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Wow what a busy 7 week term we have had welcoming lots of new faces as well as those back from the summer break. We Started the term with a brand new Melody Bear 1st ballet class at 3.45 on Monday’s  for those who had just started school. They have worked super hard to learn all their new exercises and arrive full of enthusiasm each week.

October saw our 1st exam session for nearly 2 years! We were all rather nervous with candidates from Pre-Primary through to grade 5’s taking exams. All went very smoothly and we excitedly await our results.

 

Melody bear has also been busy, Swirling, whirling and swishing in the Autumn leaves along with skipping in the Pumpkin patch and flying like bats with the littlest members of Dance with Dash.

 

Sticker cards have been completed and medals and rosettes awarded by Melody and Milligan Bear. I always look forward to these fun pre school classes.

In Tap classes we have been enthusiastically learning the Performers Project Tapathon routine for 2021, with lots of practicing from Adults and children.  31 of us will be taking part on Sunday 21st November to help raise funds for Children in Need.

Now as we return after half term we will continue learning our Tapathon routine, work hard to perfect our grades for exams on the 13th November and get stuck into lots of new grades following examinations in October. Another busy dance filled 7 weeks ahead of us.

From Monday 6th September we are offering a brand new Melody Bear 1st Ballet class for those 4 years and over. This is a new after school class at The Townsend Hall, Shipston on Stour aimed at those just starting school and wanting to start ballet. It is a great bridging class from our informal Melody Bear class to a more formal syllabus class. Students begin to work in lines following the teacher in front, learn to take turns to skip/gallop around the room, begin working on ballet technique along with acting out many fun mimes.  Just 12 spaces available, so book in now to avoid disappointment.

Just 2 weeks left of term! I am not entirely sure where the weeks have gone. The time has flown by whilst we have been having lots of fun dancing.

I am very excited to let you know we will be running 4 days of summer classes this August.  Open to Dance with Dash members and those outside of our dances school.

Contact Sarah to secure your place or enrole via your parent portal.

 

 

After another lock down in January due to a rise in covid 19 cases we sadly yet again closed our doors for a good 3 months. It honestly felt like the longest lockdown yet, however now I am thrilled to say after opening again on the 18th April we have been busier than ever!

We have not  only welcomed back familiar faces but many new students too.

The students have returned full of enthusiasm and have thrown themselves back into classes, taking all the social distancing measures in thier stride.

After so many weeks off the seniors in particular have been working especially hard to regain thier strength and staminar.

With so many restrictions for such a long time it has meant that many have missed out on exam and performance opportunities, but we have not let this get us down, and rather embraced learning new exam dances and thoroughly enjoyed simply being able to dance together again.

It has been wonderful to feel The Townsend hall come to life again and be filled with lots of music, laughter and the sound of Tap shoes. (even the sound of drums could be heard from another community group one week)

In May I could finally welcome back the Adult dancers.  We hadn’t been able to dance together since the November lockdown, and it really has been wonderful to be back together on a Thursday evening, dancing and having a giggle together.

As we approach the summer term we are looking forward to  some fun Contemporary sessions during August, before returning in the Autumn for October exams.

It really has been a busy term of dancing!

September saw a busy start to the new term with plenty of new faces joining our dance family at Dance with Dash. The children have adapted to the 2 meter distancing rules so very well and I am super proud of them. Thank you all for being so supportive and adaptable to all our new rules. I must say I do miss all of those scrummy cuddles I used to get though.

For the senior ballet girls they now have a dedicated 30 minute pointe class and they have progressed so much over the 7 weeks.

The younger ones have also thoroughly enjoyed getting back to dance with Melody Bear and gaining those sparkly medals.

Then just as we are ready to return from a half term break, Sadly Boris Johnson announced a 2nd  4 week National lockdown due to Covid 19.  So very sad for us to close our doors again after such a successful 7 weeks.

We did however dance on and took part in the annual Tapathon arranged by The Performers Project.

This year however 22 of us danced at home, joining virtually to dance together with our Tapathon family nationwide to yet again raise money for Children in need. I will update you on how many took part across the nation and how much we raised very soon.

Now heading into December I am very excited to say we will be returning home to The Townsend hall from Thursday 3rd December for classes for under 18s. Sadly no Adult Ballet or Tap, but I hope to see you very soon.

Can’t wait to see you all !

Sarah x

Woohoo!

As of 26th July dance schools have had the green light to re open from the government. Of course there are a list of guidelines to follow to ensure we all remain safe and we do everything we can to keep this virus as bay. Hence it took until August for me to consider reopening. The safety of my students remains my priority.

After a couple of week of reading and planning, last week on the 4th August we re opened to new socially distanced classes in the very spacial and well ventilated large hall. It was so wonderful to dance again with so many of you, and hear all about what you have been up to. I couldn’t believe how tall some of you had grown. I really had missed you and it was a delight to see so many happy, smiling faces.

I am now working on the September timetable, to ensure we can continue to work within guidelines to allow us to dance and most importantly do this in a safe manor. I expect more regulations in the coming weeks, and thank you for your patience in advance.  It is most important that we continue to dance in small consistent groups maintaining social distancing which means I may need to tweak our timetable to allow for cleaning, moving some students in to other groups. We also have some new exciting admin software which means we can move further forward in being paper free.  This is now particularly important as i cannot allow parents inside the venue currently to meet my venue numbers and due to track and trace.  All of our policies will now be uploaded onto the website as they are re done so please check out for these. It is my new continual class to keep updating them.

Do check your junk email in case you have missed my invite fore this.

I have yet to re start pre school classes but hope to do this come September, so watch this space and book in ready. Spaces will be very limited as I need to count both adults, students and even any baby siblings into my allowed numbers for class. Its not an easy process for this age group.

I still have a few spaces left on our summer days if you fancy joining us.

 

I look forward to seeing many of you again tomorrow

Sarah X