The Wilmington School of Ballet

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

Life Lessons Through The Art Of Dance

December 2012 Newsletter
2012-2013 Calendar

Letter From The Director

Dear Dance Families: December 1 & 2 December is upon us and here at the Wilmington The Nutcracker Performances School of Ballet we are looking forward to the December 10-15 upcoming holiday opportunities. Parent Observation Week-Holiday Class I would rst like to offer up a hardy congratulations to Parties all of our dancers who participated in The Nutcracker this season. We December 17-January 1 had 4 magnicent performances. I truly believe they were our best Christmas Beak-School Closed performances we have done to date and that is in no small part because of the hard work and dedication of our dancers and their families. January 2 Classes Resume In the spirit of giving which is the hallmark of this holiday season, the January 21-26 Wilmington Ballet Company performed 2 of their performances of The Guest Artists Series-Level 3 & Up Nutcracker for local New Hanover County school children. Hundreds of local children who might otherwise never have had the opportunity to see February 21-24 The Nutcracker were treated to this delightful ballet. We also, in working UNCSA Winter Dance Festival with the Cameron Art Museum, helped to raise money for the local Cape February 21-23 Fear Hospice through partnering with the Festival of Trees. I am very Forward Motion Dance Company proud that the heart of the Wilmington Ballet Company is for this Performance-Cameron Art Museum community at large and that it is able to benet this community in multiple ways. March 18-23 Parent Observation Week-Award Week Finally I am looking forward to our holiday parties during our parent March 24-31 observation week. The children so enjoy showing their parents how Spring Break-School Closed much they have learned already and I enjoy getting to celebrate the holiday season with all of our families here at the WSB. So from all of us April 1 to all of yours heres wishing you a very blessed holiday and a Classes Resume prosperous New Year. April 5 Sincerely, Arts Sensation Benet PerformanceNicole White, Director of Dance Thalian Hall June 10-15 Spring Concert Week

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HOLIDAY PARTIES
Parent Observation Week December 10-15, 2012
As in years past the last week of classes before the Christmas break is our parent observation week. This is the week we invite all of our parents to come and sit in class to observe all that their dancer has learned already this year. We encourage you to bring as many people with you as you want as well as your camera. In conjunction with parent observation week we will also be having our class holiday parties at this time. We ask all our dancers to bring a treat with them to class to share. All classes and parties will be during their regularly scheduled times. We will demonstrate our class work rst and then take the last 10 minutes of class to enjoy our treats together. For our younger dancers who have ballet and broadway classes back to back, they will enjoy their party at the end of ballet and then nish with their broadway class. We look forward to seeing you all there!

TEACHER FORUM
How To Stay In Shape Over Break By: Nicole White
Well if youre like me you are denitely looking forward to the holiday break and getting a couple weeks of rest and hopefully relaxation. I know for many of our dancers after the long run of Nutcracker rehearsals and performances everyone is in need of a break. However the New Year will be upon us soon and inevitably January 2nd arrives and by January 3rd I have a lot of soar frustrated and sometimes quickly injured dancers. So how can this trap be avoided? With a little bit of creativity, work and planning one does not have to fall prey to the injured after break cycle. First let me say that taking a short break periodically throughout the year is a good thing. Anything that gets overused will eventually breakdown including our bodies. It is important to let our bodies recover and heal. However to do absolutely nothing over break and to expect to come back to class in January like nothing has changed is unrealistic. It is very important to keep up your stretching and core strength over break. Taking 5-10 minutes a day to stretch and to work your abdominal muscles will do wonders in making the transition back to class in January a smooth one. This is also a good time to cross train so nd a good yoga or pilates class to try as well. Happy Holidays and see you in January!

SYLLABUS FOCUS
Decembers Theme: Relever Relever-To rise. This month we will be focusing on the proper use of the feet both in relever and going through relever. We will be looking at proper weight distribution in the feet, strengthening the feet and lower extremities, articulating the feet and the contrast between relever and pique.

?FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS?

Why Do Some Students Split Levels?
From time to time we will recommend to a student that they split their classes between two levels. I am often asked why we would do this. There are multiple reasons why we might recommend this to a student and not all reasons apply in every situation. In any case this scenario can only be done with permission by the Director. In our small community it is impossible to always have the perfect level for every child at any given moment in their development. This is true from not only a scal standpoint but also from a space and staff standpoint as well. We only have so much studio space at any given time of day and only so many qualied teachers with which to staff our classes. Often as a student is progressing we nd ourselves in a situation where they may be ready for a little extra push but not fully ready for the demands of the next level. When a student is moved up too soon they will develop bad habits that become ingrained in their muscle memory in an attempt to try to keep up. By splitting levels we are able to provide our students with a customized schedule that will better t where they are at developmentally. We can push them some in a higher level while still giving them ample opportunity to work at a pace more conducive to correct technical execution. It also helps to smooth out the transition from one level to the next. We will also occasionally split levels with a student who may have a schedule conict on one of their regularly scheduled days of dance. In this case we will encourage them to take a class below their level on another day so that they can get in their required number of classes.

BODY & NUTRITION

Here are some key exercises you can do at home over the Christmas break to help you stay in shape:

Life Lessons In Dance

Kindness
It seems tting during this time of year to think about the character trait of kindness. While in many ways the ballet world can be very unkind, we here at the WSB believe there is a better way to teach the art of dance. There are two distinct opportunities every dancer has in which to show kindness in the classroom: Kindness to others and Kindness to self.

Hamstring stretches-This can be done while sitting on the oor with legs stretched out in front of you, standing up and bending forward reaching for the oor or on your back pulling one leg toward your nose while the other leg is extended on the oor. Straddle stretch-While sitting up straight legs are apart in as wide a V as possible. Keeping knees pointing straight up to the ceiling bend forward as far as possible. Kindness to others: This can be obviously Splits or Runners Lunge Abdominal Work-This would include crunches, 100s, demonstrated by not laughing at or making fun of pleatings, leg lifts and oblique work. other dancers and their mistakes. This also goes for Plank-This position, when done correctly, works to correcting your classmates and peers. That is the strengthen the whole body and is particularly good on job of the teacher. Every dancer has enough to work strengthening correct alignment for ballet dancers. on of their own that they need not concern Cobra-This stretches the abdominals and back. Work themselves with the mistakes of others. We show on holding this without the support of the arms to further kindness when we speak words of encouragement to increase strength in the back muscles. each other. In this environment everyone feels Per Formus, Outer Hip and Gluteus stretches- This successful and desires to work harder. can be done by crossing one leg on top of the other in the Lotus position and stretching forward. Or you can Kindness to self:The importance of this can not be stretch these muscles on your back by bending one leg underestimated. It is often said that dancers are with foot rmly planted on the oor and taking the other hardest on themselves and I have found this to be leg and placing it in a passe position across the bent very true. Self talk is important. If you keep telling leg. Lift the bent leg off the ground until it is parallel with yourself that you arent any good or youre never the oor. One can also, from the Lotus position, cross going to get it then you set yourself up to fulll that the top leg all the way over until the foot of the top leg is and ultimately feel discouraged about yourself and on the oor. Pull the knee of this top leg toward the chest while your body twists toward that leg. your work. Be kind to yourself. Ballet is hard and it

takes time to master. Do yourself a favor and speak kindly to yourself. You will be a better dancer for it.

STUDENT ACTIVITY
Help the WSB decorate our lobby by coloring these beautiful Christmas Tree ornaments. Be sure to include why you love the Wilmington School of Ballet and get to pick a treat from our princess treasure box! All ornaments turned in will be on display in our lobby.