White Rock dancer Zac Vran ready to take next step on TV show

WHITE ROCK — Teen dancer Zac Vran will make his television-series debut Friday on a Family Channel show.

The Grade 12 student at Earl Marriott Secondary plays Hunter in The Next Step, the second season of which begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 7.

Vran is new to the Canadian Screen Award-nominated show, which focuses on a troupe of competitive dancers.

“For a dancer like me who wants to transition into acting, this is a dream role,” Vran told the Now during an interview at his White Rock home. “It’s a great start for me.”

Until now, Vran is best known for his dance moves with FRESHH, a seven-member, all-male hip-hop crew that placed second on Canada’s Got Talent in 2012.

His dance crew is competing in Seattle this weekend, so Vran won’t be able to attend a red-carpet event in Toronto celebrating the second-season launch of The Next Step.

“It’s been a long wait to see it, but I’ll have to PVR it,” Vran said with a shrug of disappointment.

Filming was done last June, soon after Vran auditioned.

“It was an insane month for me, because it was my finals (exams) for Grade 11, too, so I was studying for those and getting an audition tape together and flying to Toronto, too.”

Vran has trained at Spiral Dance in White Rock and at the Fresh Groove studio in Richmond, where FRESHH is based. These days, he’s also teaching others to dance.

On The Next Step, his character “wears his heart on his sleeve, and if he wants something, he’ll try his hardest to get it,” Vran revealed. “That creates conflict with some of the characters on the show. He causes some grief and strife, and he’s kind of confused by it all.”

tzillich@thenownewspaper.com