Happy New Year and welcome back to what promises to be another busy but exciting year at Dance Warehouse! I hope you had a lovely time over the festive season. Thank you for all of our Christmas greetings, cards and gifts at the end of term.Although never expected, your kindness is always much appreciated.

Last term

Last term pupils from Ashford and Canterbury took ballet exams in November, and our vocational students took exams at the RAD Headquarters in December. Well done to all those involved. Exams do take a great deal of commitment due to the extra practise required but are always a very rewarding experience. We are currently awaiting results which should be here any day now! In November we had pupils from Canterbury dancing in the Youth Festival of Remembrance at the Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone, which was as always a lovely event to be part of. In December Ashford pupils danced in the Demelza Danceathon in a very busy County Square shopping Centre and helped the charity raise £236. Well done to everyone who performed beautifully in these events.Thank you to everyone who supported our Christmas Raffle;We raised £165 which will be put towards our summer show scenery fund.

This term

This term we have more graded and vocational exams in March. Pupils involved in these should please return their consent forms as soon as possible. Exam coaching classes start straight away this weekend.

Farewells and welcomes!

At the end of last term we had to say goodbye to pianist Amy who has decided to return home to Northern Ireland to live. She will be greatly missed by pupils and staff alike and we wish her well for the future.
This term we welcome two new pianists to our team; Kemal Yusuf who will be playing for classes in Canterbury on Wednesdays and Sundays, and Barnaby Race who will be playing for classes in Ashford on Thursdays. Both are very accomplished pianists and are established composers too – Barnaby has written the scores to our past few summer shows and will be again this year. We are extremely lucky to have a fantastic team of accompanists at Dance Warehouse and indeed to have live music for our ballet classes. Many schools don’t have this luxury but it makes such a difference to the overall experience of classes.We are also pleased to have Gaye back on the desk on Mondays and Tuesdays in Canterbury. Many thanks to Katherine for covering for Gaye last term whilst she has been away.

Easter Intensive Ballet Course

We are pleased to announce that we will be holding our first ever Easter Intensive course at Dance Warehouse from 6 th -8th April. The three day course is open to students aged from 10 years and will be taught by guest teachers Andre Portasio, ex soloist with English National Ballet, and Nathalia Barbara,teacher at English National Ballet School. Booking opens on 6th January with an Early Bird Discount from 6th
-19th January. If you are interested in attending please ask for a leaflet with more details or download one from our website.

It’s Showtime!

This year Dance Warehouse is celebrating its 25th anniversary (1995-2020) and our summer productions will be a celebration of this. ‘A Silver Celebration’ performances will take place on Thursday 16th to Sunday 19th July at the Malthouse Theatre, Canterbury, with a dress rehearsals on Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th July so please make a note of these dates in your diaries! Due to the change of venue there will be a different format to our performances, with separate shows for the ballet classes and our other dance styles. The Malthouse is a lovely performance venue and having separate shows will mean that students will have more stage time to show off their talents and provide a more intimate experience for the audience. All students will receive letters with further details before the end of January, and those wishing to take part need to please return their consent forms before the Easter holidays.

We need you!

Thank you very much to those parents who have already offered to help at our summer show. Events such as these really can’t happen without your support. We have to follow very strict KCC guidelines and so need as many licensed chaperones as possible. Please could I urge any parents who think they may be able to help backstage to consider applying for a chaperone’s licence now so they have it in time for the show. This is free of charge and all done online (rather than by attendance on a course as in the past). To apply for one go to: https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/activitiesoutside-school/children-in-entertainment#tab-6 We are very happy to advise or help parents with applying. Please do come and speak to us if you have any queries.

A Polite Reminder

Please could I remind parents to ensure that pupils and their siblings are supervised in waiting areas before and after classes, and to please make sure their behaviour is appropriate. We have unfortunately had complaints from other users of the premises at both of our branches of the school, and have incurred damage to our property on several occasions which has been costly to fix. Loud behaviour can also be very disruptive to classes and to the other users of the building. Thank you in advance for your consideration. And finally… Should we have any adverse weather conditions this term please do check the homepage of our website and our Facebook page for class updates. Thank you for your continued support, for more information visit https://actionac.net. As always please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any problems or queries. We can always be contacted by telephone on 01227 761461 or by email at enquiries@dancewarehouse.info K. Marquis