Photo Credit: DansConnection)

By Nathaniel Leigh

Community

DansConnection returns to Disneyland for 20th Anniversary

Nov 16, 2023 | 8:00 AM

A Grande Prairie dance group is celebrating its 20th anniversary by participating in a parade through the “happiest place on earth”.

43 of DansConnection’s dancers from ages eight to 17 are heading to Disneyland this week to perform down Main Street USA, alongside studios from around the world.

DansConnection co-founder Shelly Rutherford says the group will participate in the parade every five years, lining it up perfectly with their 20th anniversary.

“Troupes from all over the world get picked,” Rutherford says. “There’s 600 dancers and we have 43 that are joining the parade from Grande Prairie. But we’re joining other studios from around the globe and there’s going to be 600 dancers dancing with us.”

Rutherford says the dancers will complete a roughly 18-minute routine.

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“They sent us the routine, and the girl’s have been working on that routine since August. They perform that, it’s like a two-minute routine that they do on a loop. They do that routine about nine times down Main Street, so they’re also pretty tired, that’s a long route for them to dance full out down Main Street.”

She says the dancers perform in the parade on Sunday, November 19, before flying back home on Monday.

“We do a workshop in Disneyland on Saturday, they get to meet with Disney cast members and learn from them, which is pretty good, and then Sunday we do the parade and dress rehearsal, and then on Monday lots of families are returning to Grande Prairie.”

Click here to learn more about DansConnection.