This is our Third Quarter Newsletter .

The Christmas performances at the three assisted living locations in Mt. Horeb were a huge success! Everyone did a great job and enjoyed spreading Christmas cheer!  Now that the holidays are over, and we hope you had a wonderful holiday, we are gearing up for several performances. That means more emails!!

Please be sure to read them so that you do not miss out on important information.

We promise to do our best to keep things simple and to the point.

Snow Policy Reminder: We DO NOT follow the Mt. Horeb Schools for closings. If the weather is threatening and you think we might be canceled, please wait until as close to 3:00pm as possible before you call or check the website. If there is no change in the voice mail or on the website Homepage, then we have not canceled. Please use your judgement as well. If we are open and you do not feel safe to come, then please just contact us and let us know that you will not be in. We will do our best to schedule a time for your child to come in for a make up class. 

 

Upcoming Performances (Mark your calendars!)

Saturday January 23^rd at 3:00pm. Two of our classes will be performing in Madison for a Dance for Hunger benefit concert. Three other Madison area studios will be participating. The event is expected to run for 2 hours. Audience members are free to come and go between dances as long as they are respectful and do not get up during a performance piece. There is no cost for audience members. Instead, everyone is asked to bring 5 non-perishable food items or to make a cash donation for the Madison Area food pantries ($5.00 per person in suggested). The event will be located at the Middleton High School Performing Arts Center.  The address is 2100 Bristol St., Middleton. This would be a great opportunity for students to support our dancers, see other dancers from the Madison area perform, and to contribute in helping less fortunate people. FYI: They actually make out better with cash donations because the food pantries can purchase a meal for $1.00.

Friday February 19^th! Forte Studios 2^nd annual voice and acting performance entitled “A Night of Random Acts” is a FREE event involving all of our voice and acting students. The show will  be held at Mt. Horeb High School Auditorium from 7:30-9:00 PM. Baked goods will be sold for a small fee to help us cover costs for the event.We hope to see you there!!

May 17th - 23^rd is our Spring performance week involving all of our Forte Students! There will be 2 shows on Saturday and one early evening show on Sunday. Please also note that there will be additional rehearsals throughout that week including a dress rehearsal at the High School on that Friday. All rehearsals are MANDATORY for performers. It’s busy (but fun) week! More details will be sent in the upcoming weeks.

Quarter 3 Tuition

Quarter 3 Tuition + Costume Balances are due January 25^th. Late fees will be added on Monday February 1^st. An email regarding your account balance will be coming out this week.

 

Boogie Babies Watch Week

 Our 2^nd studio performance for our youngest dancers will be January 19^th & 20^th during their regular class time. We will have a limited number of chairs, but plenty of floor seating. You are welcome to come in for the whole class!  Please bring your cameras and video recorders, but also remember, we will ask you to remove your shoes before entering in order to protect our dance floors.  Please remember that this does not mark the end of the class!  Boogie Baby Classes do continue through May.

Dance Masters of Wisconsin Convention

All Students ages 9 and up who are enrolled in Ballet Class are invited to participate in the 3^rd and final Dance Masters Convention for this season. The event will be held on Sunday February 21^st at the Country Springs Hotel in Waukesha. Please see the poster in the lobby for specific class and instructor information. The cost for the convention (including lunch for the day) is $75.  This is a great opportunity for our students to take classes with professional dancers and choreographers from all over the country.  The deadline to sign up is Monday February 1^st. Last year we did not spend the night, but left very early in the morning and then returned to Mt. Horeb by 7:00pm that night.  We are open to doing the same thing or can look into costs for splitting hotel rooms for Saturday evening.  Please indicate your preference when you sign up. Any parents who would like to join us and observe classes on Sunday will need to pay $23.50 (That includes observation and lunch). We are not sure of our numbers yet, but if you are willing to be a chaperone, please indicate that as well when you sign up.    Additional costs will include $ for dinner on Sunday, hotel $$ only if we decide to spend the night, and any spending $$. There are vendors at all of the conventions if any of the students are interested.

 

Forte Clothing

Forte Clothing –We had a few people who missed the last deadline; therefore we have decided to place one more order.  Here are the items available.  Feel free to ask to see samples. Small Bag (Black and Red) $18…Large Bag (Purple, Red or Black) $35 Both bags can be personalized at no extra charge! …Knit Hat (Black with embroidery) $15…Sweat pants in black only  YS through YL- $20 and YXL through Adult XL -$22…Long sleeve t-shirt (black or white)YS through YL $15 YXL through AXL- $17…Sweat shirt (black or red with small embroidery or large screen print) YS through YL- $32 and YXL through AXL-$34.  Also, we have 2 pairs of sweat pants that did not fit the people who ordered them. One is a size Youth Small, one is a Youth Medium. If you would like to buy them, you can have them now! Just let us know.  Deadline for orders is: February 11^th. We also have a sizing chart up to help with the sweat pants orders! 10% discount on 3 or more items!

 

All Combo 1 Classes.

 Last year our Combo 1 classes performed in only 2 of our 3 performances due to input from the parents that 3 shows was too busy of a weekend for them. We worked it out, but it was difficult because of the way our shows are set up. If you are new to Forte, we hope you will be pleasantly surprised that our shows are not like typical recitals with one number after another. (No offense to recitals, we love them too!) Anyway, we work hard to make smooth transitions and to follow a theme utilizing voice, drama & dance for a real show experience! This year, we would really like for all of the Combo 1 classes to perform in all 3 shows instead of just 2.

The nature of our show this year will make it more difficult not to have everyone.  Several of the students from last year expressed to us that they wished they had been in all 3 shows, so we hope this is something that you and your child will be excited about! Next year, we will take another look at the Combo 1 classes and see if we need to make adjustments with their show participation.  If you have concerns about this, please let us know. Otherwise, WE WILL ASSUME that you have read this and are as excited as we are to have our youngest performers join us for all 3 shows!

 

ALL FEMALE DANCERS

(with the exception of Hip Hop).  For 3 ½ years we have been asking students not to wear underwear under their tights. Many have cooperated and are totally comfortable! Others; however, have not.

We want to teach our students to take pride in their appearance and to follow a long line of tradition in dance which does not include ugly, bulky underwear lines sticking out of leotards! We assume students do not wear underwear under swim suits and that they are fine with that. Tights are meant to take the place of underwear.

For our younger students, we must ask parents to help us with this. We know they may resist if they are not used to it, but we are quite certain that after a few weeks, they will be just fine with the change. If you have a struggle with this, try letting them wear their tights and leotard around the house to get comfortable so that you and your child are not unnecessarily stressed out just before class. Getting them comfortable and used to this now will only save headaches in the spring when we will not let students perform on stage with underwear lines.

For older students, we have tried discretely asking individual students not to have underwear lines. When that didn’t work, we tried calling them out in front of everyone thinking that maybe if they were a little embarrassed then it wouldn’t happen again. No luck with that either:) We understand that there are certain times when our older students need additional coverage. During “those times”, they need to wear underwear that matches their skin tone or their leotard and even then, the underwear should be tucked up under the leotard so that we cannot see it! If it is not “that time” then they SHOULD NOT WEAR UNDERWEAR! Please help your older dancers to follow these requests by making sure they have the proper color underwear and by talking to them about only wearing them when needed. Following this dress code shows maturity and responsibility in addition to taking pride in one’s appearance. From this point forward, older students who come to class unprepared will be sent to the bathroom to fix the issue or will be asked to sit out. If there are any questions about this, please contact Miss Marin. Thank you for your support. 

As always, your thoughts, concerns, critiques & praises are welcome. We are thankful to be in such a great community and to be able to work with all of your amazing children. Thank you for the opportunity!