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