It wasn’t until she was in Prague that the significance hit Molly Colborne.
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“It was kind of surreal,” said the 16-year-old dancer from Camlachie.
“It never really clicked for me until I was first day in the competition, wearing my team jacket, cheering with my flag. . . ‘Oh, you’re actually competing for your country.’ ”
The 11th-grader at Northern Collegiate in Sarnia was one of 24 dancers selected to this year’s national junior team for tap.
The group ultimately placed third in October, out of a field of 20 countries, Colborne said. The United Kingdom was second behind the United States.
“It was an amazing experience to even be on the podium,” said Colborne, a student at Great Lakes Dance Academy in Sarnia since age three.
“Everyone did amazing the whole competition,” she said.
Colborne’s parents operate the dance school in Bright’s Grove and both have musical theater backgrounds, she said.
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“I’ve just been dancing there and around it my whole life.”
Team and personal accolades are nothing new, she said, but she’d never been on an international stage until she was selected by Team Canada Dance for the International Dance Organization World Dance Championships.
Colborne said she was at a tap workshop last January taught by some of the choreographers from Team Canada.
“So I just auditioned for fun,” she said. “Didn’t expect anything out of it.”
After she was selected, she and the rest of the junior team put in August near Toronto to learn the routine over four days, she said, then practiced every Sunday until competition.
Expectations were high, Colborne said.
“For the choreography, I was not used to picking it up so fast,” she said. “As the days went on, it got easier and easier.”
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Actual competition over five days in the Czechia was tense at times, but mostly easygoing, she said.
“I felt so grateful I could be one of the people representing Canada.”
Her mom Tia accompanied her and the duo stayed an extra week to see the sights, Colborne said.
“It was so much fun,” she said. “It’s such a beautiful city.”
The dancer who also captains her high-school team said tap is her specialty but she performs other dance types, and spends hours every day at the studio.
Colborne said she’s considering becoming an elementary school teacher, and might also teach dance.
“I’ve always loved it and I always will love it,” she said.
As for future competition, Colborne said she’s planning to audition again for Team Canada in 2025.
“Making Team Canada is an amazing achievement,” she said in a recent student spotlight feature by the Lambton Kent District School Board.
“It’s something I’m really proud of.”
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