Dancing up a storm in SFX

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This article was published 23/03/2015 (4034 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Peggy Venter keeps busy running dance and monkey-nastics classes for children, operating her own photography business and recently forming a collective with three Winnipeg photographers.

She’s about to expand her schedule to include dance classes for adults this spring.

“I’m going to call it the Dance Divas,” she said.

The 32-year-old mother of two young children admits that she thrives on activity. Born in the small community of Empangeni in the province of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, she met her husband, Francois in university in Pretoria. She was training as a dancer and Francois was a gymnast.

Francois’s parents had emigrated to Stonewall, and Venter said she was eager to join them and leave city life.

“It’s my dream to be in the country. I like small communities,” she said.

The couple first bought a house closer to the village of St. Francois Xavier, but moved to a riverside property in the Pigeon Lake area about a year ago.

Venter said she first had the idea of offering children’s dance classes in St. Francois Xavier last year when her now five-year-old daughter was taking a class in Winnipeg. She said she felt other local parents might see the benefit of enrolling their children in a locally-run school.

“It’s becoming a younger community,” she said.

She opened the Studio 26 dance school in the SFX Community Club (983 Highway 26) last October. Thirty students from age two to 11 were registered for the first 12-week session. They ended the session with a recital held at the community club’s annual Breakfast with Santa.

Venter said the recital gave her young students, a mix of girls and boys, the chance to dress in costume and show off their skills. It also served to raise about $2,000 to pay for equipment for the monkey-nastics classes that she began teaching in January, with a portion going to the community club to be used for hall improvements.

She said she loves designing and decorating and she put her skills to use when decorating the hall for the Breakfast with Santa.

Her students will perform adaptations of folk dances from around the world at their upcoming recital on Sat., April 11. One will be a gumboot dance from South Africa.

“We kind of took folk dances and gave them a whirl,” she said.

Venter said decorated tables will reflect the Around the World theme. The evening will include a catered dinner. Tickets are $30 for adults and must be ordered ahead by email at peggy.v@hotmail.com There is no charge for children.

Her monkey-nastics class has also been successful with approximately 30 children, age two to seven, enrolled. The children are encouraged to develop basic physical skills such as jumping, throwing, catching and skipping.

She’s offering an eight-week spring session with dance classes for children and the new one for adults, and monkey-nastics for children. Registration is through the community club at sfxcclub@gmail.com and the deadline is March 31.

Venter has a passion for photography and began working as a professional about three years ago. She specializes in photos of babies, children, families and maternity images. As well as holding the dance recital, she also took the photos with Santa at the community club’s event.

After meeting a Winnipeg photographer who also hailed from Empangeni, Venter said she joined forces with him and two others to form a new business, Winnipeg Wedding Photographers Collective.

“All of us have different styles,” she said, with her work having a romantic look.

She already has eight weddings booked, so will concentrate on this work on weekends over the summer months before she begins fall dance and monkey-nastics classes.

“It’s a good balance,” she said.

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