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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, February 22, 2013 · 24 Artscene submitted photo leaping: Oakville dancer/actor Isaac Lupien is starring as Eldon in Family Channel's The Next Step, a reality-style drama series about elite dancers. The show premieres on Friday, March 8 at 7 p.m. Isaac Lupien takes the next step in his career By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakville's Isaac Lupien has two passions that he wants to pursue as a career. Now, he's getting a good start with both. The 17-year-old dancer/actor is starring in Family Channel's The Next Step, a serialized reality-style drama series about an elite group of dancers. The Canadian original series is about dancers who are trying to make it in the world of competitive dance and Lupien is one of them. "Acting and dancing are my main goals right now," the Grade 12 Oakville Trafalgar High School student said. "I've been doing commercials my whole life so I've had my acting side and my dancing side, which have been very separate. It's actually pretty cool that on this show I get to combine both my passions." Lupien, who plays Eldon on The Next Step, is no stranger to performing. He's been dancing since the age of two. His parents own the Canadian Dance Company in Oakville where they are also dance instructors and where Lupien has trained his whole life. His parents had even included him in a staged dance performance of their own when he was just 11 months old. He has taken his dance moves across Canada, U.S. and Europe and has won a number of awards. He won a bronze medal at the IDO World Dance Championships in 2008 in Germany, placed first overall as teen dancer in the Showstopper American Dance Championships in 2009, and in 2012 he was named senior first overall soloist at the Showstopper competition. He has also appeared in televised commercials as an actor. For the first time, he gets a chance to do both his passions in one place. "I've been doing acting for a long time. I just haven't been doing it recently. Then I got The Next Step. This reminded me of my passion for acting and how much I like it so I definitely want to take it further," he said. "I've had my acting side and my dancing side, which have been very separate. It's actually pretty cool that on this show I get to combine both my passions." Isaac Lupien, actor/dancer The Next Step He has seen the dance shows growing up and even imagined what it would be like to be on them. He's also appearing on the television channel he grew up watching. "It is kind of weird seeing myself on the Family Channel because I used to watch it all the time and it's cool to see myself on the channel I used to watch in my child- hood," he said. The Next Step offers viewers a glimpse of what life is like for a competitive dancer. It's a scripted show, but the actors are real dancers, cast for their abilities. The drama on the show happens in the studios, at rehearsal, at competitions, at tryouts, not in the characters' homes. "The whole point of the TV show is to show all the drama behind what happens on stage. It shows personal drama with things like who gets the front line of a dance, or who gets a certain duet partner and it shows the stress of actually training," Lupien said. "It pretty much shows a dancer's life. It even happens in my studio, all the drama. I think it's pretty accurate actually." The show has a relatively large cast, but Lupien said there are plenty of opportunities for everyone to shine. "There's so much happening with the show that I know I will get my chance," Lupien said. "I'm real- ly happy with the role I got. When I'm in the back, it gives my friends a chance to show what they've got. I think it's a really good balance between the whole cast." Lupien credits his parents for his dance ability and his father in particular for pushing him to constantly improve and to take every opportunity to perform to grow his experience. Now, Lupien's folks are as eager as he is to see him on the show. "They're excited for it to come out and they're excited for me to get on with my career because it's getting close to the end of my competition years," Lupien said. After competitive dance, comes professional dance, which he hopes to pursue alongside acting. After he graduates high school, he intends to train locally for another year and then to head to Los Angeles in pursuit of his career. He intends to act and dance, not necessarily together, and to potentially produce his own work. See Dancer page 25