Community & Business
22 April, 2024
Dancing at Disneyland: a dream come true
Erin Fuhlbohm has been dancing since she was three years old, now the Felton local has recently returned from Los Angeles, U.S.A. as part of a Dance Around The World Tour that only dreams are made of.
When she was two, Erin watched her first live dance show in Pittsworth.
Rapt with the live performance, Erin soon started attending regular dance lessons.
So began one little girl’s dream to become a ballerina.
After six years with iDance Studios in Oakey, an opportunity to perform at Disneyland in Los Angeles presented itself, and it was one that her parents agreed she should be part of.
Erin had the largest entourage of supporters with her parents, siblings, nanna and great aunt signing up for the international tour.
Over 30,000 students, teachers and families travel with Dance Around The World Tours across the globe to destinations such as New York, Hong Kong, and Europe, every year.
Principal of the iDance Studios Carla Tierney, has travelled three times with the tour company in the past, first in 2014, then every two years until 2018, when the Covid pandemic ceased all international travel.
The ten day tour comprised four performances by the iDance Studio and two workshops.
In what may have been a disappointing start for the group, the first performance of the tour at Disney California Adventure Park on Easter Sunday, was rained out.
The second performance, and the highlight of Erin’s trip, was the Main Street Parade at Disneyland.
Ms Tierney said the 20 minute parade was a surreal experience as they had the opportunity to dance with seven other studios from Australia.
The parade was appropriately named, ‘Celebrate Dance, Australia!’.
“The girls were absolutely brilliant,” Ms Tierney said.
“We are all so very proud of them.”
Mrs Fulhbohm said they waited hours in the perfect spot to view the Main Street Parade and catch Erin’s performance on camera.
“We’re so proud.
“When she was coming down for the parade, it was just so exciting knowing she was coming.
“We sat there waiting for three hours,” Mrs Fuhlbohm said.
On Tuesday, April 2, the group travelled to Citadel Outlets for their next performance.
Although there were a couple of technical glitches, Ms Tierney said the team still gave a professional performance.
The team then performed in front of a massive crowd at Universal Studios in Hollywood, which was well received.
After much persuasion from the Dance Around The World team, the Studio was offered a rare opportunity to redo its first performance (which had been washed out), by Disneyland, on the very last day of the tour.
As the amusement park had a strict entry reservation policy, and the entourage of supporters did not have a pass for that particular day, only the dancers and a chaperone were allowed into the park for the final performance.
Despite no family being able to attend the performance, there were other Australian dance studios in the park that day who attended the performance in a show of support and camaraderie for their fellow nationals.
Overall, the 4am wake-ups for makeup and hair preparation were well worth it, they said.
Naturally, in the spare moments between performances and work-shops, the Fuhlbohm family enjoyed the best that Disneyland and California Adventure Park had to offer.
Erin said her favourite rides were the Matterhorn Bobsled roller coaster, and the Radiator Springs Racers which is based on the film series Cars.
The dedication of parents to wait over an hour in line for their child’s favourite ride - through rain, hail or shine - is a selfless act, indeed!
They also experienced the World of Colour, a night time spectacular show comprises water, fire, light and music woven together to celebrate the magic of Disney storytelling.
Preparation for the studio’s U.S.A. tour started 10 months prior and the group of 24 dancers was made up of girls between the ages of 7 and 23.
Despite the performances being made up of jazz routines, Erin currently takes classes in ballet, acrobatics, contemporary and aerial lyra.
That being said, her success at the overseas tour had Ms Tierney encouraging her to include jazz classes in her dancing schedule next year.
Mr and Mrs Fuhlbohm disclosed that the tour was a big feat for them to organise, but to have Erin be part of this experience was unparalleled.
Pittsworth businesses contributed to the fund-raising of the tour over the months leading up to the trip, and the Fuhlbohms expressed heartfelt appreciation for it and said they were humbled by the community’s generosity.
Erin said she would love to go back next time, and do it all over again.
