Wootton Bassett School of Dance

 

	FESTIVALS AND EISTEDDFODAU
	WESTON FESTIVAL NOSTALGIA
TAP BITS	DANCE EXAM AND AUDITION TIPS
GREEK CLASSICAL DANCE	FESTIVAL ESSENTIALS
BITS AND PIECES (costumes/hair etc.)	HOW TO FEED YOUR DANCER
	On Other Pages...

Need to research a dance style?  Try here!

 

 

 

 

Singing and Dancing Career notes (click on title above)

You may have noticed that members of the dance school sometimes enter competitions.  Any dancer at the school can consider entering a competition.

WANT TO TRY FESTIVAL DANCING? For dancers new to festival dancing, Longwell Green has two Novice categories, and so is a good place to start your festival experience.  It is also a good opportunity to first experience on-stage solo dance, with its small community hall stage.  The hall has a cafe facility and there is a general store with cashpoint facilities across the road.

The Dance section of the Longwell Green Eisteddfod takes place during Autumn half term.  Longwell Green is between Bristol and Bath on the A431, and the venue is the Longwell Green Memorial (Community) Hall.  The Weston Junior Arts Festival takes place at the Playhouse Theatre, Weston-Super-Mare, during Summer half term.

LINKS:-

THE OFFICIAL LONGWELL GREEN EISTEDDFOD WEBSITE.

THE PLAYHOUSE THEATRE (Weston Super Mare) FESTIVAL LINKS

THE TILEHURST EISTEDDFOD WEBSITE

DIRECTORY OF UK FESTIVALS

HOW TO BEGIN FESTIVAL DANCING

1. Let Miss Kate know that your child(ren) would like to take part.  Miss Kate can then make sure you receive registration details etc. when she gets them. 
2. Miss Kate will discuss with you and your child the best type of dance to begin with, eg: National: (Danish, Bulgarian, etc.); or Modern Dance, Ballet, Greek etc. It is advised not to try to learn more than one new additional dance per festival.
3. Festival practices are advertised in the half term before the event, and are usually on Saturdays or Sundays.  A diary is kept on the stage for you to book practice sessions.  Discuss with Miss Kate if you are not sure. Costs are kept to a minimum.
4. Bring a blank audio tape to the first practice session.  Once the dance music is recorded on it, make a second copy, as audio tapes are notoriously vulnerable.  Bring the tape to every festival practice.
5. It is suggested that parents/carers bring a notebook to the festival practice lessons to write down the dance moves.  However, I take a camera that will record video and sound, because I'm useless at writing down dance notation.  I then only need the note book for technique reminders, and to note when the next session is!
6. Practice daily, even if only once.  A novice dance only takes 90 seconds max!

AT FESTIVAL TIME

1. Once you have the costume (Miss Kate has a selection, with a depreciation charge), keep it on a hanger in a suit/dress cover (or a large polythene bag over a hanger).  If you get a bag with a zip, closed at the base, you can put socks/tights/small props etc in the bottom of it where they won't be forgotten!
2. The times for all the festival dances will be posted up at the dance school as soon as they are available (this will be quite close to the festival date). 
3. Make a list of all costume items, props, shoes, hair and make-up items, (include both tapes on this list), and tick them off as they go into the car.
4. You need to arrive at the festival venue at least an hour before your dance (half an hour for 9am dances).  Allow for holiday traffic to Weston!  Check traffic news for road problems.  You don't want your child to arrive late and stressed.

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 You've chosen a track for your festival number, but it's five minutes long!

You try to cut it down to two minutes, but it ends with a jolt.  What do you do?

First, you need to 'rip' the track into your computer.  Put the CD in your computer CD drive. Open Windows Media Player, and select Rip from the top menu.  Follow the instructions, which vary slightly for different versions.  Once the file is ripped, right click on it and select "Open Containing Folder".  The ripped tune is usually put in My Music, but you never know!  If your computer is Linux or other operating system, you may need to get hold of CD ripping software.

You now have your music on your PC, ready for editing.

EDITING SOFTWARE

If you have Nero DVD Burner in your computer, you will already have editing software, called Nero Wave Editor.

If not, one free download you might like to try is WAVEPAD. This is offered free in the hope you will like it so much you will buy the professional version.  It works on anything from Windows 95 to Vista.

The beauty of editing software is that you can cut, copy and edit your music seamlessly (though it takes a while to get the hang of it) at the beginning, middle, or end.  Then all you need to do is burn your edited track onto a new CD (again, software is available online for this if you don't have it ready packaged on your computer).  You may then like to make a tape copy for festivals.

 

 

NEW TO FESTIVALS? SOME ESSENTIALS:
After you've got the dancer, the costumes, the tapes (clearly labelled), the hair and makeup things and a picnic ready to put into the car, you might like to consider the following additional essentials:-

Absolute number one essential: a backup audio tape with all the dance pieces on it, in case the festival organisers' machine decides to eat the original.  An extra precaution would be to protect the original from being accidentally wiped. You can do this by knocking the plastic out of the small square holes on either side of the thin end of the audiocassette (That's the non-business end - just push a biro into it).  Until you re-cover the holes with tape, the cassette will not take any further recordings and cannot be wiped (though the machine can still eat the tape).  For a safe backup, you could also look at software that converts audio tapes to CDs (here's one website)

Other essentials: A small sewing kit, several safety pins (for last minute disasters), spares of anything fragile or easily misplaced, eg: bun nets, thin tights, hair ornaments etc.

Also required for most dances: A smile.

• Bring a tape player: I've heard that some homes no longer possess such an antique; but audio tapes are still standard at most festivals (if that's you, grab one at a car boot sale if you see it).   Tape players are useful for last minute practice of recently learned dances (though use considerately and remember to REWIND the tape after the practice, or better still, use your backup tape!).

YOU'VE BOUGHT HEEL TAPS: Now, where can you get them fitted?  I asked the Cobbler/Key cutter shop in Apsley Arcade on Wootton Bassett High Street, and they will happily fit taps that have been supplied by Miss Kate (for a fee, of course!)

Black canvas tap shoes looking grey?  Brush them with a very light touch of black shoe cream or wax, using a circular motion.  DON'T OVERDO THE WAX! The tiniest scratch of the brush on the cream/wax will do for the whole shoe.

Black shiny patent tap shoes scuffed?  Keep some black nail varnish handy!  Same principle for white, but for red etc., take the shoe to the nail varnish shop to match the shade.  For coloured leather, find a wax crayon in the matching colour to disguise the scuff.  Warm the shoe slightly, and build up layers of wax, polishing in between.

Scuffs on coloured leather shoes can be covered using a matching wax crayon (eg red). Build up the layers and polish with a soft cloth or brush in between.

Tap dance practice in a carpeted room: keep a bit of hardboard handy.

Tap Dance Association for adult tappers of all standards (older teenagers?). Danceweb entry. Associated Tap Dancers. More info:  01462 625259

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Is your barefoot dance routine lacking a few spins and turns because of sore feet and blisters?

Both Bloch and Capezio now produce a little elastic pad for barefoot dances, that clings to the ball of your foot, and costs somewhere around £10 a pair.

• The Bloch version is called Bloch Foot Thong, and is a suede pad which is secured to the toes with nude elastic straps.
• The Capezio version is called Footundeez, and actually looks like a mini pair of underpants. These are available in nude, with the jazzier colour versions being easier to get from USA suppliers.  Your big toe fits through the smaller 'leg-hole' of the undeez, and the rest of your toes fit through the larger hole.  These also have a suede pad for stage grip.  (Warning - using them on carpet will wear them out prematurely; and they're not cheap!)

Here's a UK Google search for Footundeez,    And another for Bloch Foot Thongs, to get you started.

I found some nuggets of advice on an American website and have adapted the advice to be a bit more ...well.. British!  Hope it helps!

Here are some tips on how to do your very best for your dance audition, competition or exam:

Beforehand

• Learn as much as you can about your kind of dance.  Use the internet, and the links on this site.
• Practice regularly.  If your dance requires a smile, practice with one.
• If you make a mistake during practice, don’t always start again, because you won’t be able to on the day.  Practice carrying on and improvising until you get to a bit you can remember. (here's where learning about your kind of dance comes in handy).
• Get a good night's sleep (several, if you can).
• Get a good breakfast so you'll have energy, but don’t ‘pig out’.
  
• While you're waiting, don't panic.  Go over your steps in your head and work on building up your confidence.
• Remind yourself that all you can do is your best.  When you’ve done that, you’ve done well  - whatever the outcome!

Performing

• Walk into the hall or onto the stage confidently.
• Greet the examiner with a smile – look as if you’re happy to be there!
• You will be given marks for your sense of performance.  Dancing is more than just performing perfect steps; enjoy it from your heart and let it show through in your dance.
• Judges want to see people who look like they enjoy dancing ....If your dance calls for one - smile!

• Enjoy the experience,  whatever marks you get.   Even if you don't win a medal, you can't lose, because you are gaining valuable stage experience and advice for the future.

DUETS, TRIOS etc

Inevitably, you won't be able to get together nearly often enough to rehearse.  So, as soon as you have the routine complete, get someone to record it right through, on a digital camera with video and sound.  This can then be transferred to CD so everyone in the duet/trio/group has a definitive copy of how the dance goes and can play it back on a computer or a DVD player - so nobody will be rehearsing mis-remembered steps at home in the living room!

Click here to DOWNLOAD MISS KATE'S FESTIVAL INFORMATION FOR PUPILS AND PARENTS
Don't have Microsoft Word?  Click here to download a free Microsoft Word Reader.

Here is a WEBSITE Selling software to put your AUDIO TAPE tracks onto CD (you need a tape player; and a computer with a sound card and CD writer/burner, plus a cable to go between the tape player's headphone socket and the computer's audi input socket).  I bought this software when my tape-to-tape recorder packed up.
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You are what you eat!!! (or so they tell us)
Here is a handy download for anyone who has to feed a dancer
( a bit technical !)
Nutrition is important.

File format: pdf. If you can't read it you need (Adobe Reader)
which you can download free on this link.

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You've decided to try out Classical Greek Dancing as a festival dance, and the adjudicator has told you to improve your frieze lines.  WOT??

Classical Greek dance is based on the images and philosophy of Ancient Greece.  Here are some pointers from 'the experts' that will definitely help...

• Read and get to know the stories of ancient Greek mythology; that's Zeus, Athena, Hercules, etc., (no, not Hercules the TV series - read the real story!).
• Read the story or stories relating to your particular dance (eg: if you're a satyr, find out all about satyrs!  I'f you're Winter, read the mythology surrounding winter.)
• Look at some ancient Greek art, either on an internet image search, or somewhere like the British Museum.

If you can dance for the general public, and they think you look like something off the side of a Greek vase, you're well on your way.  Here are some images from Greek friezes/vases that illustrate the point:

For more information on CLASSICAL GREEK DANCE, visit the UK website: http://classicalgreekdance.com/

LOANED COSTUME ITEMS
If you have borrowed any Dance School costume items that are no longer required (outfits, accessories, underskirts, shoes etc) please return them to Miss Kate.

USEFUL TIPS

• White dance shoes: scuffed through to the grey?  Use tippex (typewriter correction fluid).    
• scuffs on coloured leather shoes can be covered using a matching wax crayon (eg red). It may help to warm the crayon slightly, but don't leave it on a radiator - it will melt!
• Ballet Bun nets: Can't find any?  Take a regular bun net and tie it in half, across the elastic. Tie a second knot next to the first and cut between them.  You now have two nets, each half the size.
  
  

Trouble fixing a Ballet Bun? It's always harder for shorter hair, or long hair trimmed straight across at the bottom.  Try the following:

• Comb the hair into a strong elastic at the back of the head (tip: old 40 denier+ tights, cut into 6 inch (15cm) strips and rolled into a circle, make excellent hair elastics with much less tangle)
• Going in your preferred direction, twist the hair into a sausage and coil it around the hair elastic.  As you coil it, pin it with kirbygrips or hairpins, as this will leave your hands free-er.  Don't make too tight a coil, as you want the bun to be more like a doughnut than a french stick!
• If the hair is short, tufts will soon try to escape.  Tuck these under the coil as best you can and use more grips. Some hair types will need to be bullied into place with hair spray.  If you need a lot of this, move somewhere else so the dancer can escape out of the spray cloud when you've finished; that stuff's not good for the lungs!
• Stretch a bun hairnet over the bun, smoothing any tufts in the direction that lies them flattest.
• Secure with two or three more hair pins/grips.
• Finish off with a scrunchie or ribbon to match the dancer's leotard (and a bit more spray if needed).

Note: Thinner hair (especially if quite short) can be plumped out by pushing the ponytail through a hair cushion (which looks a bit like a doughnut), then winding the hair around it and securing with pins or grips.  If you can't buy a hair cushion, try making one by plaiting or twisting old tights together and sewing into a circle.