When the Bermuda Civic Ballet's Summer Workshop Performance opens its four-night run at City Hall theatre this evening it will be with five young Canadians in the cast.

The teenagers, who study dance at the Westwood Collegiate School of Performing Arts in Winnipeg under the direction of choreographer Jill Mino, have travelled from western Canada with their teacher as part one of what is hoped will be an exchange programme with young Bermuda dance students.

The concept was the brainchild of Patricia Deane Gray, former ballet dancer and owner of the Russian School of Ballet, who was travelling across Canada with the Legat Foundation's international exhibition about famed Russian ballet teacher Nicholas Legat. During her stay in Winnipeg she attended a performance at a dance festival, where she met Ms Mino. Mrs. Gray was so impressed with what she saw that she suggested to Ms Mino that she bring her students to Bermuda sometime.

In due course, Bermuda's Civic Ballet agreed to develop the idea further.

"That was two and a half years ago, and it has taken us this long to get here, but I am really pleased that we have managed to do this,'' Ms Mino says.

Faced with the high cost of travelling to Bermuda, the chosen dancers worked hard to help finance their trip, holding car washes and an auction, as well as summer jobs to raise funds.

While preparing for their first-ever visit, the young women admit they were concerned about Bermuda's conservative dress code as defined in the tourist literature, and also wondered about our summer temperatures and high humidity.

Like most first-time visitors, however, their doubts were short-lived once their aircraft landed.

"The view was breathtaking. It was surreal, we couldn't believe we were in Bermuda,'' Dayna Derksen (18) relates.

Like her compatriots, Robyn Walker (18) found the local band playing in the arrivals hall charming, and "so unique''.

They agreed that the unimagined heat and humidity struck them immediately.

"The first few days were difficult because of the shock of it, as well as the jet lag,'' Ms Mino recalls. "We thought, `Is it like this all the time?' We started to drip, and with no air conditioning when we were working really hard we were soaked, but we're quite used to it now.'' The purpose of the dancers' visit is two-fold: to participate in workshops by David Drummond, choreographer and assistant artistic director of tonight's Civic Ballet Summer Workshop Performance programme, and also to perform a mixture of group and solo pieces within it.

"Our group pieces are Mood Swing, a modern dance, and How Come? a lyrical jazz piece,'' Ms Mino explains. "Our solo pieces are: Stepping Stones, about a young girl growing up; Why? which questions war and peace; Faith, about a loved one leaving home and family; and On the Edge, which deals with a schizophrenic struggling with life's terms.'' Why? and On the Edge are choreographed by Ms Mino, while Songs of Distant Earth is choreographed by Coral Waddell, director of the Russian School of Ballet. Pas de Classique is choreographed by Mr. Drummond.

Ms Mino's daughter, 15-year-old Anna Ingebrigtsen, will dance the latter two pieces.

The visiting dancers have a busy work schedule, which leaves them limited time to sightsee, but there is no doubt that they have fallen in love with the Island.

"I don't want to leave,'' Sarah Kudelski (18) confesses.

"It is so beautiful,'' Ms Mino enthuses. "The bus system is excellent, and we are really enjoying the rides.'' For Miss Ingebrigtsen the buoyancy and warm of the sea have been a welcome surprise.

"It's so much easier than swimming in fresh water, which is also cold,'' she explains. "The colours are also so beautiful.'' For Miss Walker, her first day here, when the group went to the beach, will always be a vivid memory due to the effects of a passing hurricane.

"The waves were awesome -- scary, but fun,'' she says.

The visiting group quickly realised, however, that spending time at the beach sapped their energy for dancing -- an important consideration since they have been taking two workshops a day, plus rehearsals -- so it has been curtailed somewhat.

Unanimous in their praise of Mr. Drummond's workshops, they are thrilled with the progress they have made under his direction.

"He is very positive and encouraging,'' Ms Mino says. "You can see how much more flexibility and strength the girls have.'' The Canadian teacher's sentiments are echoed by several of her students.

Miss Ingebrigtsen vows: "I'm going to go back and kick everyone's butts. We have improved so much with Mr. Drummond. He teaches you to dance, and strength and flexibility show through his teaching.'' Miss Kudelski, who takes ballet for its technique, says Mr. Drummond makes the workshops fun.

"He is good, and always willing to help. You always have to be thinking, but we get so overwhelmed with concentrating that we forget to dance, so he has taught me: `Don't think about movement, just dance'.'' For the Canadians, the Legat system (a Russian ballet system perfected by Nicholas Legat) has been a welcome revelation, which they have thoroughly enjoyed.

"At home I have been raised on the Royal Academy of Dance system, but the Legat style of ballet is a lot different -- much more flowing -- and I love it,'' Miss Ingebrigtsen explains.

Mr. Drummond is a former soloist with the Grands Ballets Canadien and the Boston Ballet, and was a co-founder and director of that city's Copley Square Ballet. He has taught at various ballet schools, and is a talented choreographer.

While the visiting dancers all passed the stiff auditions and interviews to be in Ms Mino's professional classes at Westwood Collegiate, where she has taught for five years, only her daughter Anna is considering dance as a career -- after she goes to university.

Miss Derksen, who has only been dancing for four years and lists modern dance as her favourite form, will continue training even though she plans a career in sports medicine. Miss Kudelski likes jazz best, and Miss Walker, with 12 years of dance studies behind her, also favours jazz as well as modern. She sees music videos or cruise ship entertainment on her career horizon, while Erynn Shortridge (18), who has been studying for 14 years, likes all forms of dance, but particularly jazz and modern.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the group is unanimous in its desire to repeat the Bermuda experience.

"Our hosts and hostesses are wonderful people,'' Ms Mino says. "They are so very kind and generous in taking care of us. In fact, everyone we have met here has been marvellous. Because this is our first time, and it is an exchange programme, I feel it is wonderfully successful, and I hope that this is just the beginning of a pretty exciting arrangement.'' Bermuda Civic Ballet's Summer Workshop Performance begins each evening at 8 p.m. Tickets (adults $20, children $10) are available from City Hall box office from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. For further information telephone 292-2313.