CHAMPIONS SPEAK - Interviews
Photo by John Lucas /Edmonton Journal
Our Hall of Fame Greats had stellar careers and measured their skills against the world's best. They share their "pinch me" moments, unique perspectives, and astute advice for the next wave of legends in their field.
WCSHF Inductee 2015 Builder
Dance (Ballet)
Founder Wetaskiwin School of Ballet
Founder of 4 other Schools of Ballet in Alberta
Founder of Professional Alberta Dance Educators
Teacher Trainer, Adjudicator, Choreographer
Lifetime Member of many prestigious Dance Societies
1954-2015
"I danced wherever I went..."
While other girls often dreamed of becoming ballerinas, Margaret Flynn dreamed of becoming a ballet teacher. She began teaching when she was eleven and since the she has been living the dream and passing along her love of dance to other aspiring dancers for six decades.
“From the very beginning, that’s all I ever wanted to do. My teacher was very strict about walking with good posture and I guess I was a little bit of a show-off because I always danced wherever I went.
Margaret was asked to perform at events in town. She would get her records and put on a little costume. “It wasn’t really choreographed. I would just improvise to the music.”
“My mom was a teacher and several of her sisters were teachers, so being a teacher was just something in our heritage or blood. I really love kids and enjoy working with them. I loved the discipline of dancing, learning the steps and putting the dances together.”
“It wasn’t just being in the studio every day. For her it was taking your technique to the next level and taking it to the stage,” says Vanessa Lawson, one of Flynn’s many former students who went on to pursue an illustrious ballet career as a principal dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. “She was always very positive, always very knowledgeable about what she was teaching. She was very calm too, which was very nice.
