Get Jamieson To The World's!

Jamieson MacNeil is a local young man, living near Ruthven Ontario, and dancing with All That Jazz Dance Company. J (as his friends and family affectionately call him) is the son of an accomplished dance teacher, and could dance before he could walk. J lives and breathes dance, which is obvious to anyone who has ever watched him perform. Watching him on stage is truly a gift. Your senses will not even know where to begin, whether it's with his amazing technique, pointed toes or his ability to make anything look effortless. Jamieson's most inspirational dance quality however is definitely his passion. When watching him you are whisked away within whatever story he is conveying whether it's exciting and happy, or deep and emotional. What most people do not get to see is the hard work and determination that happens behind the scenes to make J the best dancer he can be. He spends several days a week travelling to Chatham for lessons and rehearsals in which he works for hours to build and hone his skills. Dance takes up a lot of his time, but Jamieson loves it this way, and is always up for dancing or learning something new. Dancers can spend hours upon hours in a studio practicing to become the best, but dancers who do it out of pure love of dance can be quite rare to find. At just 9 (almost10!) years old this young man has found more passion and joy in dancing than many people do throughout their entire lives, and he is so incredibly lucky for it.  After dancing in a competition in May, Jamieson was asked to audition for Team Canada to represent our country in the World Championships of Dance. Jamieson attended auditions and tried out for three different genres  of dance (Tap, Jazz and Hip Hop). He found out in June that not only did he make the team for all 3 of those genres, a judge from the Ballet team saw his potential and invited him to join the Ballet team also. This is absolutely incredible. Each genre is performing in different countries at different points of the year, so some careful thought had to go into making a decision. Jamieson has decided to attend the Jazz and Ballet portions are they are at the same time in Rawa  Mazowiecka (Near Warsaw, Poland) at the end of November into the beginning of December.  The World Championship is the "Olympics of Dance" with only one gold, silver and bronze medal awarded for each division. The top three stand on a podium and accept their medals as the national anthem plays. This is a very emotional scene and would be phenomenal to see for Team Canada! It would also be wonderful to see a local dancer who has worked so hard achieve his dream stand on that podium and accept a medal for not only Team Canada, but Ontario, and our small communities of Windsor/Essex and Chatham-Kent.  All of this will be an absolutely incredible experience for Jamieson, but it will also be very costly as each dancer is required to come up with the funding for themselves for all expenses of the trip. Each dancer must raise a minimum $3,650 each (CDN converted to Euros) to cover all travel (air & ground), hotels, rehearsals and competition fees. Additionally, they must pay for their own costumes and choreography fees, and these on their own can be very costly.  This does not include any costs for the parent or guardian travelling with the dancer, and as Jamieson is only nearly ten his mother will have to accompany him. This also does not cover any meals, missed work time or any emergency expenses should a piece of dance equipment need immediate replacing. over the next few months Jamieson and his family will also have to be travelling at least a couple of times a week to Hamilton where rehearsals and practices will be held, costing quite a lot in gas and spending on things like food and dance attire. This will also require a significant time off from work for Jamieson's mother who has worked so hard to give him all of the opportunities that he deserves. Any parent wants to see their child find something that they love wholeheartedly and watch as their hard work pays off. This is Jamieson's opportunity of a lifetime, as well as his mother and father's chance to see their son chase his dreams and let those dreams take him somewhere magical where he can be not only the greatest dancer he can be, but become an even better person with an astounding experience to add to his already incredible personality. Chances of a lifetime are just that, and we must take every chance we are given, diving into them head-first and giving them all we've got. As a community, what better way is there of teaching the next generation about dedication and perseverance than to help them not only shoot for the stars, but launch them into space so that they may be among the stars. Let's send this incredible young dancer to the World Championships of Dance on Team Canada on behalf of Chatham-Kent, Windsor Essex and All That Jazz!! We know that you will make us proud J!