by AMY BARRATT

Growing up, Glenda Braganza admits to being a bit of an overachiever. She had a day planner by the time she was 10 to keep track of all her music and dance lessons. She studied classical ballet and dreamed of being a ballerina until her knees gave out at the ripe old age of 14. She thinks that that training is the source of the fierce concentration she displays on stage.

"The main thing ballet gave me, apart from good posture," she says, "is that self-discipline."

Certainly, Braganza, 26, is an astonishingly focused and disciplined performer. As soon as she walks on stage, you can sense that she has a job to do and that nothing is going to stop her from getting it done. The Ottawa native has had the opportunity to display her versatility this past year in roles as diverse as the uptight therapist in Harry Standjofsky's Jennydog (with Renegade Productions), the "madwoman in the attic" in Persephone Productions' Jane Eyre, and a chirpy cheerleader (among other roles) in Kabarett: A Cheerical, presented by the Montreal All-Star Cheerleaders at the Fringe. It's a trifecta that netted this 2001 Concordia grad a Montreal English Critics Circle Award for Best Actress of 2003-04.

Last September, she had her first film acting experience playing a police detective in a CTV movie called Tripping the Wire, filmed here. Written by Peter Smith and Greg Spottiswood - both multi-talented guys with strong Montreal connections - it stars Clark Johnson (Homicide: Life on the Street) and is due to be broadcast this spring.

Currently, Braganza and company are getting Kabarett whipped back into shape for a run at Centaur's Wildside festival starting Jan. 11. With a new choreographer and some re-writing, the cheerleaders aim to get the moves tighter and the satire edgier than ever before.