Braiden Stevenson, like most high school students, is counting the days until school is over.
But the Grade 12 student is not dreaming of beaches and summer fun. He has landed a job that starts in July that will put him on the stage and well on his way to fulfilling his professional dreams.
Stevenson will be working as a dancer at the Disney theme park in Tokyo for seven months. He won’t be one of the famous costumed cartoon characters. Rather, he has a role as a sailor or tourist in a musical called Sail Away.
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The 18 year old began taking tap dancing lessons at age five in his hometown of Lanigan, Sask.
“I really started to like (dancing) more at age 10 when I took jazz and ballet.”
In Grade 8, Stevenson spent two years with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Last year he moved to North Battleford, Sask., to study at a private dance school.
The farm boy said he was never teased about being a dancer instead of a hockey player, but said there was some awkwardness when the other guys would talk about their weekend tournament and he was thinking of his latest dance competition.
He auditioned in Edmonton last winter for the Disney Tokyo group, which comes to Canada twice a year in search of dancers.
When he returns from Japan in February, he plans to move to Vancouver, which has more possibilities for a professional dance career than the Prairies.
This year a girl from his hometown is going to the Winnipeg ballet troupe, but Stevenson said few rural young people are following his dance career steps.
“Not yet,” he said with a laugh.
