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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Staff and students at Bella Dance Academy bid farewell to their Kam Lake studio earlier this summer and are now preparing to welcome a new addition to the school's Old Airport Road location this week.

Bella Dance Academy student Juniper Falvo, 8, summer class instructors Jacklyn Soderberg and Hailey McLeod, and company founder Lina Ball express their excitement through dance in the new nearly 100 square metre studio being installed at the school this week. Construction began in mid-June. - Daron Letts/NNSL photo

The academy did not renew the lease on its Kam Lake studio in favour of moving all its studios under one roof, said owner Lina Ball.

"We always enjoyed the time at Kam lake and are thankful for the opportunity to have danced there," Ball said. "But we outgrew the space days after we moved in. It was always a temporary space."

The expanded venue will make it easier for students who are taking more than one class, and parents with multiple children or children taking more than one class, Ball said.

The new dance studio, which is nearly 100 square metres, is the academy's third dance room at the Diamond Field Industrial Plaza location. It is slightly smaller than the existing studios, but will have all of the same features as the other studios. It will be equipped with eight-foot mirrors, ballet bars and a floating, sprung floor to absorb shock and make dancing more comfortable.

The new studio was carved out of a room formerly used as storage. The academy now has a two-story storage room behind the new studio.

"It's really exciting," Ball said. "It's been a long time coming and it's been hard just watching this place just sit without being used."

Construction began shortly after regular season classes ended in mid-June and is scheduled to be completed this week. The academy will then get a fresh coat of paint and other refurbishments before a new season begins in the fall.

Last season, the academy taught 540 dancers who enrolled in 760 classes. This coming season, 550 students are expected to participate in 840 classes led by 15 instructors, Ball said.

The company also employs a full-time office manager, two office assistants and several workshop facilitators.

Ball opened the academy in one room in Diamond Field Industrial Plaza in 2004, where she eventually recruited other teachers to help with her growing number of students. The academy moved into the Kam Lake location in 2008 and then expanded to include its present location, also in the Diamond Field Industrial Plaza, in 2010. Both locations remained open for almost three years.

The upcoming season marks the academy's 10th anniversary. To celebrate, Ball is hosting an essay-writing contest for students and potential students. Based on answers to the question, "Why is dancing at Bella Dance Academy important to me?," 10 entrants will win one month of free tuition and a grand prize winner will receive one year of free tuition.

The academy will introduce the public to the new studio space at an open house from noon to 3 p.m. on Sept. 29. The event will include trial classes.

Bella rented the Kam Lake space from YKD Property Management. Ptarmigan Ptheatrics and the the YK Ukrainian Dancers are moving in after walls are knocked down to create one large studio space.

"We have spent a lot renovating our spaces over the years, but we knew that Old Airport Road would be home for a while," Ball said. "We have invested a lot of blood, sweat, tears and money into that building over the past five years."

Ball was awarded the Akaitcho Business Development Business Youth Award in 2004 and 2005, the Akaitcho Excellence Award in 2007 and 2009, Business of the Year Award in 2008, as well as the Five-Year Recognition Award in 2009 and award of excellence in 2010. Ball was also named NWT's Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Business Development Bank of Canada in 2008.

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