Nepean This Week - Dancers ready for Broadway

Local dancers ranked best in North America

by Erika Caines [Friday, August 10, 2001]

Gabe Wolinsky and Sofia Ferrarotto have been crowned as the best male and female dancers in North America after a recent dance competition in Florida.

Dancing can vary from elegant to alternative, to classical, and for two Nepean teens, dancing is life.

Gabe Wolinsky, 16, and Sofia Ferrarotto, 16, have been respectively crowned as male and female dancers of the year for North America.

The two teens were crowned with their titles at the American Dance Awards in Orlando, Florida in July.

For Wolinsky, a vocal major at Canterbury High School, dancing has been part of his life since he was just eight years old.

"The reason I started to dance is that my sister is a dancer, too," says Wolinsky. "I saw her (dancing) and I thought 'Oh I can do that.' So I started dancing and I have never stopped."

Ferrarotto began her dancing career at three years of age, and has loved every moment.

"(Dancing) was just something my mother put me in as a little girl," she says. "And I grew to enjoy it. I have continued to push my limits and have never stopped."

Wolinsky and Ferrarotto are not dance partners, but they have grown up dancing together at the Greta Leeming Dance Studio in Nepean.

Their comparable titles were won separate from one another.

Wolinsky qualified for the competition in Ottawa, while Ferrarotto qualified in Long Island, New York.

Both of the teens have been training day in and day out for many months, and have now accomplished a remarkable goal - being crowned with the titles of being two of the best dancers in North America.

For Ferrarotto, a student at St. Pius X High School, the best part of being a dancer is being able to evoke emotion from the audience.

"My favourite part of dancing is being able to go on stage and show everyone how I'm feeling at that exact moment, and hopefully they'll be feeling the same way," she says.

Wolinsky also says that brining emotions to the surface is a gratifying feeling.

"I love being able to make the audience smile or cry, depending on the type of dance I'm doing," he says. "I love to make the audience feel what we're feeling."

Both Wolinsky and Ferrarotto are involved with tap, ballet, jazz and lyric dancing, which is a mix of ballet and jazz dancing.

Being at the American Dance Awards was an extremely memorable experience for both of the talented young dancers. "It was the most amazing feeling in my life," says Ferrarotto.

"(Wolinsky and I) have both worked so hard for something like this since we were just little kids. We have both made a lot of sacrifices to get where we are today, and we dance almost every day, and I think right now we have to live up to our titles."

Wolinsky has the same sentiment.

"It was awesome, because we have both worked so hard," he says.

Dance studio owner Greta Robinson (nee Leeming) has been with both Wolinsky and Ferrarotto since the debut of their dancing careers as children, and she is as proud as their parents.

"They both started off being talented right from the beginning," says Robinson. "They have always had something special. Even at three years old, Sofia (Ferrarotto) was the best in the class. And Gabe (Wolinsky) had tremendous talent from the very first solo he ever performed. They were just very special from the very beginning. The potential has always been there and has now come to its fruition."

Robinson adds that the titles of being the best female and male dancers in North America come from one of the most prestigious competitions in North America.

"And (Wolinsky and Ferrarotto) are the best of the best," she says. "During the course of the year, they have duties, extra duties, that they have to perform."

The last time that both the best male and female dancers in the American Dance awards came from the same school of dance was 23 years ago - when both dancers also came from the Greta Leeming Studio.

As for the future, both Ferrarotto and Wolinsky have similar plans.

"I want to be on Broadway when I'm older," says Wolinsky.

And Ferrarotto would also like to perform.

They would both like to own a dance studio in the future, but for now, performing will continue to be their number one priority.

"If I don't dance, I'll regret it the rest of my life," says Ferrarotto.

"Dancing is my life."