Please Vote for Us!!!

Albemarle Family Magazine, a local print/online resource for all things family oriented in the Charlottesville area, is conducting a Favorites survey. One of the entries is Favorite Dance School, and I'd like to ask all my loyal readers (all 5 or ten of you!) to head over there and vote for us.

This is a pretty cool opportunity to get our name out there to more people than ever, and an easy way to support us in this amazing adventure! Here's the link: Albemarle Family Favorites Survey

Thanks for your help!

Nutcracker Auditions

For those of you who may not have heard, I had a baby last week! We had a boy and everyone is doing very well. In any case, today was my first day back in the studio, for NUTCRACKER AUDITIONS!!! They went SO well. I am very excited about the group this year and am looking forward to a great show.

Casting was much easier this year, and we pretty much settled on the casting right after auditions. I will sit with it for a day or two before announcing the final cast, but it's exciting how easily it fell into place.

So come see the show in December!!!! It's going to be great!

Introducing: Mr. Tom!

Okay, this one's kind of a cheater Meet the Teacher, since Tom is part owner of the studio and has already been teaching here since the beginning, and oh yeah, is also my husband, but he's teaching more this year, so I figured he was worth a blog post. plus it gives me time to plug our new classes that he's teaching!

I first met Tom in 1995, and on a random whim invited him to a ballroom class I had attended only once (with my parents). He was an engineering student at Northeastern University at the time, and agreed to go only because he liked me, and then he wound up actually enjoying himself. Over the years he has danced and competed with the Northeastern Ballroom Dance Team, studied at private ballroom studios, and taught at several studios as well. Until we opened The Dance Barn, this was sort of a side hobby, although one he loved, but when we opened the studio it was a no-brainer that he'd teach some ballroom here.

Thus our Social Dance Night was born! You can read more about it here!

Last year, in response to some requests, we offered a short term of Kids' Ballroom. Although we had a small turnout, the kids who took the class loved it and Tom enjoyed teaching them. He was amazed at what a different experience it was to teach kids versus adults, and we decided to offer the class for our full season this year.

In addition to Social Dance Night and Kids' Ballroom, Tom will be teaching Boys' Creative Dance this year. I am incredibly excited to be offering this class. I have noticed over the years that in general, there is a difference between the ways that boys and girls learn, particularly when they are younger. I have always wanted to build a boys' dance program, but have found that many parents don't even consider registering their sons for dance, and those that do sometimes worry about them being the only boy in class. I am hoping that by offering a class just for boys, that we can tailor the class to boys' learning styles while providing them with an environment that makes boys taking dance seem entirely normal. I think having a male teacher will help the boys relate to men dancing in a direct way.

Tom's bio is available on our website, and I will re-post it below. You know, just in case I haven't given you enough information above!

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Tom Silliman (Mr. Tom) began dancing when Kelly brought him to a ballroom dance lesson in 1995. He joined the ballroom dance team at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, from which he holds a BS in electrical engineering. During and after college, Tom (and eventually Kelly) participated in ballroom dance competitions around the New England area. Throughout his career as a Systems Administrator/IT Manager for various companies, Tom has continued to dance and teach ballroom and social dancing professionally, including working with couples to choreograph wedding dances. Tom and Kelly last performed at First Night in Charlottesville 2007. Having recently left the corporate world, Tom teaches social dancing at The Dance Barn and heads up the adventures in farming at Sweet Dog Farm.

Introducing: Miss Ariadne!

Today's Meet the Teacher features The Dance Barn's very own Miss Ariadne. Ariadne is a returning teacher this year, having taught our Ballet III class last year, as well as assisting with our first annual production of The Nutcracker.

I first met Ariadne as the Artistic Director of Charlottesville Ballet, when they were looking for rehearsal space. As a new studio, I immediately recognized the advantage of having a local professional company rehearsing here four days a week. In addition, I have always thought the Charlottesville area could support a ballet company, and never understood why there wasn't one thriving here already. I was excited to do what I could to support this fledgling company, and we worked out a schedule and contract for the 2008-2009 season.

As I worked with Ariadne in this capacity, I was impressed with her beliefs and principles related to ballet training, and asked her to teach my intermediate/advanced ballet class for the year, and to help with The Nutcracker. I am so glad she has stayed with us this year, and am looking forward to her taking on our entire ballet program for the year! We will also be working on this year's production of The Nutcracker together (I do love me some Nutcracker!!!).

As Artistic Director of Charlottesville Ballet, Ariadne will be here at lot this year, and they have an exciting season coming up. We are thrilled they are still rehearsing here, and look forward to being able to watch their creative process as their repertory pieces develop. Oh, and in case I haven't babbled enough, Ariadne's official bio is below.

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A Chicago native, Ariadne Conner spent many years traipsing across the country to various pre-professional schools. Spending summers at the Houston Ballet Academy, School of American Ballet, and Miami City Ballet in addition to intensive training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and Ballet Chicago during the year, Ariadne became steeped in the new tradition of George Balanchine. Ariadne relocated to Richmond, Virginia in 2003 to be a trainee with the Richmond Ballet. While a trainee, she had the opportunity to dance in Giselle, Swan Lake, Balanchine's Concerto Barocco, and original choreography by Richmond Ballet Faculty. In 2004 she became enamored with a new form of expression, choreography. She had the honor of choreographing two works on the Richmond Ballet Trainees before moving to Charlottesville. In 2007 she became the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Charlottesville Ballet. She is thrilled to be teaching at The Dance Barn and sharing her love of this art with all!

Introducing: Miss Emily!

Our second installment of Meet Our Teachers introduces Miss Emily. I met Emily when Charlottesville Ballet started rehearsing here at The Dance Barn, and instantly liked her friendly manner and admired her beautiful dancing. When I took class with the company, I was always impressed with how hard Emily worked--it was truly inspiring! She is also an amazing performer onstage, and wonderful with kids.

Emily will be teaching creative dance and jazz for the studio this year. I am excited to have her creative and nurturing spirit as part of our Dance Barn family, and I know her students will love her as much as I do! Oh yeah, and her official bio is also below. It probably sounds way more professional than my totally biased gushing, but what can I say? I hired people I really, really like!

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Emily Mott fell in love with ballet at the age of five. She began dance classes at Roanoke Ballet Theatre in her hometown of Roanoke, VA and continued her training with Unurbat Gunaajav and Michele Goacher. While in the upper levels of her ballet school, Emily taught several creative movement classes and helped create an after school dance class for underprivileged children. She also performed in several collaborative shows with Opera Roanoke, the Mill Mountain Theatre, and with Radford University as the ‘Snow Queen’ in a joint production of The Nutcracker. She attended summer intensives at the Richmond Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and on scholarship with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Emily spent her senior year of high school at the Virginia School of the Arts in Lynchburg, VA under the late Petrus Bosman. There she found diverse training and valuable performance opportunities in various dance festivals, in lecture demonstrations for children, and at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. Upon graduation she joined the Richmond Ballet as a Trainee, performing in Don Quixote, Balanchine’s Valse Fantasie and Who Cares?, and in many new works by Richmond Ballet faculty. She also enjoyed working with Richmond Ballet’s Minds In Motion, a pilot program for Richmond-area schools to incite a love of dance among youth. In 2008, Emily relocated to Charlottesville, VA to join the Charlottesville Ballet and to attend the University of Virginia, uniting both her artistic and academic interests. Emily is thankful to all who have made this journey possible and looks forward to sharing her ardor for dance with the students of The Dance Barn.

Introducing: Miss Heather!

Welcome to our brand new "Let's Meet the Teachers" series!

Today we meet Miss Heather, a newcomer to the teaching scene. I first met Heather last spring, when I was looking for a tap and/or jazz teacher for this year. She had been taking classes with Charlottesville Ballet (our resident company), and I had noticed what a fine dancer she was. A little birdie informed me that she was very interested in pursuing a teaching career, so I asked her to come do a couple sample classes.

She was wonderful!!! She had an instant rapport with the students, her classes were well planned and executed, and best of all, she was excited about the prospect of teaching here. I am so glad to have Heather as a part of our Dance Barn family, and look forward to a wonderful year of tap, jazz, and creative dance classes with her. Below is her official bio, which is lovely but not as much fun as me telling you how much I like her! Be sure to say "Hi!" when you see her in the studio!

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Heather Lively began dancing at the age of four with a local dance studio in Florida before moving to receive most of her training at South Georgia Performing Arts and Wilson School of Dance. While at SGPA, Heather performed in productions of The Nutcracker, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, and Coppelia. Heather has studied jazz, tap, and ballet extensively, and spent the last two years as an assistant dance teacher. She is very excited to start her teaching career at The Dance Barn, and is also thrilled to be apprenticing with Charlottesville Ballet this year.