14-year-old boy moves from Nova Scotia for chance with Royal Winnipeg Ballet

Aidan Vaudreuil and his family just moved halfway across the country to help him pursue his dream of becoming a principal dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

For the second year in a row, the 14-year-old ballet dancer has been accepted to and granted a full scholarship for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. 

Aidan was originally accepted to the school in 2017 after attending the summer ballet program. He turned it down because he felt he was too young to leave his family and friends for an entire year. 

He returned to the summer program this year and this time he knew he was ready to move to Winnipeg to continue his ballet dreams. 

"I was very ecstatic and happy... and I was more happy because I knew wanted to come," said Aidan. 

This is the first time he'll be away from his family and friends for a long period of time. But he won't be alone. His parents Eric and Victoria Vaudreuil will be travelling back and forth between Winnipeg and Halifax for the year.

The move has been surreal, said Victoria. 

"We're in Winnipeg now and he's about to start on the fourth and it's still hard to absorb," she said. 

It's still hard to imagine that they moved halfway across the country to support their son's dance dreams, even getting on the plane seemed so surreal, she said.

"It makes me very happy that they're willing to move away from home for periods of time, so that makes me feel like not as stressed," said Aidan, who is nervous to be starting a new school, but happy that his parents are with him to help make the transition. 

Aidan began dancing when he was five years old when his parents put him in a recreational dance program. He tried it and then stopped, said Victoria.

It wasn't until Aidan was nine that he decided he wanted to go back into dance. That's when he began to excel at dancing. 

"We told him, you know, whatever activity he wants to do as long as he likes it and he loves it and he comes out with a smile, all is good with us," said Victoria.

He's been dancing at the Maritime Dance Academy in Bedford, N.S., since the age of nine and quickly graduated into the academy's senior dance program. Before moving to Winnipeg, he was dancing six days a week.

"When we watched him dance... you could tell that he loved it and you could tell that he was a bit more advanced than what was expected," said Victoria. 

She never expected to see her son make it into a prestigious ballet company when she put him in dance, even now, she's still amazed.

"Some of the kids have been dancing since they were four and five years old. Aidan started at nine or 10 and he just flew through it," she said. 

Professional dancer

"I hope that training with a professional school... that when I get older I'll be able to be a principal dancer with the company," said Aidan. 

He's hoping that the RWB school will give him the skills needed to achieve his dreams. 

Even though he's trained in modern dance, contemporary, jazz and tap, he says ballet is his favourite.

"I love how ballet is very challenging because you have to think about a million things at once and you have to be flexible," he said. 

"And it's just so difficult but you have to make it look fun at the same time."

'Sad and happy'

Moving away from their home in Nova Scotia wasn't easy, said Victoria — their whole family is there and all of Aidan's friends are there.

"It's really hard moving away because I made really good friends with some of my dance friends," said Aidan. 

Everyone is really supportive of the move, but it's still a bittersweet moment for the family, said Victoria.

Aidan has two older sisters, both who have their own children now and leaving them is really hard. Both his sisters are very excited for Aidan and believe this was the right step for him.

Victoria knows this move was right for her son, if he wants to continue developing his dance skills and achieve his dreams of becoming a principal dancer with the RWB.

"It's a huge investment, it's our soul and our entire life," she said.