Author: Rhianna

Ahead of our end of term ❄️ I thought I’d send a quick email with a few diary dates for you all.

Our whole school watching week will be taking place from Monday 5th-Sunday 11th December (this does not include solo/duet slots). Parents are welcome to come in and watch all their children have been learning this term. Please note that due to the larger than average class sizes, our Saturday Under 9 ballet and Wednesday Under 13 ballet only has space for one parent per child to attend. We are very sorry for any inconvenience or disappointment this may cause. 

Our term will officially end on Sunday 11th December with the exception of Monday 12th December where the cancelled Monday classes due to the Queen’s funeral will take place as follows:

3.45-4.30 Under 9 tap (as normal)
4.30-5.15 Under 9 modern (as normal)
5.15-6.00 Final open solo/duet drop in of the year. Recommended for any students of any age to drop in and rehearse their dances in a larger space before the Christmas break.
6.00-6.45 Under 13 modern B (as normal)
6.45-7.30 Under 13 tap (both swimmers & lifeguards combined)

We have two fabulous Christmas themed events planned, our Mini Christmas Camp on Tuesday 12th December for ages 3-7 between 4.00-6.00pm, and our school Christmas party on Friday 16th December between 4.00-5.30pm – all are welcome to both! If you’d like to attend either of these please message me and let me know.

We will return in the New Year on Saturday 7th January. 

On Sunday 15th January there will be a solo/duet dress rehearsal at the studio between 1.00-3.00pm. This is compulsory for all students dancing a solo/duet at dance festival. You do not need to attend the solo rehearsal day unless you would like to come along and watch to support of dancers.

On Sunday 22nd January there will be a groups rehearsal for all dance festival groups at Beau Sejour between 8.30-10.00am. This is compulsory for all students dancing in one or more festival groups. You will not be required for the entire group rehearsal session, each group will be needed for approximately 30mins in total, but I do recommend arriving a little early/late so that your child can watch other groups rehearsing on stage. A running order and more information regarding this will be sent out over the next week.

Between Monday 23rd-Sunday 29th January there will be no classes running at the studio. This is because Miss Steffi and I will be at the theatre from approximately 8.30am-9pm most days and will be looking forward to our Sunday off! All dancers taking part should have been sent a running order for the week/had the information posted in the WhatsApp groups.

All classes will be back to the studio as normal between 30th Jan-11th Feb, though the timetable may be slightly altered as soloists/duets will not need individual rehearsal slots anymore. Where possible, we will create larger solo drop-in slots each day to maintain routines ready for our school concerts.

Our school concerts will be taking place on 11th and 12th February at the Princess Royal Performing Arts Centre. All groups, solos & duets from the dance festival will perform at least once over this weekend, along with Pre-school & Reception ballet, Mini, Junior & Senior Acro, Contemporary, and Introduction to Tap & Modern (though these classes will have already received information regarding this). Unfortunately, there are not enough dancers in the Friday ballet technique class 4.00-4.30 to put together a routine for this.

We will then break up for February half term and go back to a more normal timetable!

To receive £5 off your term fees next year, be the first to comment in our parents Facebook group “I read the newsletter!” 

I hope this information answers a few questions some of you may have, I am at this time still awaiting further information re dance festival tickets and more specific performance times, but I hope to have these answers for you by watching week if not beforehand. Tickets for our school concerts will go on sale in the New Year when I have worked out a running order which is no mean feat when you have dancers dancing between 2-9 dances in some cases!

I hate to keep messaging about this, but there are still a considerable number of costume invoices, as well as term fees outstanding. I know it is a difficult time of year to receive invoices, however the costumes have all been paid for out of pocket. To ensure I can cover the other overheads of running a dance school, as well as ordering final accessories, I need these to be settled before the end of term (unless by prior arrangement).

I look forward to seeing many of you at the studio during our watching week!

New flooring Our new flooring has been fitted, and the studio is looking INCREDIBLE. I am going to kindly ask that there are NO outdoor shoes worn in the studio for any reason, and all of my tappers please just give the metal plates on their shoes a quick wipe down before their first class/es to ensure that there is no grit. I know it won’t stay pristine forever but I’d like to preserve it as long as possible. I am also looking to get rid of a couple of items at the studio to create more room, namely the piano and 2 kitchen cabinets with drawers. If you, or someone you know would be interested in any of the items please do let me know. Watching week Please note that there will be no lessons on either Monday 2nd or 9th May due to the bank holiday and Liberation Day. Our term finishes on Friday 15th July, which means that our school watching week will take place from Monday 4th-Saturday 9th July inclusive. If you have not taken part in watching week before, all parents/guardians are invited into class to watch your children and see all they have learned since Christmas! Classes in September 2022 All grade classes from what will be Year 1 (in September, so current Reception year students) and up will convert into Dance Festival groups as we will once again be putting together groups, solos, duets, trios, and quartets ready for the biennial week long competition in January 2023! I am finalising my full timetable at the moment, and will have this with you by the weekend. For our younger classes not taking part in Dance Festival groups, the times/changes are as follows: Current Pre-school ballet – if your child is due to start Reception year at school, they should move up to Reception ballet class Saturday 9.45-10.30. If your child has another year in Pre-school, they should remain at the same time. Their outfit colour does not change. Current Reception ballet – all children starting Year 1 in September should move up to “Under 9 ballet B Saturday 10.30-11.15” (this will make more sense with the full timetable!) in September. They will move to a blue leotard and black wrap around skirt, so please attend Kit Collection in September to be fitted with new uniform. They will be taking part in Dance Festival. Current Introduction to Tap and Modern – all children starting Year 1 at school should remain in their current class for another year. All children starting Year 2 at school should move to Monday Under 9 tap 3.45-4.30 & Under 9 modern 4.30-5.15. They will be taking part in dance festival. Both acro classes and contemporary will remain the same, however all acro and contemporary students have the option to take part with their equivalent age modern group, ie Under 9, Under 13, Under 20. Thank you if you’ve already registered your interest in this! All other grade classes please keep an eye out for our full timetable as it will be extremely clear which classes should join together for which groups. New classes We have been so pleased to welcome so many new students to our school over the past few weeks, as well as so many dancers picking up a new genre. We are looking at launching a Teen Beginner dance class on a Tuesday evening so if you have a teenager (or pre-teen!) that is interested in starting ballet, modern, or contemporary then please let me know! We are also launching a Pre-school & Reception ballet & acro class on a Wednesday morning, again contact me for more info. Kit collection/new outfits During the summer holidays I will once again email to find out if any children need new kit so I can place specific orders for items to reduce waiting at our kit collection days (which can have lengthy queues!) or waiting after ordering items.  Covid deductions & policy For the time being we are remaining with our current requests to please keep your child at home if they have tested positive or feel unwell, but it is still fine to bring your child in if a member of the household has covid. I hope you have all had a lovely break with your families, and look forward to seeing you all from Saturday! Kind regards, Rhianna

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you have had a lovely first week back in the studios! We would like to start 2022 off with something fresh and exciting for our students, which has never been done before in Guernsey.

We have joined together with KD Dance to offer an exclusive opportunity for Year 7 + and/or Grade 3 + students of each dance school. This term, we will be offering a trial period of additional classes to students, where you can join the other dance school’s class in the same genre, with the shared goal to:

Enhance lessons available between our two schools

Provide a variety of teaching styles, as every teacher has something different and unique to offer

Give the opportunity for students of both schools to work together and create new friendships

Support like-minded dance schools with the same aspirations

Provide as many opportunities as possible to develop our students and to nurture, inspire and achieve, because every child counts

We will be offering these additional sessions for a reduced price of £6.50 for a one-hour session, £5 for 45 minutes or £3.50 for 30 minutes. To sign up to any additional classes please email enquiries@kddance.gg where you will be offered a free trial class before signing up.

KD Dance are based at Capelles Community Centre, next door to Haute Capelles school.

We are so excited to be bringing this collaboration, which we hope will benefit both of our schools and our students through working together and creating the most well-rounded experience possible for our dancers to be the best they can be.

If you’re not sure which class/es would be suitable then drop me an email first and I’ll take a look for you. We look forward to joining forces and seeing what we can all achieve in 2022.

Just a quick reminder that we’re back to our weekly lessons again from Saturday 8th January!

Classes will run through to Friday 18th February, before breaking for our half term week 19th-27th February, then we will break for the Easter holidays on Thursday 7th April.

Guidelines

After school activities have not been given any new advice regarding procedures to follow, so we will continue to ask that all parents/guardians wear masks for pick up/drop off (unless exempt), that any students with symptoms stay away from the studio, and please use the hand sanitiser upon arrival/departure.

The bowls centre has also asked that any students over the age of 12 wear a mask when transiting through common areas of the building prior to arriving at their final destination ie the studio waiting area.

Kit collection

We are holding a small kit collection session for any students that have grown out of their kit on Friday 7th January between 2.30-6.30pm. However, I would like to request that if you were thinking of popping in to collect kit that you email me tomorrow or Friday morning and let me know what time you were thinking of popping by so that I can ensure that there are not lots of families all arriving and leaving at the same time.

Bring a friend

We have a bring a friend offer this first week of 2022, I’ve attached a photo containing more information so please pass onto anyone you think might be interested!

Fees

Fees for this term will shortly be sent out, I do ask that these are settled by February half term unless a prior arrangement has been made. If you would like to pay your invoice in 2, 3 or 4 instalments then please do let me know and I can set this up for you.

Costume assistants

I know it may seem early, but shortly we will be preparing for the Guernsey Dance Festival 2023 (deciding dance themes, music, costumes). As the whole school above Year 1 usually takes part in some form we start early! If you think you might be interested in lending a hand with sourcing, sizing, and fitting costumes then please come forwards – it usually involves tea/coffee/other beverages and snacks!

Contact details

There are still quite a few accounts that have not yet been updated with your children’s DOB, allergies, photo consents, or contact details. As we have a new teacher starting with us next week (Miss Amy) it’s really important that she can contact parents/guardians in case of an emergency at the studio.

I look forward to a fab new term of dance!

Thank you for your patience while we finalised our timetable this week ready for being back at the studio from Monday 22nd March!

First of all I’d like to say thank you for all of your support throughout our second lockdown. Although not everyone elected to take Zoom classes this time, it’s been great to see some of our students weekly throughout this time.

New classes

We are excited to launch the following new additions to our timetable once we have made it past our concerts. Following their success at festival, past students Jessica Quittenden and Kirsty Dempster will be joining our teaching team!

Jessica Quittenden will be running beginner’s irish dance classes, as well as more advanced classes for students who have already been studying the genre for some time.

Kirsty Dempster will be starting singing workshops on a half termly basis, offering both group and individual sessions to our students.

If you would like to register your interest with either of the above classes then don’t hesitate to get in touch. 

Second-hand dancewear sale and fee payment

I know that many families have struggled again during this lockdown, so I hope to be able to hold another second-hand dancewear sale during the summer term at the studio to help any students who may need new dancewear but are unable to pay full price for items. If you are interested in helping with this then please let me know – either senior students and/or parental help would be greatly appreciated. If you also know that you may need more time to pay any fees then again, please do contact me in the first instance to see what we can do.

Timetable

To this email I have attached our timetable which will be in place between now and when we are able to run our concerts at the Performing Arts Centre (though if they are not able to accommodate us I will be contacting Beau Sejour), and until we have confirmation from the festival committee as to whether the final day of festival will definitely be going ahead or not.

During the classes that were focussed on Festival work last term we will be doing a mixture of syllabus/non-syllabus work and recapping our festival dances ready for the concert performances, so we won’t be solely working on the group dances any more to keep interest and technique development going.

Students who had solos/duets/trios and were able to perform them in the Festival prior to the cancellation will rehearse in group solo slots to refresh their routines. We have roughly grouped students in group slots (as you’ll see on the timetable) however if you want to/need to move your child into a different refresh slot then please let me know your preferred time/day. Miss Miffy will be in contact regarding weekend slots for any dancers not listed on the attached weekday timetable, as all rehearsals will be taking place at the studio.

There are also several non festival work classes that I’d like to draw your attention to, as frequently after festival/concert students would like to pick up/drop genres and we’ve tried to accommodate this across all genres:

Introduction to tap & modern
Tuesday 3.45-4.30. Suitable for Reception & Year 1 age students not involved in Under 9 Tap & Modern

Beginner’s Tap.
Tuesday 4.30-5.00. Suitable for Year 2+ aged students who would like to learn tap

Beginner’s Greek.
Wednesday 5.45-6.15. Suitable for the younger members of Pompeii Under 20 greek group, and any students aged Year 1+ who would like to learn Classical Greek.

Ballet 
Friday 4.00-4.30. Suitable for Year 2+ who would like to learn ballet/students usually studying at Grade 1 level.

AcroDance
Saturday 12.00-12.45. Suitable for Year 1+ learning acro from beginner level (ie no previous gymnastic background).

For modern/higher level ballet or AcroDance please contact me or Miss Miffy directly to see which class/grade might be best for you.

I’d also like to remind everyone that primary school age students pay for 3 genres and receive their 4th (or 5th!) for free, and secondary school age students pay for 4 genres, and receive different percentages off any subsequent genres. Students attending ballet classes are also encourage to where possible attend a second ballet class during the week.

Graded exams

During the week we have also added syllabus classes mainly for senior dancers wishing to fit in an exam before they leave the island for university/higher education.

After last year’s lockdown, Festival preparation, and now the current lockdown, our work on Grades and exams has been significantly disrupted across the board, hence our temporary departure from exam work. The syllabus will form a basis and framework for our classes, and we will slot in set work where possible/helpful in our lesson plans. I am hoping to be able to arrange a remote exam session during the summer term for senior dancers wishing to take exams as mentioned above, but it is likely that Miss Miffy and I will look at the rest of our school for exams on a case-by-case basis rather than entering whole classes into an exam as we did previously.

This does not mean that we will be holding students back (we never do this anyway in cases that students opt out of exams/are not available for exams) but we may move students up to the next grade without an exam being sat, or aim to develop students technique and strength in a more general way to prepare and ready them for the next level/grade.

Belongings at Beau Sejour

As we are heading into Stage 3 on Monday we are finally allowed to collect our belongings from the David Ferguson Hall at Beau Sejour! I will be going around 1pm on Monday to collect everything from the changing rooms and will bring to the studio for collection during the week, whenever you will be coming in with your children. I hope everyone can remember what they left there, apparently no perishables have been binned so I’m sure it’ll smell fragrant in the hall!

Bring a friend

After our concerts have taken place we will be once again introducing our “Bring A Friend” offer we had in place a few years ago. Under this offer, if you recommend our dance school to a friend and they sign their child off, you will both receive £15 off your term fees as long as both students/families dance at our school. Please get recommending!

Once again, all of your support really is hugely appreciated. 

Thank you,

Rhianna King
Principal, ISTD, FD
07781414940

(click the image to enlarge)

We hope all students have had a restful and fun summer holiday, and are ready and raring to go for the term ahead!

Kit collection and open day

Our kit collection afternoon and open day is on Friday 6th September. Please attend between the hours of 14.30-18.00 to be fitted for any new shoes/leotards required for the year ahead – this will help cut down on the amount of time spent in class trying on multiple pairs of shoes when we start back! We will be available to discuss any new classes or opportunities for your child over the next year.

Tapathon

Students from Grade 1-Intermediate have been working hard during the summer to learn the set routine to join dance schools across the UK in their World Record attempt for the most tap dancers performing the same routine simultaneously. Rehearsals will continue this term on a Sunday morning so if any other students are keen to join in please let me know and I can arrange some catch-up lessons!

Summer holiday classes

We have had a fantastic programme of classes running during our summer break, well done to those students who tried new and exciting genres and we hope that you got a lot out of the free work lessons on offer. It is always important to try and expose yourself to new teachers and styles of dance to ensure you are a well-rounded and flexible dancer. We are looking forward to our summer workshop next week

Exams

The following classes are working towards exams this Christmas, if your child’s class or age group is not listed below then they will be considered for either this summer or next, depending on experience/technique/readiness for the exam, and how they progress through learning and practising their syllabus work. Please remember that exams are not compulsory, so if your child’s class or age group is listed below and your son/daughter has concerns, please drop me an email to discuss. All students go into their exam in groups of 2-4, and I am not permitted to go in with them, so a thorough and in-depth knowledge of their classwork is required, as well as being able to perform correct technique, and use their faces appropriately for the genre and their age group.

Primary ballet Aurora, Lottie, Francesca, Orla, Evie, Alana, Beatrice, Beatrix, Harlow, Lilac, Lily, Aimee, Jennifer
Grade 2 ballet Ruby, Amelia
Grade 3 ballet Georgina, Tilly, Izabel, Jemima
Grade 5 ballet Lani, Rochelle, Ellie-Mae
Grade 3 tap Bruna, Amelie, Sian, Grace
Grade 4 tap Hannah, Georgina
Intermediate tap Elisha, Ingrid, Imogen, Ivy, Ellie
Grade 4 modern Georgina, Meave, Jemima
Intermediate modern Imogen, Abigail T, Nicole, Ivy, Ellie

Weekend classes

Due to upcoming competitions and our Christmas exams, plus rehearsing for the Tapathon, the following practises will be running at the weekends:

Sunday 29th Sept	Sunday 6th Oct	Sunday 13th Oct	Sunday 20th Oct
10.00-10.30 Tapathon – simplified	10.00-10.30 Tapathon – simplified	10.00-10.30 Tapathon – simplified	10.00-10.30 Tapathon – simplified
10.30-11.00 Tapathon – advanced	10.30-11.00 Tapathon – advanced	10.30-11.00 Tapathon – advanced	10.30-11.00 Tapathon – advanced
11.00-11.45 Grade 4 modern	11.00-11.45 Grade 3 ballet	11.00-11.45 Grade 3 tap	11.00-11.45 Intermediate tap
11.45-12.30 Grade 3 ballet	11.45-12.30 Intermediate tap	11.45-12.30 Grade 4 modern	11.45-12.30 Grade 3 tap

Any Southampton/Jersey routine rehearsals will be arranged separately.

Braiding workshop

I am looking at arranging a french braiding workshop for ADTA parents on one Saturday afternoon from 1pm during October, with Braided in Guernsey. If this is something you would be interested in attending to help with doing your child’s hair for Festivals, exams, and every day styles, please let me know and I will book one!

Mini pirouette surgery

For this term only we will be running Pirouette Surgery classes for ages 6-12 on a Friday from 4.45-5.30, free of charge, on the below dates. Any students wishing to improve their pirouette and turn technique are welcome!

20th Sept, 4th Oct, 18th Oct, 8th Nov, 22nd Nov, 6th Dec.

Orca Trust

My Under 9 modern group Stray Cat Strut and Under 20 modern group To This Day from the recent dance festival have been invited to perform at a variety show fundraiser for the Orca Trust (a local charity providing funding for local children in the performing arts) on Saturday 28th September at Beau Sejour. I’m sure they would appreciate any support you can give by coming to watch them!

Rehearsals for these two groups to re-space due to missing members will take place at the studio on the following days:

Sunday 15th & 22nd September 10.00-11.00 Stray Cat Strut
11.00-12.00 To This Day

Saturday 28th September 12.00-12.45 Stray Cat Strut & To This Day

We are thoroughly looking forward to the year ahead, and we hope you are too!

Rhianna & Miffy
enquiries@thedanceacademy.org

Thank you to those of you who have registered an interest in taking part in the Tapathon this November.

Having reviewed the routine I think all students in Grade 2 upwards should be fine to learn the full routine, and any students in Grade 1 or Primary/adult tappers wishing to take part should contact me and I will arrange lessons in the simplified routine, or if any Grade 2+ students are having problems with the harder routine I’m happy to switch them to the simplified one!

 

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