MEET THE DIRECTOR

XBa was started in 1999 by my mom Nela as a Dryland Training Centre for local, national, international and Olympic-level Figure Skaters who needed to incorporate the gracefulness of dance into their training programs to round out their artistic presentations.

As a child, I grew up at XBa surrounded by highly successful and driven athletes at the top of their game. That environment instilled in me a hunger to learn, progress and to be the best. I was the kid who desperately wanted to be in the Senior level classes and learned all their choreography! None of my peers worked as hard as I did, and no one wanted it more than me.

Before I could fully commit to XBa training due to an inability to separate “Mom” from “Teacher”, I took Ballet and Jazz classes at another local studio. But the reason I was able to fully participate at XBa happened due to an unfortunate incident; at age 8 I was told by my teacher at the other studio, who I adored, that I “would never be a dancer” and that I was “built all wrong”. This teacher made this horrible judgement of a child simply because I wasn’t as flexible as the other girls and my feet weren’t as strong. I was 8 and obviously nowhere near done growing or developing. My mom thanked her for her feedback and I never returned.

Always in layers

When I started dancing competitively at 9, all I wanted to do was win. While some of my peers were nervous, and even losing their lunches before and after (and during once!), I was full of adrenaline and I wanted nothing more than to get on that stage and make them remember me. Dance competitions were always a strenuous environment to say the least, and I have an equal amount of good and awful memories from them. We competed because at that time (2002-2010), there were no other performance opportunities for amateur dancers besides our year end shows. We don’t participate anymore, and haven’t since 2014. I had a fairly successful competitive run overall, but I’m very glad we don’t do dance competitions anymore.

I did it first...IYKYK

As I mentioned above, none of my peers had the work ethic that I did. But I did have structural challengers that made it more difficult to progress. I have naturally tight hamstrings and a tight back (thanks Dad!), and I grew in spurts, so my height wouldn't change for weeks to months, then I would shoot up overnight and lose all my progress and get covered in stretch marks. Even though I was the hardest worker and one of the best performers, I was one of the weakest dancers technically. I would go perform and think I absolutely killed it, then I would watch the video back and be in shock as to how bad I was. Now some kids would see that, get discouraged and quit, I used that as "fuel for the fire" and pushed myself even harder. At 16, it clicked, and finally my body was doing what my mind was seeing. It took 7 years of intensive training for my body and mind to finally come together, and it was worth every drop of sweat, every injury, and every party I didn't go to.

Last dance competition at 17 that I won

Unlike many of my peers, my dance training increased after graduating high school and I gained professional status at the age of 19 while completing my post-secondary education at the University of British Columbia, and I have not slowed down since. When I was going through mental health issues in my early 20s, dance and XBa were the only things that kept me together. I have recently undergone life-changing health issues, and once again, dance and XBa were the only things that kept me fighting every single day.

One of the few times I've danced in a nightclub, being 100% honest

Being a part of highly competitive environments, from Figure Skating to competitive dance to UBC, was never a choice for me, it was simply where I thrived. As the Artistic Director of XBa Centre of Dance, my goal is to share my drive and passion for dance with the school and to continue the legacy of creating well-rounded people. We just don’t build dancers, we build careers.

Whether you sign up for one class, or spend a good part of your life here, be ready to open your mind because we are not your average dance school.

Welcome to XBa.

- Amadea HW

Artistic Director