Dear Parents and Students,
November is here! We had so much fun last week with costumes. If you follow us on Facebook (@SpokaneAOD) or Instagram (@spokaneacademyofdance), you can see some of the pictures from the week.
November tuition is now due, and parents enrolled in auto-pay have been charged. If you are paying quarterly, quarterly tuition is due November 15.
Our mask, skirt, and tutu order finally shipped! If you ordered a mask or a tutu, they will be sent home with your child once they arrive. If you missed out on the order, I did purchase a few extra masks and skirts that can be bought in the office (again, once they arrive). You can also place your own order any time at corpsdancewear.com; just enter the code KD_AD509at checkout. This will give you a discount as well as ensure your items have the Academy of Dance logo printed on them! These items are not returnable since they are branded, so I recommend holding off on ordering leotards until we get some samples in the studio (I’m still waiting for these to ship).
Speaking of merch, did you know our website has a store now? Go to this link and check out the items we have for sale, including apparel, bags, and more. Most items come in multiple colors and everything has the Academy of Dance logo either printed or embroidered on it. These could make great gifts! If you have ideas for merch you’d like to see us sell, let me know!
There’s an exciting opportunity for high school seniors coming up this month. Gonzaga University is hosting a Fall Dance Day for prospective students on Saturday, November 20. You can find out more here. If you’re a high school student and you are curious about dancing in college, whether as a major, minor, or an elective, this is a great opportunity to learn what that would be like. The day will consist of ballet and contemporary classes, a Q&A session with current students, an informational session which can also be accessed via Zoom, and in the evening, a performance by Spectrum Dance Theatre from Seattle. (If you would like to attend the performance but not the Fall Dance Day, you can purchase a ticket for the show for $20 through the GU Box Office). Our own alumna, Brooke Geffrey-Bowler, is currently pursuing a dance major at Gonzaga.
Dance Buddies! I would like to re-introduce Dance Buddies this year! The Dance Buddy program is a way for older students to connect with and mentor younger students. Most young dancers idolize the “big kids” in their studio, and giving them a chance to actually get to know those students is a very meaningful experience. One of our Ballet 2 students, Berkley, was a “Little Buddy” several years ago and is every excited to be a “Big Buddy” this year. I asked her to write why dance buddies are important to her. This is her response:
“Being a buddy means to me being somebody to inspire another dancer, and encouraging them to work harder and do their best at what they do. Getting to be a buddy would mean to me, I would be a better dancer because of them.”
If your dancer is in Ballet 2-5 and would like to be a Big Buddy to a class of younger dancers, go to your parent portal and click “register for classes,” then select the tab “Dance Buddies 2021-22.” You will see a list of classes your dancer can sign up to be a Big Buddy in. Make sure the day and time listed doesn’t conflict with your dancer’s own ballet class! “Enroll” in the class (you should not be charged any fee) and voila! You’re a dance buddy! You should receive a confirmation email listing the Dance Buddy dates as well as the expectations for being a Big Buddy. (I’ve also attached a revised calendar to this email that lists the Dance Buddy dates as well as other special days at the Academy).
Some of our younger dancers have expressed interest in having a movie night to watch our 2021 Summer Concert (this was playing during Open House in August and it seems to have made quite an impression on several dancers!). Let me know if this is something you would like to attend and we can set it up for a Saturday afternoon in the coming weeks. We can host it in our big studio, but we would need to limit the number of participants, and everyone who attended would need to be masked. This could be a good way for our new families to see what our concerts are like and to get them excited about participating themselves – which brings me to the final piece of news:
Summer Concert 2022 will be an adaption of the 1919 French ballet La Boutique Fantasque (The Magic Toyshop), a charming ballet about toyshop full of dolls who have a secret life of their own. All Academy classes will participate in the concert; however, you can opt out if you choose (dancers who opt out of the performance can still purchase a costume). The concert date is Friday, June 17, at 7:00 pm, with dress rehearsal the day before. We start rehearsing during classes after we return from Christmas break. Rehearsals will be incorporated into regular classes until our last week of classes (May 31-June 4). After that, we will have a two-week rehearsal period in which each class will be called for a specific set of rehearsals with other classes, culminating in our full run-through on Wednesday the 15th at the studio and our dress rehearsal on Thursday the 16th at the Fox Theater. Typically our Creative Movement, Elementary, and Ballet 1-2 dancers will have two rehearsals the first week and two the second week in addition to dress rehearsal; Ballet 3 dancers may have two or three each of the two weeks, and Ballet 4 and 5 may have three or four each week. I will have a schedule for this two-week rehearsal period by spring break, and you’ll hear more about the concert as we get closer to the performance.
Remember that we will not have class Wednesday through Saturday the week of Thanksgiving (November 24-27). Have a great month!
