Welcome Back! We look forward to seeing you!
Welcome Back
I hope you all have been having a fantastic summer filled with happiness and relaxation. Fall is almost upon us, and with it brings our familiar back to school cycles. But before we talk about that I am excited to update you with news from last year and into the summer… incredibly exciting for idanceŽ.
Important information: Evaluation Day September 10th, 2011, Classes resume September 13, 2011
Please read the entire Newsletter carefully as it contains very important additional information.
As you know idanceŽ presented the UK Hip Hop Dance Championships this June 4-5 2011 at THORPE PARK! We successfully brought over the Legendary Shabba-Doo , star of the iconic films Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2, multiple award winning choreographer including Madonna’s second highly acclaimed tour, and arguably the most successful streetdancer ever, for his first EVER masterclasses in the UK. From his lectures, to his dance classes Shabba-Doo has demonstrated with passion what streetdance is all about. We are so excited that the UK streetdance scene has embraced this Icon and that he will increasingly be part of our lives in the future. We also managed to bring over one of the biggest dance crews in the world, Poreotics! Winners of the hit MTV show America’s Best Dance Crew. The Poreotics were an amazing finish to a spectacular competition, but it didn’t end there.
Six UK Crews who entered the idanceŽ competition traveled to Las Vegas to represent the UK at the World Hip Hop Dance Championships. I am happy to say that Plague, adult winners of the idanceŽ UK Hip Hop Dance Championships and adult UK and World Champions in 2005 repeated their worldwide success by winning the UK and World Championships for the second time. IdanceŽ is happy Plague chose to enter our event as it confirms the idanceŽ UK Hip Hop Dance Championships as the premier crew competition in the UK.
idanceŽ Helps Celebrate the coming Olympic Games
Closer to home idanceŽ was also setting our own little records by performing as part of the 1 year countdown to the London Olympics. IdanceŽ was invited to do a short flashmob performance and demonstration by the Harlequin! It was a great experience and idanceŽ did the UK proud.
We are not going to rest there, however. I am still beavering away, preparing for the start of lessons in September and I decided to take a moment to touch base so everyone knows what to expect
Our New Intensive Training System and Performing Companies
By now everyone should be aware that idanceŽ is focusing on student achievement in dance as part of our long term goal of preparing professional and amateur dancers interested in a career or advanced performing opportunities in dance. To accomplish this goal, we have revamped some of our time tables and offerings.
Bring back the Shock Factor!
Some of you may remember our dance companies, Culture Shock and Future Shock Dance Troupe. In their time, Culture Shock and Future Shock were amongst the most successful dance groups in the country with dancers as far away as Portsmouth, Essex, Milton Keynes, Central London and Surrey all coming to idanceŽ for the intense training and performance opportunities. Indeed Season 1 of So You Think You Can Dance featured several high profile Culture Shock Alum including Judge Sisco Gomez and Lyrical Hip Hop Choreographer Simeon Qysea. After a 3 year break, idanceŽ now feels the time is right to bring back our dance companies.
In general, during our mid-week classes, we will focus on training and development of the performance teams: a team for beginners (roughly 6-12 years old) and a team for intermediate students roughly 12 and older. We will make an announcement for adult teams as soon as we are able.
Please note that the ages are strictly rough ideas based on our current student population. They are not to be considered fixed and will almost certainly change over time.
While the purpose of additional training should always be development of skill and knowledge about dance, these teams will eventually become our part of our primary performing groups and will be required to adhere to a much more intensive and varied dance schedule. We are planning a number of very cool events including amazing training camps to Switzerland and Russia, dance competitions, several performance opportunities, masterclasses and workshops. Anyone willing to adhere to our intensive training and performance schedule and who successfully demonstrates readiness at our audition/evaluation day can join our performing teams. Our Saturday programme will remain largely unchanged for anyone wanting to enjoy dance on a more casual basis.
Paying and signing up for classes.
I am happy to say that we managed to stamp out most of the bugs in our payment system and will resume the requirement that all payments are to be done via our online system one week prior to the start of each month. Details on how to access the system will follow soon. There is a mandatory evaluation session for all students on September 10th to insure that all students are in the right level classes. The 10th will also be used as an initial evaluation for our dance teams. Normal lessons resume September 13th 2011. Please be patient while we update the system with our September Schedule (www.idancestudios.com). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As always, there is so much going on it is impossible to fit it all into a single newsletter without making it a novel so, please be on the lookout for another newsletter very soon. In the meanwhile ‘Like us on our Facebook page and stay tuned for more information
iDance
01923 606 255
