This week I spoke to dancer and performer, Shae Bourne. We spoke about the differences between dancing on stage and in film, her early work in cabaret shows, and how dance classes have adapted to COVID-19.

Cabaret Work: The Darlings Cabaret & The Smoke Show

Shae has been dancing her whole life; it is a testament to her dedication that she has been a dancer since she was three. I can’t think of an activity I was doing at age three that didn’t involve an essential bodily function. Upon graduating high-school, Shae was accepted into a dance program in L.A. and moved to train there for six months. Reflecting on this experience, she said that “I honestly kind of got eaten alive,” by the whirlwind of moving, living, and training alone for the first time. Surrounded by much more experienced dancers made her feel like truly “the tiniest fish in the biggest pond”, and she became disillusioned with pursuing a career in this industry. Upon her return to Vancouver, she took a few months off from dance, but eventually joined a dance company called Source that was operating out of the Harbour Events Centre. Through this company, she gained more local exposure and was subsequently recruited to join another company when she was nineteen, The Darlings Cabaret. As one of her first professional dance gigs, Shae said that it was just like any job in the sense that she had to learn and adapt on the fly; the main difference being that “you’re going to watch me dance in my underwear”.

After three years at The Darlings Cabaret, Shae was approached to join a new cabaret show founded by Jen Oleksiuk, The Smoke Show. Like many of the opportunities Shae has earned over the course of her career, she was referred for this part and says that “all my successes I owe to people that I trained with” in any capacity. This time it was a mutual friend she had with Jen who had been Shae’s dance instructor many years ago. Both The Darlings Cabaret and The Smoke Show gave Shae the chance to perform on a regular basis and “learn so many skills that a lot of performers don’t get the opportunity to, at that young of an age”. With a steady stream of shows to prepare for, Shae was put in an ideal environment for growth as a performer, as she was constantly rehearsing and collaborating with her peers.

Expanding on this collaborative experience that went into building shows, since all of The Smoke Show performances are hosted at Guilt and Co., there is only so much rehearsal that could be done in a traditional studio. Shae said that “for the most part, we have no idea what the hell we’re doing until we’re in the room,” and able to be positive of timing and spacing. The interactivity between the performers and the audience is another feature of this show that can’t be rehearsed, and for Shae, confidence is paramount to make this a positive experience for everyone attending. She admits that cabaret shows “can be incredibly awkward if the dancers aren’t 100% owning it,” as they traverse tables and bars to move through the crowd. Shae credits having started performing at such a young age as key to her longevity in the performing arts in general, saying that “you have to be comfortable with you and who you are” to find success in any genre.

104 Shows in 1 Summer

Shae’s other involvements have most recently come in the film industry, but also include stage shows as well. One show we briefly talked about was a role in Rock Legends, a musical hosted by the Chemainus Theatre Festival. For those who have never visited before, Chemainus is a beautiful small town on Vancouver Island that is known for an incredibly strong arts community. Prior to this role, Shae had never done any musical theatre and had only her experience at The Darlings Cabaret on her professional record. But upon earning a spot as an ensemble dancer, she moved to Chemainus for five months and performed eight shows a week for a total of one hundred and four across the whole summer. She says that while the schedule of the run was extremely challenging, she loved the experience of living in the town itself. Since it was such a small town, she was able to enjoy being “kind of like a little celebrity” with folks recognizing her and the cast in between shows.

Dance Auditions & Hugs with Kenny Ortega

Inherent to any gigs are auditions, and I was curious whether they lived up to my pre-conceived expectations of dance auditions, mainly gleaned from A Chorus Line. While the description she gave me is set in pre-COVID times, Shae tells me that for bigger budget productions, casting will invite hundreds of people to audition all together for only a handful of parts. When she was starting out in the film industry, Shae describes this process as an incredibly intimidating environment to walk into, but it has now become somewhat of a reunion for peers that she doesn’t get to see every day. However, this camaraderie also presents its own challenges, as since everyone is in the same room together, “it’s hard to not worry about that other person,” as they are all vying for limited positions.

In one such audition, Shae was trying to secure a spot in a show directed by Kenny Ortega, the director of the High School Musical trilogy. For the record, the second installment is by far the best, no contest. At the end of the audition, all of the dancers were lined up as Kenny went down the line to meet them, and thank everyone for coming by. As he went to shake Shae’s hand, she says that “he was holding it really daintily,” instead of shaking it like everyone else. He lifted his hand, which she took as her cue to go in for a hug. Kenny responded not with a hug, but by saying “oh we’re hugging,” as he indicated that he was going to twirl her around. Let’s be honest, that is just as weird, if not weirder than a hug. Suffice it to say, he stuck with traditional handshakes for the rest of the line, with Shae being the only one “hugging Kenny Ortega in the middle of this room”.

Dance Instruction with Formation Studio

Last September Shae helped open a new dance studio, Formation Studio where she still serves as one of their founding instructors. It has obviously been a tumultuous first year for Shae and the Formation Studio team as they have had to adapt to many changes in safety regulations. Even prior to this interview, Shae was recording a class for people to check out online. However, something that has remained the same is their emphasis on creating “this environment where people can come take [a] class and literally just not care about what they look like”. Getting people out of their comfort zone has been a core tenet of Formation Studio, and a means to build a strong community that has supported them through their inaugural year of operation. The relationships that Shae has built with the people who attend her classes have been the highlight of this experience, and something she is extremely excited to get back to when we can safely do so again.

While working in film has afforded Shae the opportunity to make a living as a performer, she says that nothing replaces the feeling she has when she performs live for an audience or in a class. The time constraints placed on film performers simply do not grant them many opportunities to savour the work they are doing. Shae says that when she is booked for a film shoot, it isn’t due to any single particular physical skill that sets her apart, rather it is “because they know I’m smart enough to do this in four hours”. Stage shows require much longer rehearsal periods, that are also generally unpaid, but this process also gives her the satisfaction of being much more involved in the final product.

While this year has been quite a shift in Shae’s professional life, she is staying positive and continuing to create, saying that “there’s nothing to do for me right now other than [to] just work on myself and pick back up where I left off”. Until that day comes, check out Formation Studio, as well as The Smoke Show on Instagram. For more on Shae, visit her website for a full breakdown of her career thus far.

Follow A Musing on Facebook and Instagram for more content on Shae and the other creatives in this series.

And don’t forget to check out last week’s interview with journalist, Oscar Beardmore-Gray.

-BF