The Exploration Place will be honouring a famed Prince George dancer during International Women’s Day today. (Friday)
Assistant Curator Chad Hellenius will have some items from Inga Andersen’s past on display, and will be telling stories about “The Blackout Girl.”
“She wasn’t originally born in Prince George but she moved here at a very young age,” Hellenius said.
“As something to keep his kid occupied, because they lived out in a lumber camp, Inga Andersen’s father had bought her a correspondence dance course, and apparently she was a natural for it, because by the end of it, she was teaching lumberjacks how to dance, and really found, forgive the pun, her footing.”
Hellenius said when they later moved into the City, Andersen’s father built her a dance studio onto their house, where she provided dancing lessons to the locals.
“Soon enough, annual dance recitals of her students and her were a looked-forward-to event in Prince George,” he continued.
“I think she was probably 18 when she left to make things big in Hollywood and in Broadway, and she was one of those first people, or rare people who performed in films before she was dancing on Broadway and in theatre.”
She eventually went on tour, which brought her to England.
“When World War II broke out, she was in England touring, and the rest of the dance troupe headed back for North America, and she said forget that, I’m going to keep morale up for the troops, I’m going to entertain them, I’m going to dance for them,” Hellenius said.
“She did so in quite an unusual fashion, which earned her the title, the nickname of ‘The Blackout Girl’, because they were in blackout conditions. She went straight to the front lines, and she entertained troops, often using bombed out buildings where she sang and danced, hence the name, ‘The Blackout Girl.’ Stories are told of being able to hear gunfire behind her as she’s dancing and bombs going off and such.”
Hellenius said there’s many more stories to tell, which he will be telling at the Exploration Place today.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
