silvergoldmagazine.ca
COMMUNITY
Inspiring Our Community
“ Dancing is my passion, not my hobby.”
– Freda Crisp
Freda Crisp is a native Hamiltonian and a Mountain girl, and little did she
know when she walked down 21st Street at the age of five for her first Scottish
dance lesson with Mrs. MacDonald, that in the years that followed she would
develop a passion for dance and dance history that continues to this day. From
that first lesson she has never stopped dancing. Locally, she went on to study ballet,
tap, national dancing and baton twirling, and to her astonishment she managed
to become a founding member of Dorothy Hurst’s Majorettes.
A few years later she left Hamilton to study in London and New York with such
renowned performer/teachers as Marie Rambert, Martha Graham, Jose Limon
and Merce Cunningham.
Returning to her native city, she performed, taught and eventually formed her
own dance company, and she hopes that her passion for dance inspired some
young dancers!
In the late 1980s Freda made the decision to retire from actively teaching
and performing dance. However, she continues her contribution to dance
in Hamilton and Canada through her research, her writing, and her various
reconstruction projects of historic dance. She is currently working on a
history of theatre in Hamilton from 1800 to 1850 – a booklet on Hamilton
dance teachers (1920-1940), and revising her Master’s thesis for publication.
This past year she has begun to put her vast collection of research on the
history of dance, music and theatre in Hamilton onto her website. This is the
next step in fulfilling her passion for dance, and perhaps more importantly,
sharing this part of her passion with others. You can view her latest passion
at www.stepsintime.ca
“ Regardless of age, believe you can and never give up! ”
– Fred Burnell
Fred Burnell of Beamsville has a passion for good music. He