Michaela Mclean dances through her first year in Gold Fever Follies
By Contributor
Gold Fever Follies historic musical comedy show, a screenplay based on Rossland’s Gold Rush days, is once again filled with exciting characters. What would it be like to step back in time to the era of the 1890s? Just ask a Seven Summits Centre for Learning Alumni Michaela Mclean as she dances through her first year with the iconic musical show.
Michaela is a performing arts student at the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria, B.C. where she studies singing, dancing, and acting. She explains, “As a competitive Nordic skier, I went to high school at 7S where I was surrounded by inspiring people who supported me to participate and follow my dreams.”
Michaela explained that the Gold Fever Follies production this year is about workplace gender equality, or the truest representation of the female plight. “The Great Invention” was written to include the female realities and struggles during the Gold Rush era. The show fictionally spotlights the aspirations of the women in Rossland, including the story to which the title refers . The musical features women attempting to integrate into a male-controlled period and break down barriers about accepting female inventions, proving abilities, and changing social perceptions about women. The show exposes the bias of the era that women were just to dance and bartend for men versus have real purpose and leadership.
Michaela’s character, Poppy Smits, is a young orphan girl who desperately wants to enter a skating competition, but her older overprotective brother disagrees. “I always had an interest in dance and performing arts,” said Michaela. “A parallel likeness to my character Poppy who has to work hard to be the best she can be to prove to the others she can live her dreams.”
When asked what career she plans to pursue with her degree, Michaela thinks she may want to become a teacher or transfer her creative skills to help others attain their dreams. For now, Michaela is not certain what the future will hold for her in the performing arts, but one thing is for sure she is going to give it all she’s got to make her dreams come true.
Participate and watch our 7S Alumni in action by catching the show Tuesday through Saturday at the Miners Hall at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Buy tickets at https://www.goldfeverfollies.com/online-tickets.Check out more about this at https://www.rosslandmuseum.ca/essays/follies
