Artistic Director's Report

Once again the year rushes to its close and we are just weeks out from the highlight of our dance year - the concert. How simple those 2 words make it sound - the concert - yet how much time and effort go in to creating a wonderful entertainment for our audiences and a marvellous experience for our students. The scenery is well under way over in the Scout Hall each week under the creative eye of Patrick Hudson. Geoff, in between his million duties as president, is also flat out getting props organised and assisting ably in scenery preparation. Ian has been working on the sets, building what will be an amazing coach and a fireplace large enough for many wonders to pour from! It is going to be an incredible feast for the eyes - and the ears - with the gorgeous scores of Paul Reade and Serge Prokofiev.

Costumes are also well in hand. The junior ballet, jazz and tap are also being catered for and props and sets beginning to appear for these sections as well. Staff are busy choreographing and producing costumes, and students seem very excited and working hard to learn their roles.

You may have noticed that many of you have not been handed a bag of costume pieces to turn into a costume this year. There are a couple of reasons - one being that I have found it very difficult to find suitable fabric at suitable prices this year so we are behind in production, and another - that some of the Cinderella costumes are being mass produced by a handful of mums along with myself in an effort to get a much more uniform finish, and fit and more importantly, to try and keep the cost of dressmaking for individual families down. Last year it was particularly clear that many, more than willing sewers, were really struggling with their costumes and some families paid hundreds of dollars to "professional" dressmakers found through the local paper, who often produced appalling results - some tutus having to be pulled apart and remade by Laura, Alanna and myself so that they could be worn.

A concerned parent, Mai Lau, approached me about trying a different way to help you all and keep costs down - something that we as a community school, fully support. So a number of Cinderella costumes are being put together by me and will be handed over at costume check for you to finish off and decorate. Mai and Kathy Lia are assisting me with this and some of the Kinder Mums are ably assisting with kinder costumes. Help is now needed to complete the new Mouse heads and all the new headdresses. Once again by costume check week these will be under way, and you will all be able to help put the finishing touches to them. Jazz and tap costumes are under way and these should have been handed out by now. We look forward to constructive feed back as to whether this way of doing things has helped our families.

Term 3 flew by and almost all exams were over in a 7 day period in July - 250 candidates passed through the school that week and each one of them was prepared and supported by the staff. My overtime alone through this period amounted to 99 hours! Five more students have recently completed major exams - one level 10 tap, our 3 level 10 Jazz students and one Intermediate Foundation student. We hope that they will receive their results soon.

Presentation Evening was also a big success and the teachers were happy with the change in the junior programme to include Pre Primary as it really showed how much progress our little ones make in a year, and gave the Pre primary children the chance to be the 'big people" for a change. Congratulations go to all award and scholarship winners.

Several RAD exam candidates participated in the RAD Grade Awards following Presentation and once again all our students were great ambassadors for this school and did well in such a large and prestigious event. Several students won awards, including Natasha Ritchie, Madeline Pratt, Jessica Hutchinson and Shelby Howard - well done to all of you!

In September a large group of students and staff spent 4 long but fulfilling days over in Maidstone for the Hi Point Dance Festival. Our students were great ambassadors to this school both in their behaviour and in their dancing - doing very well in all areas and we congratulate all of them.

The 3rd and last competition for the year was the SFD Choreographic competition and once again we had many talented and very creative students enter and do extremely well. The staff have NO input into the work the children show - it is entirely their own. As a school which enables students to enter we are also expected to provide the SFD with assistance in running the day. This was willingly done by Laura and myself, along with Kirsty, Terry, Tanya McDougall and Anna Alonaritis with students Madeline Pratt, Natasha Ritchie and Tahlia Alonaritis helping us man the doors all day. Congratulations to all our students - I personally was amazed at your creativity and polish.

Ringwood Ballet has existed for 46 years now. It was founded by a dedicated group of parents who wished to provide expert tuition for their children in the art of classical ballet within Ringwood. This is STILL the principle that guides this school under my directorship. This school has always demanded a high standard from its students and that is not about to change. Recently there has been some very virulent criticism of my decisions regarding competitions, casting and staffing. Dance is a competitive and hard task master and we are here to train the best possible dancers we can. Being a 'community group" does not lessen the responsibility of the staff to demand the very best of their students. Classical Ballet demands a level of perfection simply to be safe, much as gymnastics or elite sport does. We DO NOT demand the impossible however, and many students are happy to present about 60% of what they are capable of because that is all they wish to give - we accept this and still try to make the learning of dance enjoyable and challenging for them. On the other hand many students always give everything they can, and require the chance to develop their love of dance by being given more challenges than the students who do not give this much - this has as much to do with personality, determination and passion for dance as with natural talent and I am never going to hold back such students for fear it could intimidate less responsive children. Indeed, in my experience, encouraging and coaching the more passionate child, increases the chance of those with less drive, trying to improve their own work. As well, these children have the backing of their parents, who are very supportive of everything their child does and also of the staff involved in their training.

All the staff members are contracted by the committee of management but I am the one who recommends them - this is the only way it can work and the way it has always been under all previous directors. I am happy that we have an excellent balance of young and experienced staff and that we are able to train up students through the school to become excellent teachers. This is the best way to pass on the traditions and standards of the school. We have on staff Janine Box, Kirsty Ritchie, Terry Surtees and now Laura Frost - all trained at RBG and all now teaching for the school and upholding the values and traditions that make this school such a special one. It is my fervent wish that we will continue to develop teachers to pass on their knowledge and love of dance. We are also very fortunate to continue to have the expertise of our former Artistic Director, Susan Massey, on staff, and I am deeply affected by her support and loyalty to RBG and to myself.

I wish all the dancers "chookas" for the concert and thank all those families who have assisted in any way with costumes and sets. It is always a huge task requiring unlimited hours from many - but the result on stage is worth every moment!

Regards, Rosemary