UPDATED MARCH 20, 2020 (SEE BELOW)
Dear Forte Families, March 15, 2020
Hello. In response to dealing with the corona virus, all of the Forte teachers met today to come up with a game plan. Before getting into that, I just want to say that we have the BEST team at Forte! They all came in on short notice, ready to work as a team, sharing ideas, and having a positive attitude. They are amazing!!!
We have a plan to continue learning through video sharing. If that will be a problem for any of you in terms of having poor internet service or anything of that nature, please contact us and we will work to figure out how we can help your situation.
For now, the plan will be to return to in studio learning on April 6th when the schools are set to re-open. If that changes, we will keep everyone up to date with adjusted plans.
ACTORS: We have a different plan for you. Please scroll down for information pertaining to just our acting department.
SINGERS & DANCERS: All instructors will be preparing videos for dance and audio mp3s for voice with content that is appropriate for each class. Dance videos may consist of a warm up, center exercises, reviewing end of year show dances, and TEACHING NEW CHOREOGRAPHY! Vocal students will have warm up exercises as well as instruction on your show songs and any other pertinent information. Boogie Babies: We will have videos for you as well!!
Preparing for the End of Year Show: We will continue to plan for the same tech week and show weekend of May 11-17. We MUST work together in order to make sure our students have the same great experience as usual and do not feel unprepared by show week. Parents, PLEASE help your students find and utilize the videos/ mp3s. With our younger students, we will need your help to make sure they understand and can follow along. We know that many of you are being faced with additional tasks of homeschooling your children, working from home while also having children at home, or having to still go to work while your children are at home. This is a challenging time for everyone, but we hope you will make the time to help in this area as well. An idea would be to schedule your video/mp3 time at the same time as your normal class. You are used to having to bring them to class at that time, so this might be a great way to stay on top of things.
Time Table for Video Sharing: Spring break was set for March 23-27. Since schools are shutting down and vacations are being cancelled, we decided to treat this coming week of March 16-19 as Spring Break. That will allow us one week to prepare all of the videos/mp3s and make sure there are no technical difficulties before we share them with you. Our video/mp3 classes will begin on Monday March 23rd. You will receive more information when the videos/mp3s are ready. Basically, you will access our website, go to the student resource page, type in a password and then scroll down to find your specific class information.
UPDATE MARCH 20, 2020: In the event that we are still unable to take our classes at Forte Studios, we will be offering Virtual classes for our students...these classes will be taught by each students instructor at the same day/time as a normal class. These classes will continue throughout the remainder of the season. We are unsure of what the end of our season is at this point, but will make adjustments as necessary.
Additional Rehearsals: We will be scheduling additional rehearsals for some classes. The dates for these additional rehearsals could be Friday – Saturday April 10-11 or Friday-Sunday April 17-19. We will get a schedule together as soon as possible. We understand that there may be conflicts, but we expect that everyone will do their best to attend any rehearsals scheduled for their classes.
Miss Brittany’s Modern Classes: You will definitely be having extra rehearsals on either April 10 or 11. PLEASE keep these dates open! The 1st week of May is also a possibility for additional rehearsals.
Extending our year: We understand that learning from a video/mp3, while still educational, is not the same as having in studio instruction and getting critiques and individual corrections. Because of this, we would like to extend our season by one week at no additional cost. After our shows on May 16-17, we will continue with classes through May 21st. Our end of year picnic will need to be re-scheduled, but we will figure that out at another time!
Tuition Reminders: In order for us to continue we must be able to pay our instructors for their time in preparing all necessary videos as well as our usual operating costs, which are many. Tuition is still due at the normal time of Monday March 30th. Late fees will still be assessed to unpaid balances on Monday April 6th. If you are struggling and need to make payment arrangements, please contact us to work out a payment plan. Thank you for your continued support and prompt payments.
Making Payments: Payments can be made by credit card through your on-line portal. Checks can be dropped off in our mailbox by the front door. If you need to pay with cash, we ask that you text me (Marin) at 608-556-3184 and I will meet you at the studio to take your payment.
Communications during this time: Miss Ashley will continue to check emails in order to keep up with communications. This is a better option than leaving a voice mail, but we will do our best to check voice mail as well.
FORTE FUSION/ X-TENSION DANCE COMPANY CONCERT: This concert has been re-scheduled for the last week of April. That causes a conflict with our photo shoot date…
PHOTO SHOOT DATE: I will be calling Empire this week to work out a new photo shoot plan. Once that is in place, we will send you an update.
ACTORS: Our plan for video learning just doesn’t work for acting classes. Therefore, we have a different plan for you! You will be taking the next 3 weeks off from Forte classes, BUT, you will be expected to be OFF BOOK by the time classes resume on April 6th. Everyone should have received their script by now. If you do not have one, please let us know. Your show will be re-scheduled for the weekend of June 5-7. We checked the Mt. Horeb school calendar and there does not seem to be any conflicts. We know some of you might be from other districts, and we hope there are no conflicts for you either. We hope all of you will be able to make this new date work. We are sorry for any inconvenience, but this plan actually gives you an additional week of learning and allows time for in studio instruction on order for you to be prepared and have a great experience! PLEASE be sure to read the above sections about Tuition, Making payments, Communications, and Photo Shoot Date!
Thank you everyone for your patience, as we are all in unchartered territory. It can be scary and overwhelming feeling, but we know that we will get through this and together we can still give our performers the experiences they have worked for and deserve! We just need to work together☺ Thank you so much for being part of our Forte Family! We love your children and we value our relationships with all of you!!! Stay safe and healthy!
Marin, Wes & The Forte Staff
Hello. In response to dealing with the corona virus, all of the Forte teachers met today to come up with a game plan. Before getting into that, I just want to say that we have the BEST team at Forte! They all came in on short notice, ready to work as a team, sharing ideas, and having a positive attitude. They are amazing!!!
We have a plan to continue learning through video sharing. If that will be a problem for any of you in terms of having poor internet service or anything of that nature, please contact us and we will work to figure out how we can help your situation.
For now, the plan will be to return to in studio learning on April 6th when the schools are set to re-open. If that changes, we will keep everyone up to date with adjusted plans.
ACTORS: We have a different plan for you. Please scroll down for information pertaining to just our acting department.
SINGERS & DANCERS: All instructors will be preparing videos for dance and audio mp3s for voice with content that is appropriate for each class. Dance videos may consist of a warm up, center exercises, reviewing end of year show dances, and TEACHING NEW CHOREOGRAPHY! Vocal students will have warm up exercises as well as instruction on your show songs and any other pertinent information. Boogie Babies: We will have videos for you as well!!
Preparing for the End of Year Show: We will continue to plan for the same tech week and show weekend of May 11-17. We MUST work together in order to make sure our students have the same great experience as usual and do not feel unprepared by show week. Parents, PLEASE help your students find and utilize the videos/ mp3s. With our younger students, we will need your help to make sure they understand and can follow along. We know that many of you are being faced with additional tasks of homeschooling your children, working from home while also having children at home, or having to still go to work while your children are at home. This is a challenging time for everyone, but we hope you will make the time to help in this area as well. An idea would be to schedule your video/mp3 time at the same time as your normal class. You are used to having to bring them to class at that time, so this might be a great way to stay on top of things.
Time Table for Video Sharing: Spring break was set for March 23-27. Since schools are shutting down and vacations are being cancelled, we decided to treat this coming week of March 16-19 as Spring Break. That will allow us one week to prepare all of the videos/mp3s and make sure there are no technical difficulties before we share them with you. Our video/mp3 classes will begin on Monday March 23rd. You will receive more information when the videos/mp3s are ready. Basically, you will access our website, go to the student resource page, type in a password and then scroll down to find your specific class information.
UPDATE MARCH 20, 2020: In the event that we are still unable to take our classes at Forte Studios, we will be offering Virtual classes for our students...these classes will be taught by each students instructor at the same day/time as a normal class. These classes will continue throughout the remainder of the season. We are unsure of what the end of our season is at this point, but will make adjustments as necessary.
Additional Rehearsals: We will be scheduling additional rehearsals for some classes. The dates for these additional rehearsals could be Friday – Saturday April 10-11 or Friday-Sunday April 17-19. We will get a schedule together as soon as possible. We understand that there may be conflicts, but we expect that everyone will do their best to attend any rehearsals scheduled for their classes.
Miss Brittany’s Modern Classes: You will definitely be having extra rehearsals on either April 10 or 11. PLEASE keep these dates open! The 1st week of May is also a possibility for additional rehearsals.
Extending our year: We understand that learning from a video/mp3, while still educational, is not the same as having in studio instruction and getting critiques and individual corrections. Because of this, we would like to extend our season by one week at no additional cost. After our shows on May 16-17, we will continue with classes through May 21st. Our end of year picnic will need to be re-scheduled, but we will figure that out at another time!
Tuition Reminders: In order for us to continue we must be able to pay our instructors for their time in preparing all necessary videos as well as our usual operating costs, which are many. Tuition is still due at the normal time of Monday March 30th. Late fees will still be assessed to unpaid balances on Monday April 6th. If you are struggling and need to make payment arrangements, please contact us to work out a payment plan. Thank you for your continued support and prompt payments.
Making Payments: Payments can be made by credit card through your on-line portal. Checks can be dropped off in our mailbox by the front door. If you need to pay with cash, we ask that you text me (Marin) at 608-556-3184 and I will meet you at the studio to take your payment.
Communications during this time: Miss Ashley will continue to check emails in order to keep up with communications. This is a better option than leaving a voice mail, but we will do our best to check voice mail as well.
FORTE FUSION/ X-TENSION DANCE COMPANY CONCERT: This concert has been re-scheduled for the last week of April. That causes a conflict with our photo shoot date…
PHOTO SHOOT DATE: I will be calling Empire this week to work out a new photo shoot plan. Once that is in place, we will send you an update.
ACTORS: Our plan for video learning just doesn’t work for acting classes. Therefore, we have a different plan for you! You will be taking the next 3 weeks off from Forte classes, BUT, you will be expected to be OFF BOOK by the time classes resume on April 6th. Everyone should have received their script by now. If you do not have one, please let us know. Your show will be re-scheduled for the weekend of June 5-7. We checked the Mt. Horeb school calendar and there does not seem to be any conflicts. We know some of you might be from other districts, and we hope there are no conflicts for you either. We hope all of you will be able to make this new date work. We are sorry for any inconvenience, but this plan actually gives you an additional week of learning and allows time for in studio instruction on order for you to be prepared and have a great experience! PLEASE be sure to read the above sections about Tuition, Making payments, Communications, and Photo Shoot Date!
Thank you everyone for your patience, as we are all in unchartered territory. It can be scary and overwhelming feeling, but we know that we will get through this and together we can still give our performers the experiences they have worked for and deserve! We just need to work together☺ Thank you so much for being part of our Forte Family! We love your children and we value our relationships with all of you!!! Stay safe and healthy!
Marin, Wes & The Forte Staff