2012 Here We Come!

Hey all,

After a well deserved break, here we are ready to take on a new year and at the start of another busy time.  Now that the holidays are over it really does mean full steam ahead with the push to finish competition choreography and get things polished and ready for our March dress rehearsal.  Absolute's production of Cinderella was a huge success and has definitely given all those involved the inspiration to take on a new performance challenge.  Next up, Plies to Performance.

As part of our ballet performance program, the students who participated in Cinderella, now have the chance to do a smaller, more intimate project which focuses more on classical technique and draws from various methods of ballet, while also giving some students a chance to find their creative voice when it comes to putting the show together.  With this special program, the overall aim is to produce the thinking dancer.  The students have multiple opportunities to perform choreography that is set in a fast paced environment.  This work not only demands technical ability but, as seen in Cinderella, also ventures into the realm of characterization and storytelling.  With Plies to Performance, there will be a large element of ballet history.  Each student will have take home, written assignments that will focus on an important period in dance.  The material will be shared and presented to our audience as part of Plies to Performance.  Another objective with this project is to make a collaborative, student produced presentation.  Students will take on the responsibility of acting as master of ceremonies and our eldest group, through a series of dance labs, will be taking on the task of choreography themselves!  In this day and age where students are always given direction and told what to do it is important to let go of the reins a little bit and let them take some responsibility and ownership in what they present.  As it always goes in the dance world most of these challenges we take on are experiments and ideas.  It is important that we are open to trying new things, taking some risks, and can then stand back to take stock of what worked and what did not.  This way we can make things even better the next time around.  Our presentation of Plies to Performance will take place at Absolute Dance on Friday, February 24 and will be followed with a small reception in the lobby for all dancers and parents.

As if Cinderella wasn't a huge enough task to take on, some of Absolute's Grade 5 and 7 ballet students also participated in the Royal Academy of Dance's fall session of examinations on December 5, the day after the show!  Congratulations to all those candidates on a job well done!  Next up we look forward to a larger set of candidates who will be entering for their Grade 1, 2 or 4 ballet exam which will be held in April.  Best of luck to Katie, who will be taking her vocational major Advanced Foundation exam in March.  Another exciting bit of ballet news is that Dylan, one of our Intermediate Foundation students, was one of two grade 9 students in Calgary invited to attend Canada's National Ballet School's four week second stage audition in Toronto.  This is a four week ballet summer school held in July where the school will host promising dancers from grades 5 - 12 from all over the world.  Dylan and his family are still considering if he will attend.  In any case, we are very proud of him for what he has accomplished - way to go!

As we head into 2012 another Absolute initiative to look out for is our up and coming Student of the Month recognition program.  Together, Absolute faculty will choose one student a month who they feel displays commitment, enthusiasm and a passion for everything dance.  A special display will be placed in our lobby where this student's photo will de posted, along with an interview sharing that student's interests, hopes and dreams.  Keep an eye out for our first student of the month which will be announced come February 1st.

Lastly, as some of you may remember, in September I proposed that we all come up with some resolutions as we embarked on the new dance season.  Here we are at the start of a new calendar year and almost midway through the regular dance season.  If you didn't come up with a resolution in September perhaps it would be a good time to choose 1 or 2 things to focus on improving.  This could mean giving more attention to the stretch of your feet, or the use of your turn out, or a commitment to asking questions in class or helping out a classmate with a challenging step.  For those of us that did make a September resolution now is a great time to reassess how it is going.  I seem to remember wanting to give my students more time to repeat a new step and trying not to move to the next level too quickly.  I'll do my best to continue to stick to that plan as I can already see the results coming through in some of my dancers.

From everyone at Absolute Dance we wish you a happy and healthy 2012.  Let's work together to make  this another year of accomplishments and great memories!