East from there to Prince Albert, Winnipeg, Grand Forks, Fargo, Billings, then home. The usual day includes the following: meet at the bus at 7 or 8 AM, drive a few (or more!) hours, set up for a show, eat dinner provided by the local sponsors or ward, perform, then home with host families. Since Gary was a director, and Mag and I were with him, we occasionally got to stay at hotels, which is nice - I always love a free hotel stay! - but staying with host families is awesome too. I love getting to know the people we stay with, if even just for a night. We stayed with a retired teacher couple in Prince Albert, a Fed Ex exec in Winnipeg, a nurse in Fargo, and an architect in Billings. Such wonderful people, kind and generous and considerate.