Shawn Silver
With his company, iDance, Shawn Silver has been credited with reviving Irish dancing in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Through partnerships with other dance companies, he has also established iDance Ireland, iDance Iceland, iDance Portugal and, about a year ago, iDance Australia.
Soon he’ll head out to bring the Celtic dance form to a new part of the world, launching iDance China.
Not bad for a guy who, at one point, was told he’d never walk again, let alone dance.
Silver, an award-winning, internationally-recognized dancer, was in a car accident while driving on the Trans-Canada Highway, after he hit a patch of black ice. He was in a coma for two weeks before waking up in hospital, not knowing who or where he was.
In addition to a serious head injury, which got better over time and his memory returned, Silver had nerve damage and had fractured two vertebrae.
He was told he may be paralyzed, but refused to believe it, and, after wearing a brace for four months, began walking. Just 16 weeks after his accident, Silver was back to dancing full-time.
Silver suffered a setback in 2010 when he was hit by a driver while sitting in his parked car: he fractured a different vertebrae, and ended up back in the brace for a short time.
These days, he’s fully functioning as a dancer and teacher, and says he knows his limits and when to take a rest.
“It certainly doesn’t stop me,” he told The Telegram. “Like everybody, I’ve had roadblocks along the way, but it’s just a roadblock, that’s all. It won’t ever stop me, because I won’t let it.”
After spending a good part of 2012 in Australia, Silver’s business in that country is going particularly well.
His dancers have performed around Australia and are one of the main attractions at the Australian Celtic Festival in Glen Innes, New South Wales — which has an audience of about 15,000 people each year — he said.
“Somehow they really loved what we brought to the stage and there was a connection,” Silver said of the group’s success at the festival. “I’m not the best dancer in the world by any stretch, but I think there’s a certain showmanship that I bring. We offer a different dimension, I think.”
Silver is looking forward to launching iDance in China, where he says Irish dance productions like “Riverdance” are extremely popular.
He is working with two Chinese dance companies at the moment, and will go there this year to begin teaching.
As with iDance Australia, Silver will teach choreography, including some Newfoundland dances, to teachers in China, who will then instruct their students while he continues classes online from St. John’s.
He’s not worried that he can’t speak Chinese, he said, since it won’t be the main language he uses, anyway.
“The language is movement,” he explained. “Rhythm doesn’t know any language. It comes through repetition, really. I’ve taught in Iceland, Poland and other countries where they don’t speak English, and it’s never been a problem.”