Sunday, January 4, 2015

Winter/Spring 2015 - General Information and Important Dates

Start Date: 

Classes begin Monday, January 5, 2015! 
Families of girls in grades 5 and 6 taking our Monday evening classes were emailed separately- please let me know if your daughter is in that class but you did not receive my email. 

No dance classes will be held on the following dates:
Generally, we follow the Bryn Mawr school calendar.  While I will send out reminders regarding days off, please make note of these dates for your planning purposes.
Monday, January 19th-  Martin Luther King Day- no dance classes 
Friday, February 13th- No dance class due to Professional Day (students are off school)
Monday, February 16th- President's Day- no dance classes
March 16th- 20th- Spring Break
Monday, March 23rd- Class is ON despite this being the last day of Spring Break.
Friday April 3rd- Good Friday- no dance classes

Performance/ end date:  
Our performance is on Sunday April 19th at 3pm. I will provide you with rehearsal times as soon as I have all of the necessary information regarding stage availability and technical assistance.

Uniform
All dancers are expected to wear a plain black, tank style leotard.  Ballet dancers wear pink tights, a black ballet skirt and pink ballet slippers.  Jazz dancers wear plain black jazz pants and black jazz shoes. Hair should be pulled back off the dancers face in a ponytail. Please see the website for specific examples: (http://www.brynmawrschool.org/danceschool#uniform)
You may purchase required clothing from various stores/websites- some options are Discount Dance Supply: (http://www.discountdance.com/), Target, Payless for shoes, and Dancewear Solutions (http://www.dancewearsolutions.com/).

If your daughter has outgrown her shoes and you would like to donate them to our shoe exchange, please send them in with your daughter.  If you need shoes, let me know and I can check to see if we have her size. 

Labeling
In order to avoid missing school uniform pieces and/or dance clothing, please label ALL clothing and shoes (both school uniform and dance attire).  Please have your daughter bring her dance clothes to school in a small, separate bag.  

Getting to and from class: 
Students in grades k-1: Students in k-1 will go to Extended Day until it is time for their dance class.  They will either be walked to class by their teacher or by an Extended Day staff member.  

Students in grades 2-5:  
On Wednesday afternoons, I will pick the Ballet students up in the Lower School and walk them to class where they will change. Jazz students will go to Extended Day for 45 minutes and then they will be walked to class by an Extended Day staff member.  
On Friday afternoons, Renuka will meet her class in the Elementary Center and then proceed to class. 

-We have several Upper School students assisting in our classes and they may be helping with these transitions as well. 

-Backpacks will be left at the Lower School and retrieved once dancers return from class.

Pick Up:
Grades k-4:All students will be walked back to the Lower school at the conclusion of their class(es).  Please note that students will be back at the Lower School approximately 10 minutes after their class ends.  Please park in the LS spots instead of waiting in the carpool line. 
Please note:  If your daughter is not a regular Extended Day student, you must pick up promptly at the end of class.

Monday evening classes for grades 5-8: 5th graders who are in the 5pm Ballet class AND are enrolled in Extended Day will be walked to dance class from Extended Day.  Any 6th graders enrolled in Ballet that attend after care at BMS, will be allowed to sign out of after care and walk to the dance studio.  All other students should be dropped off at the main dance studio which is off of the Northern Parkway Circle. At the conclusion of class you may also pick up your daughter at the Northern Parkway traffic circle or wait for her outside of the studio. 

Enrollment update:
Just a couple of days ago we enrolled our 100th student for this semester- I'm truly amazed! While most classes are now closed, there is still a little room in the Monday afternoon and evening classes:
3:45-4:30- Jazz for grades 2-5
5- 6pm- Beg/Adv Beg Ballet for grades 5-8
6-7pm Beg/Adv Beg Jazz for grades 5-8  

Snack: 
If your daughter is a regularly enrolled Extended Day student (meaning she is on contract for the day she has dance class), her snack is provided. However, if she is only attending Extended Day for the purpose of dance classes, we would appreciate it if you could pack a small snack for her to eat quickly before dance class. 

Observation: 
There is no in-class observation allowed as it can be distracting to the dancers to have family in the dance studio with them.  We look forward to sharing all of the wonderful work your dancers have accomplished at our December performance.

Blog
 I will be updating the blog weekly. Here is the link:  http://bmsdanceschool.blogspot.com/. You can also access our blog directly from our website: 

Payment
You will be billed to your BMS account after the first week of classes. After this time, there are no refunds. 

I think (and hope!) that I covered everything but please feel free to email me if you have any questions.  If you have another email address where you would like information sent, just let me know and I can add it to my distribution list. Additionally, if you speak to someone that you know is enrolled in dance but they, for some reason, did not receive this email, please let me know so that I can be sure to add them.