Dance Theatre of Orange News

Dear Parents and Students

Welcome to dancing for term 2. Lessons commence on Tuesday 26th April and conclude in Friday 1st July. There will be no lessons on Monday 13th June due to the June long weekend.

SO WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Term 2 sees us return to normal dance practice. Students will continue with the syllabus work they commenced in term 4 last year, with many students working towards an examination. As our exam session is at the end of term 3, our yearly dance calendar runs from term 4 to term 3, with the new level/grade starting in term 4.

All students within the school are taught to exam standard, with the actual exam being optional. Participation in exams is incredibly rewarding and as with any endeavour worth pursuing, needs focus and commitment. Students who are keen to participate in an exam will need to put in a little thought and practise with their dancing between lessons.

Please note the close of date for exam entries.
1st June: ISTD modern and tap exam entries
1st July: RAD ballet exam entries for grades 1 - 5 (in our studio)
RAD ballet exam entries for Vocational candidates (Intermediate Foundation and Intermediate) Sydney 2nd session.

I tend to not enter younger students for exams due to the commitment, focus and extra rehearsals involved, though if any parent is particularly keen to enter a young student please contact me.

HOLIDAY COURSES

As dance teachers work during the school term, courses given by dance societies are usually scheduled during school holidays. These school holidays were no exception! I attended two different workshops in April. The first one was for ISTD. An international examiner and lecturer came to Sydney to give master classes to students in the higher levels of modern and tap. This was a great experience for our students to be able to participate in a class with such a prestigious teacher and to dance with peers who all speak the same language.

While many students in the dance school participate in activities such as primary/high school dance groups, they have a different dance vocabulary to what the students learn at our dance school. These master classes provided the opportunity for our students to dance with like minded peers who are dancing 'our way'.

The second course was with the chair of the panel of examiners and head of syllabus development at the RAD and was specific to the examination process - in particular, what happens in the exam room and what the examiner is looking for.

HAS EVERYONE RECOVERED?

I wish to say another thank you to all who were involved in helping with the concert. Your efforts meant the students had a great concert experience. Thank you to all who sewed, who supervised, who helped backstage, you have all contributed to providing the children with a memory they will cherish.

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS

As this was such a big concert, I did not manage to get all costume invoices out before the end of term 1. If you have not received a costume invoice yet, it will be in your term 2 envelope. Please pay this within the first couple of lessons of term. When it comes to payment of costumes, please do not include this with your term fees. The costume fees are completely separate to dance fees.

For those who did receive a costume invoice in term 1, thank you for your prompt payment. This helped me reimburse the co-ordinators before the school holidays!

I HATE TO SAY IT BUT...

Due to the work of our resourceful costume coordinators we have managed to keep costume costs under $50.00 for the past ten years!
However, with more and more costumes being sourced on-line (which can be a fabulous way of getting costumes) we're finding that the costumes are pushing the $50 limit due to the cost of postage! Grr!
As a result we will have to increase this limit. I'm still aiming for costumes to come in around the $50.00 mark but we may need to be aware that this could go up a little.
We have not had any group costumes exceed $60.00 and I'm hoping we can keep costumes under this amount but I'm afraid some costume costs will now creep up to the $53.00 - $55.00 mark.

SAY CHEESE!

I asked one of the dance dads, avid photographer Matthew Wilson, to take photos of the dress rehearsal and concert. He took over 2500 photos! As this is nearly 7 GB worth of data, it won't fit on our website for you to access! Matthew has devised a way for you to get the photos...

If you would like some concert photos please do the following.
Put a thumb drive of about 8 GB in a zip-lock bag.
Label the bag with your child's name and the 'stories' you would like.
Give me the bag.

I will hand this over to Matthew, he will put the requested photos on your usb drive and I will return this to your child.

There is no charge for the photos! Thanks Matthew. You're a legend!

AS WE HEAD INTO WINTER IN ORANGE

With the colder months now kicking in, all dancers need to ensure they are sufficiently warm - this applies to class time and when travelling to and from lessons. Students may wear long sleeve tops / track tops and track pants to commence their lessons.
I start each lesson with an effective warm-up and this, combined with the heater being on, should result in students warming up very quickly, enabling them to remove excess layers within the first few minutes. Once warm, most will find that the leotard and tights are enough.
A 'crossover' or 'wrap' can also be worn over the top of the leotard, this is made from the same material as the leotard and is designed to wear as a warm-up top which can easily be removed when required. This can be purchased from the dance shop or the clothing pool.

I hope everyone has a rewarding term 2!

Kind regards,
Marianne