{"id":31182,"date":"2022-04-21T18:56:31","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T22:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=31182"},"modified":"2022-04-21T18:56:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T22:56:36","slug":"aspiring-singers-dancers-actors-to-compete-at-aurora-performing-arts-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aspiring-singers-dancers-actors-to-compete-at-aurora-performing-arts-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspiring singers, dancers, actors to compete at Aurora Performing Arts Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aurora\u2019s annual Teen Idol competition has seen dozens of teens and tweens step forward and showcase their vocals since its inception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, youth whose talents might be in drama or dance, or anything in between, will also have their chance to step into the spotlight with the new Aurora Performing Arts Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aurora Performing Arts Festival was launched by Marquee Theatrical Productions and the Town of Aurora last week. Spearheaded by Marquee, the new festival and competition format will be open to all of York Region and will take place Saturday, June 11 at Town Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competitors who successfully audition will be categorized in three different age brackets (12 to 17, 8 to 11 and 7 and younger) and in the areas of singing, acting or dancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be winners in each category with the winner of the 12 to 17 vocal category earning the title of Aurora\u2019s 2022 Teen Idol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have been thinking about something like this for the longest time, then I thought it would be neat to find a way to partner with Aurora Teen Idol,\u201d says Marquee founder Sheryl Thomas. \u201cI came up with the plan, pitched it to the Town, and it just worked. The budget was great and everything seemed to fall into place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeyond the singing, we wanted to include acting and dancing components. There are a lot of dance schools in the area and a lot of arts and music schools \u2013 there\u2019s a lot of talent and not just in Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holding festivals is part of Marquee\u2019s mandate and, from Ms. Thomas\u2019 perspective \u2013 and that of Shelley Ware, Special Events Coordinator for the Town of Aurora \u2013 everything aligned just right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Town has always focused its efforts on Teen Idol,\u201d says Ms. Ware. \u201cMarquee\u2019s concept of expanding this to theatre and dance is a really nice evolution of this and I think it is going to open up the doors for more performing arts opportunities, not only for youth aged 12 \u2013 17 but the other two age categories. We have focused on vocals and Sheryl and her team excel in vocal, dance and theatre. We\u2019re really confident that this is going to be a tremendous partnership between the Town and Marquee, and also the community as well to participate without any restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interested participants are invited to register online at marqueetp.com\/apa-festival and submit a video of their performance by Wednesday, June 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou should always just go for it,\u201d says Ms. Thomas on encouraging talented youth to try something new. \u201cWhat\u2019s really important is a lot of people are afraid to try because they don\u2019t have any training or experience, but that is so unnecessary. Some people just have this natural gift and we should just share it and go for it. It\u2019s free to enter, so what have you got to lose?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds Ms. Ware: \u201cI think missed opportunities are greater misses and I really want to encourage youth to take a chance, step out, and just see where it can go. Even if the outcome isn\u2019t necessarily being the winner, sometimes doing something where you\u2019re nervous or you\u2019re not sure how it is going to turn out, that\u2019s where some of the biggest growth opportunities can happen for you personally as well as professionally. The sky is the limit after you take the stage for the first time. It might reaffirm that this is where you are meant to be in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis event is for the community but we\u2019re also relying on the community to help us collectively build this Festival to what it will become and what we hope it will become. Anything in its infancy always takes a bit of awareness. If you know a cousin, a niece, a friend or even if it is your own child, encourage them to take these chances. These are growth opportunities and the Town and the community are as supportive as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora\u2019s annual Teen Idol competition has seen dozens of teens and tweens step forward and showcase their vocals since its inception. Now, youth whose talents might be in drama or dance, or anything in between, will also have their chance to step into the spotlight with the new Aurora Performing Arts Festival. The Aurora Performing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/2022-04-21-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-86W","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 07:00:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}