Local woman has been selected for the international dance championship

Katy Fairbairn is set to hit the road for Prague this fall.

The Snow Valley resident and Barrie North College graduate is part of Canada’s 23-member team competing in the International Dance Organization World Tap Dance Championships against 40 countries in late October in the Czech Republic.

“Before we went to Prague, we rehearsed for about 15 to 20 hours a week … on top of any other dance commitments,” says Fairbairn, a second-year student at Queen’s University.

This involves traveling to the Toronto area every weekend while she spends her summer working full-time in marketing and digital communications for Empower Simcoe in Barrie. The journey gets even longer when he returns to school in Kingston. Rehearsals continue until the dancers reach the stage in Prague.

Fairbairn says she loves to dance and competes in all styles, but found her strength in tap.

He trained for many years at All That’s Dance & More in Innisfil, which closed this year. She is currently involved in the new Official Dance Project on Bayfield Street, where she is teaching this summer.

Fairbairn, who dances in the adult team, will be joined in Prague by a junior dancer from the new studio.

“I’ve danced all my life and something I’ve realized, especially going to school, is that I always find opportunities to dance. It’s not something I give up easily. To say I’m obsessed with it would be an understatement. I absolutely love it,” she says.

“I want to be able to continue to dance and make a positive impact, whether it’s at home, at school or whatever else I’m involved in, while still representing my country internationally.”

Describing Fairbairn as active doesn’t really convey the extent of the activities in which she is involved.

During her first year at university, studying global development and business, where she maintains a high academic standing, Fairbairn found her groove. She became the first-year intern for the executive team of the Queen’s University Dance Club, one of the largest student-run clubs in Canada with just over 600 members.

“I have to pursue all the different executive roles,” she says. “I was able to learn from each person… Next year I will be the marketing director of the club.”

She will also be teaching with the club.

She was also involved in the Vogue Charity Fashion Show presented by Queen’s students. It involves three days of performances involving music, dance, modeling and design, which raise money for a local charity. This year, the club raised nearly $80,000 for Extend-A-Family Kingston, which works with people with disabilities.

During high school, she was student council president, captain of the girls basketball team, creator of the Barrie North dance team and alumni representative. She graduated with several awards, including the Ontario Principal’s Leadership Award and the school board’s Excellence in Education Award.

This year’s trip to Prague is the second time Fairbairn will compete internationally. In 2022, he participated in the same competition in Zagreb, Croatia.

“It was an incredible experience. I got to meet people from all over the world. We did decently well in terms of placements and made some really good friends,” she says. “I really want to go back. I liked.”

But the adventure doesn’t come cheap. She estimates the travel and preparations will exceed $4,000 and is hoping to get community sponsorships to offset those costs.

In her applications, she includes a letter from Team Canada Dance national director Bonnie Dyer explaining that dance is not recognized as a sporting event and therefore the dancers are not eligible for government support.

Fairbairn is keen to hear from potential sponsors as well as anyone who can donate an item to a fundraising raffle.

She can be reached at (email protected) and on Instagram at @katyfairbairn_.