Looking back on 2024, looking ahead to 2025
Happy New Year from all of us at Blacksburg Dance Theater!
Hi friends,
On the last day of 2024, I'm reflecting on the wonderful year we've had at Blacksburg Dance Theater, as well as looking forward to the new year. Feel free to skim some highlights of this year, and then scroll down for important info on the spring semester!
Looking back on 2024:
We expanded our space into the downstairs of our building, adding a brand new studio with state of the art Marley flooring, which will *finally* be finished and ready to dance on when we return for classes in January!
We had great turnout for our summer performance at Steppin Out, and our dancers even surprised Ms. Rachel with a special birthday dance!
Our dancers braved the frigid temperatures to walk/dance in the Blacksburg Holiday Parade - their bright spirit and enthusiasm warmed everyone’s hearts!
We celebrated Love Your Body Week in all of our classes, reinforcing positive body image and self-love for our dancers of all ages.
We teamed up with a new local organization, Queer Dance Blacksburg, to offer an LGBTQ+ friendly social dance party in December, and look forward to partnering with Queer Dance Blacksburg and Blacksburg Community Pride for more inclusive dance events in 2025.
Several of our dancers were invited to perform as the Chinese Dragon in Roanoke Ballet Theatre’s Nutcracker! We’re so grateful to our incredible ballet teacher, Ms. Cari, for helping forge this connection, and look forward to more opportunities to perform in future RBT productions.
Looking Ahead to 2025:
Most importantly, we have solidified our SPRING 2025 SCHEDULE! You can view it HERE, as well as on our website.
SPRING 2025 DETAILS:
Spring classes will run from January 13-May 10, with spring break coinciding with the universities and MCPS.
REGISTRATION WILL OPEN ON OUR WEBSITE ON MONDAY, JANUARY 6th.
Please save BOTH of the following weekends for recital: May 2-4 AND May 9-11.
We will only have our show on ONE of these weekends, but are still waiting to hear back from venues about reservations. We will let you know which weekend to release as soon as we have a venue secured.
NEW TRIAL CLASS POLICY:
Dancers can still always try a new class for free before committing for the semester, but due to logistical challenges, we will NOT be doing an official trial week this semester.
If your dancer enrolls in a class that they decide not to continue with, we’ll be happy to apply the balance of that class tuition to future classes or camps.
TECHNIQUE LEVELS:
You’ll notice when you look over the schedule that we have restructured our technique levels, particularly for our older students. Primarily, we’ve replaced our “tween” and “teen” classifications with numbered levels I-IV. This is because, as we grow, our student base grows with us, and we have a need for additional levels.
We will send out an email to each family that was enrolled in Fall 2024 BY FRIDAY, JANUARY 3rd with technique placement recommendations for your dancer, but please don’t hesitate to reach out in the meantime if you have questions.
NEW: YOUTH PERFORMING COMPANY!
We’re very excited that we now have enough older students to form an official performing company! This is something we’ve been wanting to do for a while - it will be an opportunity for dancers to deepen their technique practice and artistry, and participate in additional special performances.
Youth Performing Company will be open to ALL dancers above age 10, no audition needed; however, all dancers who enroll will be required to commit to the following:
Weekly ballet AND modern technique class + one additional class
Weekly company meeting (Mondays, 6:20-6:50 pm) AND weekly rehearsal (Thursdays, 7:00-8:00 pm)
Strength training class (Thursdays, 5:15-5:45 pm)
Additional performance opportunities will include the SWVA Dance Festival (March 1), as well as a service-oriented concert for the elders at Warm Hearth Village (date TBA).
Enrollment in Youth Performing Company will open along with all other class enrollment on January 6th.
Finally, some recital loose ends to tie up:
Costumes
If you haven’t yet returned your rented recital costumes, no worries - you can just bring them back with you to your first class of the spring session.
If you would like to purchase and keep your dancer’s costume(s), it’s just $20 per costume, payable at the link below.
Photos
Christiana Czuba, our resident Jill of all trades, took beautiful photos at both evenings of the Gratitude in Motion performance! You can access them here:
Video
Maxwell Mandell did a fantastic job capturing video of our beautiful dancers Please email me if you have not yet purchased the video and would like to do so; there’s still time to order, but it won’t be available for much longer.
Phew, that’s a lot of info! To recap:
Spring 2025 schedule is available on the website now! www.blacksburgdancetheater.com/classes
Registration opens January 6th online - check back then on the website for more info on how to sign up.
Please note our new trial class policy and technique levels, and let us know if you have questions.
We’re starting a Youth Performing Company for students aged 10 and up! Dancers will be required to maintain a pretty rigorous class load, and can enroll on Jan 6. Holler if you’re unsure whether this would be a good fit for your dancer.
Return recital costumes when you can, or feel free to purchase/keep them at the link above.
Gratitude in Motion photos are available at the links above (thanks, Christiana!) and if you haven’t purchased concert video yet, please email us for into on how to do so.
We’re so excited for all the dancing to come in the new year!
Sending love,
Rachel and the teaching team