PO Box 2218
Rowville 3178
03 9752 9202
1300 733 741
5th May 2015
Dear S.F.D Member,
It’s hard to believe we are already in Term 2.
COMBINED SCHOOLS CONCERT
What an amazing afternoon! We were entertained by a diverse display of dances and thank the many schools who nominated such wonderful dances to help make our evening a great success. A special thank you as well to Sunraysia Dance Academy who made the journey from Mildura and Dance Power Studios who travelled from New South Wales! This year we presented students who sat their Level 10 exams in 2014 with an Inaugural Medal to honour their achievement. This will become a regular feature of the Combined School's Concert each year.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A special part of the evening during the Combined Schools Concert was the announcement of the Outstanding Achievement Award recipient for 2014 – congratulations to Rosemary Frost. Born in South Africa, she moved to the Royal Ballet School as a teenager to complete her classical training and danced with the CAPAB Ballet Company in South Africa and Ballet Frankfurt. She moved to Australia in 1989 with her young family opening a small school in Heathmont in 1992. Her school was merged with Ringwood Ballet Group 2 years later and she took over the role of Artistic Director. Every year she produces a full length classical ballet for middle and senior students and her productions have built up an enormous reputation and received local awards. She designs and makes the majority of the costumes (including all tutus) from scratch, spending countless hours at the studio sewing and adding beautiful embellishments with painstaking detail and patience. She has produced many outstanding dancers over the past 25 years, with many of them winning scholarships, receiving outstanding exam results and going on to further their own performance careers.
NEW SFD MERCHANDISE
We are excited to announce that a new SFD T-Shirt is now available for purchase. These will be on sale at the Masterclasses and Competitions @ $22 each.
COMPETITIONS
A reminder that the dates for the Southern Federation of Dance Competitions this year will be Sunday 28th June to Friday 3rd July, inclusive. Once again, the venue is The Whitehorse Performing Arts Centre, 397 Whitehorse Road, Nunawading (Melways Ref: 48 G9). Just a reminder that technical classes will be held during the Competitions. The adjudicators for this year’s comps will be Karen Pottinger and Louise Bell.
For student’s burning their own music, please advise them that CD’s should be burnt at a low speed.
X 8 or x16 writing speed is the preference.
SPONSORSHIP
It’s not too late to become a sponsor for our competitions! If you would like to help contribute to the sponsoring of our competitions, your donation goes directly towards the cost of trophies for 1st place and medals for 2nd and 3rd. It only costs$80 for a½ page advertisement or $130 for a full-page advertisement in the program. Alternatively, any nominated cash donations will be gratefully accepted. Please call our office for a sponsorship form.
EXAMINATIONS
All members are reminded to include the $360.00 non-refundable examination deposit with your Examination Booking Form to confirm your booking. This amount will be deducted from the balance owing.
VICTORIAN MEMBERS
Exam bookings are flooding into the office. If you require a particular date (especially from July to September), you are advised to book now so every effort can be made to accommodate your request. Examination request forms are enclosed in your manual.
INTERSTATE MEMBERS – EXAM BOOKINGS
All interstate exam bookings MUST be received at head office by the closing date in order to arrange Examiners.
Please note that early interstate exam bookings closed March 28th and late interstate exam bookings close May 30th. Any requests received after these dates cannot be guaranteed to be accommodated.
EXAMS – TEACHER PARTICIPATION
Just a reminder to members that only one teacher should be present in the exam room for levels 1 + 2 as per specifications in the manual highlighted below:
(1) Level 1 Classical, Jazz & Tap
• The teacher may name and demonstrate the steps, place the candidates into lines, circles etc
• The teacher may not give technical corrections to candidates in the examination room
• Tap shoes may not be worn by the teacher during Tap examinations.
(2) Level 2 Classical, Jazz & Tap
• The teacher may give the names of the steps and help place candidates but may not demonstrate steps or give corrections.
• Tap shoes may not be worn by the teacher during Tap examinations
USE OF IPADS / IPODS / LAPTOPS IN THE EXAM ROOM
Teachers are asked to ensure that if using iPads, iPods or Laptops as music devices in the exam room that the following steps must be taken:
· Make sure that there is a separate playlist (clearly labeled) for each level and style with the exam dance music added to the end of the playlist
· Ensure that the devise is fully charged before the exam session or plugged into a charger through the exams. If it is a long exam day, then 2 devices must be made available to swap or an external battery charger pack must be available (purchase from Apple store, JB Hi Fi or Harvey Norman)
· Ensure the Passcode has been removed and screen saver turned off.
· An exam supervisor must be available to go through the device with the examiner before the exam session commences and also throughout the day, in case of difficulties.
We look forward to catching up with you at the Masterclasses and Competitions.
Jane Thomas
Office Administrator