Gail Hay
Good VibrationsFounder & Instructor
Gail’s first lesson began with a pair of shiny black tap shoes and her two other sisters at the old Edmonton YMCA mansion downtown in the basement gym. The class was meant for fun and recreation. Gail being the middle sister did not see it that way, but instead as a competition with her sisters to be the best tap student in the class.
Being the shy, pleasing child, she entered the room quietly, but could feel her heart pounding with excitement. The feel of the tap shoes on her feet and the excitement to experience movement was what her heart desired. Within minutes of exploring the incredible sounds vibrating through her five-year-old body, Gail Had become a teacher! She loved her teacher Pam, and she influenced Gail to teach all students with the desire to dance and to place no judgement.
Gail continued her once-a-week Saturday class for several years. She learned with a desire nobody could understand. Her feet were always moving. It was the one thing she could control growing up in a dysfunctional family. Dance was the glue that held her life together.
Gail dreamt of tutus and becoming a ballerina, who could move with ease and grace, never losing control, and with 100 per cent composure. She craved it, but being one child of four and with not much income for anything else, she knew it was not an option to ask for another dance class.
At the age of 10, the opportunity of a dance studio became an option for Gail and her two sisters. She was so excited to begin class with Nancy Hay. Again, the only option was tap once a week, but the ballerina dream was still in her mind. She worked very hard perfecting her steps, achieving 100 per cent on her first tap exam.
The day finally came the studio hired a ballet instructor. Gail sat back quietly, knowing her mom’s nature to compete with the other moms who were encouraging their girls to take ballet. The dream became a reality. Gail was registered into her first ballet class.
The thought occupied her mind until the first day of class. Gail found herself in a class of misfits and a not-so-patient, passionate ballet teacher. She really wanted to learn the technique and have the same vibration ripple through her body as when she was in her tap shoes. Ballet did not come easy, but her love of dance was so in her blood nothing stopped Gail from dancing!
The year-end recital was ballet soldiers – not beautiful tutu ballerinas – and all the other classes laughed and made fun of her class and costume. That did not stop Gail. She went out on the stage and danced with conviction and imagined that tutu on her body.