Center Stage Dance Intensives

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As a dance student in college, my favorite day of the week was Wednesday.  Wednesdays were “alternative day”; every other day of the week was ballet technique.  I loved taking ballet every day, but we all looked forward to doing something different on Wednesdays.  Usually our alternative class was Pilates since one of the instructors held Pilates certification, but we also got the chance to take several other dance classes including Broadway Jazz, Hip-Hop, and even Hawaiian dance, African dance, and Kabuki (Japanese dance).   Our dance program at Sam Houston State University was great about exposing us to various styles of movement and dance cultures.   

Although we don’t have the luxury at Center Stage of seeing our dance students every day, we do offer the opportunity to experience vaious dance styles without having to sign up for five classes per week (or more)!  Through our Saturday Dance Intensives, students have the chance to take Musical Theater, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Ballet, Lyrical/Contemporary, and Leaps/Turns in addition to their regular weekly classes.  From October through March, we offer one intensive each month.  The intensives are 2 hours long allowing enough time for proper stretching, across the floor work, and a dance combination.  The intensives are all taught by different teachers so students are not only exposed to different genres of dance but also different styles.  Each teacher brings his or her own unique style and expertise to the intensive.  

Below is a picture of our Ballet Intensive with the lovely Ms. Karen.  The students are working on their turnout and strength with the use of Therabands.

Nov. phone 026

Our next intensive is our Hip-Hop Intensive coming up Jan. 26th with Ms. Ally.  Students 5-9 years old will dance from 10-noon, and students 10-up will dance from 3-5PM.  Intensives are only $15 per student!  Call the studio at (512) 259-0445 to sign up for the Hip-Hop Intensive or any of our other upcoming intensives.  Intensives are open to all students.

Below is a picture of our Mini Hip-Hop Co. last year.

Mini HH Co.

   Upcoming Intensives:

Jan. 26th – Hip-Hop

Feb. 16th – Jazz

Mar. 23rd – Lyrical/Contemporary

Experience Local Theater this Spring!

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 My 5 year old daughter has watched Tangled so many times that she knows exactly what happens next and even begins laughing before Rapunzel knocks Flynn rider on the head with a frying pan. Although she loves this movie and watches it repeatedly, she never says, “Mom, remember the time we watched Tangled” because it is not a memorable experience. She does, however, recall the time we saw “the real Belle on the stage” at Leander High School’s presentation of Beauty and the Beast. She remembers seeing the “dancing cats” at the Georgetown Palace Theater’s production of Cats. I love theater and want to share the appreciation for the art with my kids. We love spreading a blanket out at the Zilker Hillside Theater to watch a musical on a summer night. It’s a great way to spend a summer night.

This area provides a rich culture of music, art, theater, and dance. We have so many venues to watch great performances. We are close to the Bass Concert Hall, Zach Theater, Long Center, Cedar Park Event Center, Georgetown Palace Theater, Way Off Broadway Players, and more. From professional performances to community theater to high school productions, we all can find something that appeals to our tastes and our budgets. A great resource for information on discounted shows or even free shows in the area is www.freefuninaustin.com . You can find that Joe McDermott will have a free show at Brilliant Sky Toys on Jan. 21. He plays guitar and sings fun, silly songs that kids love. You will also find on the site a discount code for a buy one adult ticket, get one child ticket free to see Lion King at the Bass Concert Hall on Jan. 17.

Lion King

Zach Theater has a youth theater program that offers shows geared toward young audiences. In their upcoming season, you can catch a theatrical presentation of the popular storybook Goodnight Moon from Feb. 2-Mar. 23 followed by Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid showing April 6-May 11.  For more information, visit www.zachtheater.org.

If you haven’t been to the Georgetown Palace Theater, I highly recommend it. The theater is rich in history. It was built in 1926 and showed silent films of the times. Restored to its 1938 art deco style, you will find yourself in a piece of history as you take your seat. As a small theater, every seat in the house is a great one! Thoroughly Modern Millie will be playing at the Palace May 17-June 16. For more information on their current season, visit www.georgetownpalace.org.

Palace Theatre

Our local youth are quite talented as well. My daughter, niece, and nephew were impressed with the talent at Leander High School’s production of Beauty and the Beast. Tickets to the local high school theater productions are inexpensive and support their theater programs. Leander High School will be revisiting a bygone era with their production of Grease this spring, Rouse will kick up their heels in Footloose, and Vista Ridge will be presenting Seussical. Check out www.leanderisd.org for more information on these shows.

I hope you take advantage of the many wonderful opportunities to experience live theater in the area. I know my kids and I will be catching a few of these shows this spring. If you have a favorite theater spot, show, or group, please share it with the rest of us. We would love to hear from you!

Our Center Stage Family

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When I opened the studio, I was 25 years old.  I had been married for only a year, and we didn’t have any kids yet.  The studio has now been open for nine years, and I have 3 kids – a 5 year old daughter and 2 year old twins (a boy and a girl).  Just as my family has grown, our Center Stage family has also grown. 

One of the many joys of being a dance teacher is watching your students grow over the years.  School teachers have their students for one year.  As dance teachers, we have our students in class for several years.  We have the pleasure of watching them grow into beautiful young ladies (and some young men too).  I love celebrating with the girls when they finally get their first pair of pointe shoes.  In my mind, I can still see them entering the studio with their fluffy pink tutus carrying teddy bears, and now they are showing me their pointe shoes.  Earning the privilege of dancing on pointe is a rite of passage for any dancer.  They have worked years to develop the strength and technique required for pointe work.  It is a great cause for celebration, and our teachers love celebrating this milestone with our dancers.  We also celebrate when our students come in to class full of excitement announcing that they made their school dance team.  Watching them achieve their goals is just as rewarding for us as it is for them!  With tears in our eyes, we say good-bye as our students graduate from high school and head off to college to begin the next chapter in their lives.  We hope they will always carry fond memories of their dance years with us.

As part of the Center Stage family, not only do we get to watch our students grow up, we also get to celebrate major life events with our teachers.  Over the years, we have celebrated 3 college graduations for our teachers.  Six of our teachers have said “I do” in the past nine years, and most recently, Ms. Tori got engaged!  Our teachers have welcomed 9 little bundles of joy into their lives over the past nine years. (Three of those were mine with two coming at one time!)  All of those babies were taking dance classes before they ever took their first breath.  They were doing plies at the barre or tapping along with their mommies when they were still in the womb.  Now some of those babies are taking dance classes of their own.  We’ve seen our dance mamas holding baby sisters while big sisters are taking dance class, and just a few years later, those baby sisters are ready for classes of their own.  Before we know it, they all will be wanting to show off their pointe shoes or announce that they have made their school dance team.  We’ll marvel at how much all of our students have grown and wonder where the time went.  That’s what families do, and that’s what it means to be part of the Center Stage family.