Teacher brings experience back to the Sudbury dance studio that helped start her career
Eighteen years after Emily Murray started dancing, she is back in the Sudbury studio where her training began to help teach the next generation.
For two weeks this month, Murray will be at Dance Evolution teaching aspiring dancers of all ages, and she’s doing it with experience many dancers only dream of having.
“It’s been inspiring for me and I hope, as well, for the dancers that I teach," she said.
"I just think it’s so important to give back to the community that you came from and just really expose people in this community that maybe aren’t aware of the art forms that we have here and the talent here."
Murray trained at Canada's National Ballet School when she was 13, before joining Ballet Kelowna in 2020.
“I’m just lucky to call Sudbury home and I’m just so glad that I can come back home here and just teach and have amazing experiences,” she said.
Emily Caruso Parnell, the head of ballet at Dance Evolution, said a guest teacher like Murray is a chance for young dancers to see where their hard work and determination can lead them.
“It’s a bit of a magical combination, having both the physical talent and ability to be able to dance professionally and also the work ethic that it takes to be able to dance professionally,” said Caruso Parnell.
“It’s great for students to see that there is a career pathway there, that there are options. So it gives them a sense of some possibilities.”
For Caruso Parnell, Murray coming back is extra special, because she helped start her training so many years ago.
“It’s really lovely for me,” she said.
“I’ve had lots of students go on to careers in dance and teaching and arts administration in different ways, but Emily is quite special in that she’s pursuing a performing career in classic ballet, which is extremely difficult.”
With years of professional ballet training behind her, Emily Murray taught the next generation at Dance Evolution for two weeks this month. (Alana Pickrell/CTV News)
As for Murray, she credits Caruso Parnell for the direction her dance has taken her.
“When I was younger I didn’t think that I would want to be a ballet dancer, that was never really my goal," she said.
"I just loved to dance, I loved to move."
Caruso Parnell suggested the national ballet school, but Murray said she had to be convinced.
"I didn’t initially want to go because I just loved all forms of dance," she said.
"But when I went that was when I really realized that ballet was something that my heart just connected to."
In her two weeks at Dance Evolution this summer, Murray said she taught a wide range of talented students. And students appreciated what she taught them.
“I feel like it’s really cool," said Kanessa, 16.
"It’s a really good experience to get the chance to learn from somebody new and get somebody else’s perspective."
Each dancer took something different from the experience.
“For me, being a teacher here at this studio it’s great getting new tips and tricks for my students from someone else’s point of view,” said Jacob, also 16.
Although Murray could only stay for two weeks this summer, she hopes to be back in the future and her plan is to continue dancing professionally for as long as she can.
“Being a dancer is such a big part of my identity,” she said.
“Every single decision that I’ve made since I was like five years old has been towards dancing and my training and now my career and so it’s just kind of embedded in my soul, being a dancer, and I just am so lucky that this is my career now.”
As for Dance Evolution, the studio is gearing up for season 15 with early-bird registration just a week away.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
Wisconsin school district says active shooter 'neutralized' outside middle school
A Wisconsin school district said an active shooter was 'neutralized' outside a middle school in Mount Horeb on Wednesday, and no one inside the building was injured.
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confirms his party will support the Liberals' federal budget
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will support the federal budget, ending any speculation that the party could pull out of its deal with the minority Liberal government.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Dental care program accepting claims for 1 million seniors
Citizens' Services Minister Terry Beech says 1,200 seniors have already visited a dentist and had their claims processed by the federal government's new dental care plan.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
The remains belonged to three adults, a teenager and a newborn baby, according to a statement from the Latebra Foundation, a historical organization based in the Polish city of Gdansk, published Thursday.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.