15-year-old dancer brings jazz, ballet to Nunavut youth

Victoria Greenwood, who is 15 years old and lives in Toronto, says she got the idea to launch her dance company from her mother, who works as a dentist in Nunavut. (Photo courtesy of Victoria Greenwood)

A 15-year-old competitive dancer from Toronto is bringing jazz, ballet and other dance forms to Nunavut children and youth.

Victoria Greenwood has been studying dance since the age of three and has trained at the National Ballet of Canada. Last summer, she got the idea to launch the Arctic Dance Company from her mother, who works as a dentist in Nunavut.

Over the past two years she has held classes in two hamlets and wants to connect with more communities.

“Dance is something I’m very passionate about,” Greenwood said in an interview.

“But my mom … helped to give me the original idea by mentioning how isolated [Nunavut is] and that comes with lack of opportunities and programs.

“I had the idea to start my dance company because I want to bring the opportunity to dance to Nunavut [children and youth],” she said.

Last year, she contacted different hamlets to see if she could visit and provide dance lessons over the course of a week to children between the ages of five and 14.

She heard back from Rankin Inlet recreation co-ordinator David Clark, who invited her to provide dance lessons for a week in August 2022.

Greenwood spent the week staging two classes a day at the local recreation hall lasting an hour and 45 minutes each. The first was for children ages five to eight years old, the second for those between nine and 12 years of age.

She said she stuck to having roughly 20 students in each class so she could help them grow and learn individually. At the end of the week, all the students put together a showcase for their families to attend.

“I tried to give the students a big range of dance forms to try and see what they like and to get to know a bunch of different styles — jazz and hip hop and ballet,” she said of the experience.

“Some of the students had never even heard of the dance styles, so it was also really wonderful to see them learning about new things and enjoying learning the dances.”

Her work didn’t stop there. Greenwood just finished providing dance lessons in Pangnirtung from July 3 to 7.

It has all been a learning experience for her, especially since she had never been to Nunavut until then. She only knew about Nunavut history and culture what she had learned in school.

“It was really wonderful to see the community and getting immersed in Inuit culture,” Greenwood said.

“I would hear about how the students had gone fishing that morning and tell me all about their fishing techniques and other things.”

Martha Arnaqaq, whose daughter, Laila Arnaqaq, was a student in Greenwood’s dance lessons in Pangnirtung, said she appreciated her child having the opportunity to learn from Greenwood.

“I wasn’t able to see Laila in the dance lessons, but she had told me that she really had fun and she was excited,” Arnaqaq said, adding she enrolled Laila because “she’s interested in a lot of things.”

“She was also really helpful — her dance teacher, Victoria.”

Greenwood said she’s looking for ways to stay in touch with her students in Rankin Inlet and Pangnirtung through the year.

She also hopes to secure more financial support for her company. The two recreation co-ordinators, Clark in Rankin Inlet and Dan MacLeod in Pangnirtung, found funding to help cover the costs of her flight to those communities.

“I want the students to have the experience of just continuing to dance,” Greenwood said.

Arnaqaq said she looks forward to having Greenwood back in the community or having her daughter attend dance lessons with her online.

“[The dance lessons by Victoria] have been really good for kids and children here,” she said.