The Martha Hicks School of Ballet

Wee Wigglers at MHSB

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:51:14 GMT

ALL NEW at the MARTHA HICKS SCHOOL OF BALLET

Want to wiggle for free?

Wee Wigglers is a preschool activity program that promotes movement as a fun and social aspect of life. Get ready to explore music and fitness with your toddler. Dance, Laugh, Play, Learn.

Upcoming free demo on Sunday, October 2nd – call Brigitte at 416-873-7286 to reserve a spot!

Come join in on the fun!

Classes Added and Changed

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 21:36:13 GMT

Welcome back to dance at MHSB! We are gradually starting classes and are happy to hear the music through the office walls again! We have added a few classes to our schedule as well as moved a couple around.

For our Modern dancers, we are adding a Modern 2 class on Mondays from 3:45 to 4:45 pm at the Post Office location with Alysha Lockyer. We know this time is a little early, but for those students who attend North Toronto Collegiate or Northern Secondary, you can most likely make this time. Following this class, from 4:45-5:45 we will be offering a Hip Hop 6 class - also with Alysha. The only other Hip Hop 6 class is very full so we are happy to have this option for you if you still haven't registered. We also now have another Hip Hop 2 class on Wednesdays from 4:15-5:15 at St. Cuthbert's Church.

The Senior Ballet 1 class moved from Mondays to Wednesdays and is now running from 8:30-9:30 pm with Kiyoko Makimura.

A reminder that the Body Conditioning/Stretch class on Sundays from 10:45-11:30 am with Wilson is open to anyone over the age of 15. That means parents, friends, etc are welcome to drop in to this class and experience one of Mr. Wong's famous bootcamp-ish style workouts! You can buy 1 class, 10 or the whole year which is 30 classes. Special rates for MHSB families.

Thanks for reading - we are looking forward to an exciting year of dance!

Uniform Days At Our 2384 Yonge St. Location

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 03:57:19 GMT

Due to limited space at our Yonge Street location, we will only continue to carry a small uniform inventory primarily for our younger dancers. We will be carrying pink bodysuits, all sizes of pink tights, and ballet shoes.

Director's Letter Fall 2011

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 22:14:57 GMT

Hello MHSB families! We hope that you have been enjoying a relaxed and memorable summer with your family and that as it winds down you can gently transition into “school mode”.

We know this can be an extremely busy time and that there are many changes that come with the month of September. It is often tricky to get in the swing of things and get used to a new schedule. We are striving to provide you with all the information you need for your child’s dance lessons commencing this fall, including dates, dress code, reception/office hours etc.

We just wrapped up our last two weeks of summer camp with our 3-10 year old dancers. It has been a terrific summer with lots of excited campers/dancers and we hope they have all had a very fun experience learning new dance forms and making new friends.

As you know, we are implementing a new software system for the school. The system is called Jack Rabbit and we are striving to transition smoothly from our old system that was in place for over 10 years into this new one. You can expect some things to change and the look of some reports etc. will be slightly different. We trust however, that as the year progresses we will iron out any kinks and will be able to continue to meet your needs from an administrative perspective. If at any time you have any questions regarding your account and how to access it, please feel free to call or email the office.

In June we added a Facebook page for MHSB. We encourage you to “like” the page – that is how you get access to information and pictures – and post any comments or pictures yourselves. This is a fun place for MHSB families to keep in touch, learn interesting dance related facts and be informed of things going on at the studio. Of course our website will also give you additional information and we encourage you to visit www.mhsb.ca often as well.

Thanks for joining us for the 2011/2012 season – we are looking forward to another exciting year of dance and are so glad your child will be a part of it.

Sincerely, Martha Hicks

MHSB Comings and Goings

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 22:56:35 GMT

Every September we have a few changes to the staff and we know that many of you like to know where people go and who the new people are.

This year we said good-bye to a few special teachers. Ulrika Englund has been with The Martha Hicks School of Ballet for 10 years. In this time she became a beloved teacher of hundreds of students, especially our youngest dancers. Ulrika and her husband Stewart and their little girl Astrid moved to Guelph this summer where she will continue to teach. Many of you will remember Briana who taught at MHSB for many years and opened a school in Guelph five years ago. Ulrika has been driving there every Friday to teach tap and will now be teaching several days for Briana. We wish Ulrika and her family success and happiness in their new home and city.

Pam Reid was also with MHSB for several years teaching jazz and hip hop. She and her husband Chris have moved a little further away – to Texas! We hope Pammi and Chris are very happy down south and wish them all the best.

Also leaving us this year are Lilia Leon and Ofilio Coto Portillo. Lilia taught Modern classes here for a couple of years and also taught during summer camp. Ofilio taught senior Hip Hop. We wish them all the best as they pursue teaching and choreographing.

Joining us this year are 3 new teachers.

Sarah McQueston will be teaching the Modern Classes on Sundays . Sarah trained at York University and The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She has an extensive performing background and we are very excited to have her join our teaching staff.

Aly Robb will be teaching the Jazz classes on Thursdays here at the main studio. Aly taught in London Ontario for nearly 10 years in the competitive stream. She has taught jazz, musical theatre, lyrical and acro and we are looking forward to her bringing her wonderful energy to the MHSB studio.

Julia Gropper is entering her third year in The Teacher Training Program at the National Ballet School. For two years she has been assisting the students in the Associates Program as well as teaching adults. Julia has previously taught in Germany and the Netherlands to children ages 3-16. She will be teaching the junior levels on Saturdays at Lawrence Park and the Tuesday classes at Fairlawn as well as some senior classes at the main location on Mondays. Julia is very excited to have the opportunity to teach here at MHSB and we know she will challenge and inspire your children.

You can learn more about our new talented teachers on our faculty page.

Dress Code Reminder

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 03:47:06 GMT

Although MHSB will no longer continue to stock all dancewear items, we will still have a dress code in effect.

Dancers will be expected to wear black attire to jazz, tap, modern, hip hop and musical theatre. As mentioned, we still have a pretty large inventory of many items but once they are sold out we will not be getting any more.

Ballet students in levels Ballet 1 and up will need a black bodysuit, pink tights and pink ballet shoes – either leather or canvas.

Hip Hop students will need clean running shoes – ones that they have not been wearing outdoors, some type of cargo pants – no low rise sweat pants please! – And a t- shirt.

A NOTE ABOUT HAIR:

This is mentioned in our MHSB Handbook, but is worth repeating here:

Ballet students in Ballet 1 and up MUST have their hair in a bun. If you do not know how to do this please go online and learn how to make a ballet bun. Jazz students – MUST have their hair pulled back in a TIGHT pony tail – not a loose one. It is impossible to execute a pirouette without hair firmly in place.