You’d be hard-pressed to find another girl who’s as multi-talented in the arts, energetic and successful as Crofton’s Hunter Cook.
Cook, who turns 15 on April 3, is home-schooled by mom Angela and tutors through the Regent Christian On-Line Academy and spends practically every waking moment beyond that working on her dancing skills, voice or performing.
She’s been a fixture over the years in the Cowichan Music Festival and collected a bunch of awards in dance and musical theatre during the 2018 edition that wrapped up recently.
Even dad Dean Cook, a top-level goaltender during his heyday with the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League before going on to play a season in the Vancouver Canucks’ farm system in Milwaukee, marvels at her abilities in all disciplines.
Hunter started in dance at the age of six, primarily doing ballet and some jazz at first through Carlson’s School of Dance in Duncan, before turning to other forms as she grew older and developed the required skills.
Regular trips to the Cowichan Music Festival and Upper Island Music Festival brought her the confidence necessary to succeed. She started doing solos at age nine.
“I feel like it’s hard to explain what it means to you,” conceded Hunter. “When you go on stage, it’s the best feeling you could have.”
“She just has a lot of energy,” noted Angela. “It fit her and it challenged her.”
Ballet, jazz, contemporary, modern, tap, lyrical jazz, modern stage are all within Hunter’s repertoire.
“She does all of them,” said Angela. “She started out very disciplined. I don’t think at the beginning initially she said this (ballet) is my favourite. But ballet is what gives you your core of everything.”
Hunter has since moved on to the Kirkwood Academy of Performing Arts on Bowen Road in Nanaimo where she spends 35 to 40 hours a week in the pre-professional program and classes. She trains further as an advanced company member with Nanaimo Contemporary Ballet and is an advanced performance team member with Prism Dance Connections. Hunter also still receives instruction from Kathy Lassche at Mulberry Lane Music in Duncan.
Just get a load of this typical weekly schedule at the Academy as Hunter tells it: Mondays - 1 1/2 hours ballet, 45 minutes point, one hour contemporary, 1:15 of jazz; Tuesdays, starting at 8:45 a.m. - 1 1/2 hours ballet, half hour conditioning, one hour modern, 1:15 ballet, 45 minutes point, 1:15 tap; Wednesdays - 1 1/2 hours ballet, 45 minutes point, half hour conditioning, 45 minutes repertoire, one hour commercial jazz, one hour hip-hop; Thursdays, starting at 8:45 a.m. - 1 1/2 hours ballet, 45 minutes point, 1:15 ballet, 45 minutes point plus another one hour modern stage and two hours performance team at Prism Dance Connections; Fridays are off followed by Saturday’s one hour class from Prism (sometimes two) of jazz and contemporary, 3 1/2 hours of ballet and contemporary at NCB; and Sundays - solo practice or NCB or both. That schedule’s all wrapped around her schoolwork.
NCB rents a space at Kirkwood while Prism is located at the Northridge Centre.
All that practice definitely made perfect for Hunter in the Cowichan Music Festival this year, with first for interpretive, second for modern stage solo and modern solo and third for music interpretation.
“At the end, you get placements and you get awards,” she added.
Hunter received both ballet and vocal awards.
“She was asked to sing in the gala and had to decline this year,” Angela added.
Hunter also competed in contemporary solo, dance-lyrical jazz solo, lyrical ballet and contemporary point, and has firsts so far in Nanaimo for the Upper Island Festival in ballet and interpretive.
One of the special moments from all Hunter’s experiences came when she appeared in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Chemainus Theatre in 2012.
“It was a really busy summer,” she recalled.
Through all her knowledge and acquired skills in the arts, Hunter is looking at going in an entirely different direction in the future.
“I don’t want to dance professionally when I’m older, but I want to go as far as I can till I graduate,” she said. “I just want to finish all my ballet exams.”
And then, perhaps, a career in the RCMP might be in the cards.
“My parents talked about it before, I looked into it and I thought it would be a good job,” noted Hunter.
“We’ve kept her going with it (dance),” said Angela. “It’s a good focus. It’s great to have something going when you’re a teenager.
“We accommodate whatever she’s passionate about.”
