Dear Parents,

Our Autumn term is soon to begin with summer nearly over and the school routines well underway. We hope you’ve had a great summer holiday especially with the Olympics. We were very pleased to hear that one of our former students Katie Kelly, which some of you may know of as “Swanhilda” in our last show “ Coppelia”. Katie auditioned and was very honoured to be chosen to dance in the closing ceremony with Darcey Bussell in the lovely Phoenix Pointe work routine. We have some lovely pictures of Katie in the closing ceremony with a little diary of what’s she’s been up to and where she has decided to continue her dance training. So please click on our website to find out more.

The Summer Workshop in August was a great success which all the children thoroughly enjoyed.  There was Street Dance,  Irish dancing, Bollywood and various bits from “Wicked” the Musical. Our next Easter Workshop will be 3rd, 4th and 5th April 2013 so please put the dates in your diary as so not to miss out!

Demeric school of Dance has again had many great achievements. We would like to start by congratulating our children who were awarded the Demeric Awards for this year. They were: Katie O’Mara, the winner of the Progress Cup and Georgia Tarrant for the Performance Award. Well done!!

We again have had some children auditioning for the Cecchetti Associates in London, where by the children have achieved at least 70 marks or above at Grade 2 Ballet level and are selected through audition out of hundreds of children. Once a month they attend a Ballet Class taught by Guest Teachers, Choreographers and Examiners and a further subject which varies from Spanish, Irish, Musical Theatre to Contemporary dance classes which are held at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in Twickenham.

Congratulations to Olivia Rhodes for gaining Junior Associate places for the second time. Hannah Lodge, Katie Ward, Natalie Rees for repeatedly being chosen for Senior Associates. The auditions are held in June of each year which is such a great experience for them. Please let us know if your child is interested in the Spring term so we can give you the relevant forms to fill in.

We will be entering children for the Cecchetti “London Mabel Ryan Awards” which will be held at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th November.  The competition is aimed to encourage dance quality and to demonstrate the high standard of children training in the ISTD Cecchetti Method. Please let us know if you think your child may be interested, forms will be available at the beginning of term. We aim to coach some of the work in class but may also have coaching on Saturday afternoons.

For Children taking their Ballet Exams this term we have had a few changes.

The Ballet Exam Rehearsal is on Saturday 17th November and the Exams have been changed to Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd December. Please let us know if you have any queries regarding these dates.

We do have a few changes regarding the timetable this term so please check the new times of certain classes just in case it may affect you.

We hope to start an Adult Jazz Fit Class on Tuesday evenings at 8.30 – 9.15pm; it will be a fun class of stretches, general fitness with simple dance routines.

We look to run this after half term so please let us know if you may be interested as the Adult Ballet has been so popular and many have asked for some more Adult Classes.

We still have our Wednesday morning Adult Tap classes 10 – 11am for some who have some Tap knowledge and 11 – 11.30am for Tap Beginners.

The Adult Ballet Classes are on Wednesday evenings at 7.30 – 8.30pm and Thursdays at 8.15-9.15pm. All our Adult classes have been increasingly popular for meeting other parents and general fitness, please join us for a free trial!!

We also have another new Stretch Class on Tuesdays now starting at 8.00-8.30pm which is suitable for students Gr. 4 and above, this is a jazz class which combines stretching and free work assisting them with their Graded Modern classes or for students who prefer not to take exams.

It soon will be that time of year for the preparations and rehearsals for our Demeric Show. This year we have chosen “Alice” as in Alice in Wonderland. We will be holding Senior Auditions on Sunday 11th November 2012; we will then start rehearsing in the Spring Term 2013. Dates for your diaries: Dress & Tech Rehearsals: 4th 12th, 17th May. Shows: 18th & 19th May 2013.

The Cecchetti Centre is also holding their annual Choreographic Workshop called “Let’s make a Ballet”. It is an original ballet created and presented in a theatre with costumes. The dancers need to be 8yrs and above and the cost is £35 per child. If you would like to download an application form please click on www.cecchetti.co.uk or see our Auditions and Competitions Area. Posters will be up in all dressing rooms or speak to your teacher if you’d like to apply.

Surrey Youth ballet is  also  auditioning for “Anastasia” for their 2013 production. The closing date for applications is 25th October 2012.Please visit www.syb-dance.org.uk for further information.

For all who love to see a Ballet Production around Christmas Time, we have decided to organize a theatre trip to “GLive” in Guildford on Wednesday 12th December to see “The Nutcracker” especially as it was the first of our shows. There will be a signup sheet in all dressing rooms for anyone who may like to join us, the price of the tickets are £30.00. The deadline to get these tickets will be Friday 29th September.

To all new and existing parents we do have a website which has all the relevant information about the school www.demericschoolofdance.co.uk We are however in the process of updating it hopefully by half term, so please keep checking it. We find it very difficult to speak to parents after class so if you do have a query whether it may be uniform or a dancing issue, we ask that you call us or email emma@demericschoolofdance.co.uk  or ray@demericschoolofdance.co.uk  as it can be difficult, time consuming and not fair on the children waiting to start their Dance class with a line of parents wanting to talk to us. Please can all children wear the correct Demeric School of Dance uniform. We are increasingly finding different dance clothing and fancy dress costumes being worn. If you are unsure of the correct uniform for any particular class please ask your teacher. We do sell all of the uniform , shop order forms can be downloaded from our website or collected from any of your teachers. Hair needs to be tied back away from faces in all our classes and in buns for Ballet. The cold weather is creeping in fleeces and t-shirts with our new logo on as well as our woolly crossovers can also be purchased from us, no baggy tops please.

In all the venues we teach in please make sure you use the correct changing rooms as we are constantly being  reminded that we cannot allow children to change on stairwells and corridors as it causes obstructions and is not appropriate. We understand it can be difficult as some of you have siblings with you but we cannot afford to lose the places that we teach in.

And finally we would like to welcome 3 new members of staff  Franki Spong and Lucy Clark which some of you may have met briefly last term.

Lucy Clarke completed the Trinity Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre at The Urdang Academy in London continuing to complete a BA (hons) Professional Practice degree in Choreography & Teaching Dance. Lucy also holds her Associate and Licentiate Musical Theatre diplomas with The London College of Music. Lucy has ten years of teaching experience within disciplines of ballet, jazz, street jazz, contemporary, drama, tap and musical theatre. She is trained in the Cecchetti method of ballet and has been teaching for over three years.

Rachel Sarno is accomplished in Street Dance, Ballroom and Latin, Modern and Bollywood. With her training at Ecosse Performers College including Contemporary, Highland, Ballet, Tap and Jazz.

Rachel has been teaching dance to young people and adults for seven years and specialises in working with young people as she is a qualified Youth Worker. Rachel has also choreographed many pieces and has entered groups into competitions such as Dance Challenge and Urban Chillax.

Franki trained at the Italia Conti Arts Centre graduating in 2011. She completed her Diploma in Dance instruction, ISTD teaching qualifications in Ballet, Tap and Modern and also gained her Professional Certificate in Education (PCE) whilst training. Her training in musical theatre has led on to many performance credits that include The Royal Tattoo at Windsor Castle for HRH the Queen, Dancer in the Centenary gala show, and Pot Noodle Tastified advert to name a few. She has also had the opportunity to perform around Spain, Germany, Holland and France with one memorable experience being at Disneyland Paris, performing for their Music Magic Days.

A big “Thank you” to all our teachers and helpers for all their hard work teaching and assisting us ,for the pianists  and their wonderful music that accompanies all our Ballet Classes.

We wish all our children the Best of Luck for their upcoming exams, auditions and competitions and keep up the good work!!!

 

Aurelia Whitfield and Emma Wise.