The Wilmington School of Ballet

3834 Oleander Drive Wilmington, NC 28403 (910) 794-9590 www.wilmingtonschoolofballet.com

Life Lessons Through The Art Of Dance

March 2013 Newsletter
2013-2014 Calendar
March 18-23 Parent Observation Week-Award Week March 24-31 Spring Break-School Closed April 1 Classes Resume April 5 Arts Sensation Benet PerformanceThalian Hall April 20 Dress Rehearsal-Community Arts Center April 21 Community Arts Center Performance April 27 Kid-a-palooza May 13-18 Conference Week-Levels 3/4 & Up June 10-15 Pre-K Spring Concert Week June 10-August 23 Skittles Camp June 12 Spring Concert Dress RehearsalLevel 1/2 & Up June 13 Spring Concert-Level 1/2 & up June 17-August 9 Princess Camps June 24-August 2 Summer Ballet Classes-Pre-K & L1/2 July 8-August 3 Summer Intensives July 29-Aug 9 Hammerheads Camp

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

Dear Dance Families, We are now registering for summer and it is exciting!!! Princess camps this summer will offer new exciting themes that culminate in a show at the end of the week!!!! Fairies, Hello Kitty, Princesses, and more. Each camp is different and there are discounts for registering for more than one!!! Summer Classes too are being offered at special budget friendly prices. The Ballet School is introducing a new program that adds sparkle props, take home surprises, and fun games to our younger children classes. Princess Ballet and Fairy Tale Ballet are being offered in short inexpensive sessions this summer. Be sure to get in on the fun!!! Skittles School-age Summer Camp is now offering half day and full day summer programs. Wonderland Farm is working with us to offer our campers horse back riding lessons in addition to our already exciting summer camp Our new after-school website: www.afterschoolwilmingtonnc.com gives you all the information! Mommy and me - our new baby dance program is coming soon. Please see the office to put your name on the list if you are interested. Professional opportunities - for our older students. North Carolina Dance Theater is our states most established professional ballet company. We are thrilled to announce that they have chosen to partner with The Wilmington Ballet Company. Professional Dancers from NCDT II will perform with our student dancers in the 2013 Nutcracker. We are in the process of starting a guild to support further partnership between ourselves and this magnificent ballet company. Please put your name on the list at the office if you are interested in being involved in supporting this new spectacular program. We highly encourage our older students to study over the summer in preparation for this opportunity. Our summer workshop is a great place to keep learning and developing over the summer months! As always, it is a joy to teach your children! Elizabeth Hester

MARCH SPECIAL SUMMER 2013 No Registration Fee and $30 Off Any Summer Program or Merchandise Credit

Faculty Spotlight
LESA BROADHEAD
Lesa Broadhead, MFA, is Founding Artistic Director of The Manchester Dance Ensemble in Akron, Ohio. She was Adjunct Professor of Dance at The University of Akron, Akron, OH before returning to her hometown of Wilmington, NC. Over the past 25 years, she has taught classical ballet and contemporary dance at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, where she received her MFA; Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (coordinator of ballet); Huntingdon College, Montgomery, AL (coordinator of dance); Kent State University, Kent, OH, and as artist-in-residence at De Montfort University, Bedford, England. Professionally she has performed with The Cleveland Opera and the Atlanta Ballet. Mrs. Broadhead is passionate about choreographing on societal issues, including themes on the Holocaust, Adoption, 9/11, and the American Civil War. In 1999, three of her Holocaust related dance works were performed at The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, the rst dance performance in the museums history. In addition, Mrs. Broadhead has performed liturgical dance throughout Ohio for the past 20 years, and directed the youth in liturgical dance at the Kent United Methodist Church, Kent, Ohio. She has been happily married for the past 25 years to Geoff, an emeritus professor, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. They have been blessed with their son, Ian, who is attending Kent State University and is an avid competitive cyclist as well as a student of history. Mrs. Broadhead is most happy to be on faculty of The Wilmington School of Ballet, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Brunswick Community College teaching Dance Appreciation in the traditional seating and on line, teaching ballet at DREAMS of Wilmington, Inc., and serving as a Board Member for The Wilmington Symphony Orchestra.

TEACHER FORUM
Winter Dance Festival By: Nicole White
Last month 11 students from Levels 7/8 and 9/10 accompanied myself to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Winter Dance Festival. We have been attending this weekend festival of dance as a school now for 8 years and each year it gets even better. Students had two full days of master classes with world renowned instructors. They had classes in ballet technique, pointe and variations, contemporary, jazz and character. Friday night we made our annual trip to Carolina Dancewear in Greensboro. Saturday night we attended UNCSAs Winter Dance Performance which featured George Balanchines La Source, a piece from the Forsythe Project, a world premiere by choreographer Emery Lecrone and a piece from the Bill T. Jones Company. It was a fabulous performance and so inspiring to our young dancers. Our trip ended with an audition class for UNCSAs Summer and Academic Year programs. It was a weekend of great learning.

SPRING DANCE FESTIVAL

. Our rst annual Spring Dance Festival is coming up next month at the Community Arts Center in downtown Wilmington. This concert will involve all WSB students levels 3/4 & up and all proceeds from the concert will benet the Wilmington Ballet Company. If your child will NOT be able to participate in this concert, please let the ofce know as soon as possible. We look forward to a beautiful concert.

SPRING DANCE FESTIVAL Performance: April 21, 2013 Where: Community Arts Center Time: 6:00 pm Tickets: $10.00 Adult $5.00 Children 6 & Under Who: All WSB Students Levels 3/4 & Up Dress Rehearsal: April 20, 2013 Performance to include excerpts from Pictures At An Exhibition, Sharing is Caring and In The Garden

KID-A-PALOOZA
The Wilmington School of Ballet is proud to host and sponsor Wilmington Parents Kid-a-palooza festival. This festival is designed to showcase the artistic talents of our local kids. Come and join us for a fun day of activities for the whole family to enjoy. Activities will include bounce houses, pony rides & performances by our WSB students as well as other community organizations. Vendors of kid-friendly businesses will be on hand to share information. When: April 27, 2013 HOW CAN MY CHILD PARTICIPATE? Where: WSB Studios & Parking Lot Pre-k & Level 1/2: Sign your child up at the ofce. They will have a short practice on Friday, April 26. Who: WSB Students Pre-K & up Level 3/4 & up:Each level will perform one piece. Pieces will be spread out throughout the day. Time: 9:00 am- 3:00 pm

SYLLABUS FOCUS
Marchs Theme: Connecting Steps As the old saying goes, The devil is in the details. This month we will be focusing on all of our connecting steps. Those little steps and movements that connect one movement or movement phrase to another. We will work on a variety of ways in which movements can be connected. We will work on the accuracy and technical execution of our connecting steps as well as the uidity of these movements.

BODY & NUTRITION

Yoga and the Dancer
No matter what kind of dancer you are you can derive huge benets from including yoga in your training. Below are just some of the many benets ballerinas get from cross-training with yoga: Maximized Flexibility Increased Strength and Stability Healthy Joints & Alignment Breathing Technique Injury Rehabilitation Decompressing Keeping Warm

Life Lessons In Dance

Critique
Of all the things my dance training has taught me, I think the one thing I value the most has been the ability to receive constructive criticism or critique. I often tell my students that we learn the most from our failures not from our success. Dance training is fundamentally built around the constant critique given by the instructor. The successful dancer quickly learns that this critique is not a personal attack but their most valuable tool in becoming the best dancer that they can be. Dancers understand a common phenomenon amongst themselves that the more a teacher corrects them the more the teacher likes them. Soon they begin to actually work for and crave these corrections as a sign of their progress. This ability to receive criticism as a tool for improvement carries over in to other aspects of the dancers life thereby helping them achieve excellence in many walks of life.

With so many benets why wouldnt you cross-train with yoga! ZFitness Wilmington is currently holding yoga classes now at the WSB studios for only $5/ class. More classes will be coming soon so I encourage our dancers to take advantage of these great classes and great prices! Namaste!

PRE-K & Level 1/2 NEWS STUDENT ACTIVITY

Pass is the position of focus this month in our Princess classes Remember to sign up your child in the office asap if you are interested in them participating in our Kidzapalooza event. Pre-k Recitals will take place again this year on our instudio stage during your childs regular class time the week of June 10-15, 2013. Sign your child up early for our awesome dance camps and classes going on this summer. Those who register before March 31st will not have to pay a registration fee! Spots will fill quickly. .