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Dancers from the Shelley Shearer School of Dance perform on stage in New York.

First they took Manhattan.

And now a group of young Winnipeg dancers might just have the world at their feet after a stellar performance in New York City recently.

Fourteen dancers, aged between 12 and 22, from the Shelley Shearer School of Dance in Whyte Ridge, took part in the Pulse Dance Summer Finale at New York City’s Broadway Dance Center from July 21 to 25.

And eight of them — who hail from communities across Winnipeg including Linden Woods, Island Lakes and St. James — won the prestigious Choreographers’ Pick Award for their contemporary lyrical jazz performance of Get Out Alive, choreographed by Lindsay Nelko.   

"I guess we just put Winnipeg on the map. It was just amazing, a really cool experience," said Nelko, 24, who teaches at the school and is also Shearer’s daughter.

Nelko said the winning dance piece, which beat out 21 other dance groups, landed the Winnipeggers an invitation to perform at the event’s Final Night Gala in front of a sold-out crowd of approximately 1,500 — as well as some of the industry’s hottest directors and choreographers.

These included Emmy-winning Mia Michaels from Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance; Brian Friedman, who is currently appearing alongside Simon Cowell in the entertainment guru’s English TV show The X Factor and Laurieann Gibson, who has choreographed for the likes of Lady GaGa.

"It was a huge prize, as these are the people you see on your TV every week," said Nelko, who has appeared in two Rainbow Stage summer shows in Kildonan Park. "Dance has become more and more popular in mainstream culture, partly because it’s a universal language."

An accomplished dancer herself, Nelko said watching her dancers perform from the sidelines had its challenges.

"Watching them was both exciting and nerve-wracking. It can be really hard watching them because sometimes you feel less sense of control," she said.

Nelko need not have worried. In fact, the only regret that surfaced during the five-day festival concerned the subject matter of Get Out Alive.

"The piece is about a girl in her late teens, who looks back at her life and wishes she hadn’t made regretful choices based on peer pressure," Nelko said.

Days after returning home from the group’s New York City adventure, Shearer, who lives in Tuxedo and is the school’s founder and owner, was still beaming with pride.

"We really told them who Winnipeg was," Shearer said, dryly noting that the group was first announced on stage as coming from Winnipeg in Ontario. "It was an unexpected win and a real honour to perform. These conventions are huge."

Shearer said the judges written comments ranged from "extremely powerful piece" to "great technique, lovely lines and extensions, beautiful dancers."

As well, the group will be invited to perform at a Pulse Regional Dance Convention next year, with each dancer receiving a full scholarship.

The other competing groups were mainly from the U.S., with one from Ontario and another from Singapore.

The Shelley Shearer School of Dance is located in the Whyte Ridge Shopping Centre at 125-133 Scurfield Blvd.

For more information, call 488-9091 or visit www.shelleyshearerdance.ca.

simon.fuller@canstarnews.com