We got a ballet bear! This month's newsletter photo is our bear by local street artist fnnch displayed at the studio (see fnnch.com for more about this artist's work and projects and see our "movement of the month" for more on this below).
In studio news, we are currently one month in to our spring semester, which is an exciting time of year as dancers are beginning to learn their performance dances. Please encourage your dancers to practice outside of class. And as a warm reminder, we are not closing for any spring break or ski week, but since we're dancing on Zoom, we hope many of our dancers can attend class even during breaks.
JOIN US FOR SPIRIT MONTH
As we round the corner on one year of sheltering in place, we know everyone's getting a bit tired, so we decided to spice things up with spirit week. Each week in March--even the half week!--we'll have a different theme and students can come to Zoom class dressed for that week's spirt! Teachers will be dressed up too. Here are the themes:
Week 1 (March 1-7): Dress like an animal (or just wear animal print)
Week 2 (March 8-14): Pajama week: Dance in your favorite sleepwear
Week 3 (March 15-21): Crazy hat, headband, or hair day
Week 4 (March 22-28): Dress in your favorite color--and learn your teacher's!
Week 5 (March 29-April 4): Wear an old costume (whether from Steppin' Out, Halloween, or any other dress up occasion)
We hope you'll join us in bringing a bit of fun to this month, starting this week with animals.
MOVEMENT OF THE MONTH: TRY A BEAR HUNT!
This month we decided to encourage you all to take a walk. fnnch bears are all around the city, so why not bring the whole family and walk around your neighborhood to see how many bears you can find? Walking is great exercise and the bear hunt is a wonderful way to get fresh air and find adventure as a family. Bonus points for walking near the studio to spot ours!
DANCE IN THE NEWS: TEACHER EMILY IN "PLAYING CHANGES"
Please mark your calendars for this amazing collaboration--in a series of interdisciplinary pieces for solo violin and dance--between the SF Symphony's violinist Helen Kim, Post:ballet dance company, and cinematographer Ben Tarquin. Not only is Teacher Emily a dancer, she even has a solo! The films premiere on Thursday when you can view them here, but you can read the press release or watch the (incredible!) trailer today.
QUICK TIP: TEACHING YOU!
Sometimes teaching can be a great way to deepen learning. One great way for dancers to really integrate the new choreography they're learning each week is to ask them to teach it to you. Even if it's just one step, it may help them gain confidence.