Spring Showcase 2026: Evolution and Expansion

A group of youth artists and their teacher are standing on stage, holding teddy bears. There is green forest around them on the outdoor stage.

Youth artists with the SPACE Upstairs perform “All the Pretty Little Horses”, alongside Artistic Director Jillian Peever at the 2026 Spring Showcase.

Spring showcase 2026
A NEW CHAPTER FOR DANCE IN ALMAGUIn

The SPACE Upstairs’ fourth annual Spring Showcase took place on June 10 at the Burk’s Falls Fairgrounds, and it was a truly memorable celebration of our community’s creativity and spirit!

This year marked the beginning of a new chapter for the event as we took the showcase outdoors for the very first time. Despite some questionable overcast patches, and plenty of bugs, folks from across Almaguin joined us to watch, celebrate, and dance alongside our youth performers and some of the region’s most talented musicians and artists.

The incredible Tina Turley performs at the 2026 Spring Showcase at the Burk’s Falls Fairgrounds.

We were thrilled to welcome local legend Carrie Schiffler, who served as our MC extraordinaire, along with Tina Turley, Gina Horswood, Corinne Penstone, and Brad Johnston.

Brad and Jillian performed a contact improvisation demonstration for the crowd, and it feels safe to say that it was the first time such a thing had ever occurred at the fairgrounds. At least intentionally, anyway.

The true stars of the show were our youth dancers from across Almaguin. They worked hard in class to prepare for their performances, rehearsed alongside our participating artists, and rose beautifully to the challenge of creating costumes inspired by this year’s theme: Horsepower.

Carrie Schiffler and Gina Horswood perform alongside youth artists at the 2026 Spring Showcase.

Their performances were outstanding, and our young artists deserve so much praise for the hard work, creativity, and courage they brought to the stage. Way to go!

This event would not be possible without the extremely generous support of our sponsors. Their contributions allow us to compensate the local artists who share their talents with our students and help us continue providing meaningful arts programming for young people in our rural communities.

A massive thank-you to our two title sponsors, Proactive Solutions Distribution Incorporate and ABKS Accounting and to our entire roster of generous supporters:

  • Almaguin Donation and Thrift Store

  • Almaguin Marine & Powersports

  • At the Lake Kearney

  • Back Country Pet Grooming

  • Bear Lake Resort

  • Coldwell Banker

  • Cutter’s Edge

  • Fincham’s Feed

  • Hayes Service Centre / Second Nature

  • Hedgerow Farm Studio

  • Horse Sense North

  • Huntsville Festival of the Arts

  • Ivory Quill & Co. Photography

  • Kearney Lions Club

  • Mag River Nature Hub

  • Opatovsky Funeral Home Ltd.

  • Savour This Bakery and Savour That Café

  • South River Lions Club

  • The Mag

  • Burk’s Falls Home Hardware

  • Sundridge Home Hardware

  • Yolanda’s Hairstyling

  • 6S Graphics

All of our sponsors deserve plenty of love and patronage, so please consider spending your dollars with the wonderful folks above. Their support directly helps arts and youth programming continue to grow in Almaguin.

Lastly, we would like to thank our community partners at the Armour, Ryerson & Burk’s Falls Agricultural Society, who graciously allowed us to use the fairgrounds free of charge.

It is safe to say that we have officially been bitten by the outdoor-stage bug, and we look forward to finding more opportunities to work together in the future.

We can’t wait for the next Spring Showcase. Save the date for June 9 2027!

In the meantime, there are plenty of exciting classes and events coming to Almaguin. Registration is now open, so come dance with us!

Maeve Gallagher