Summer Schedule

Good Afternoon!

This will not be one of my usual long, drawn out, blog posts. But rather, it will be short, simple, and to the point... if that's possible for me.

Dancers Anonymous Staff just got done with and amazing photo shoot on Monday with Miss Understood Photography http://www.missunderstoodphotography.com/ done by Amanda Tellez. She did a phenomenal job and we cannot wait to work with her again!

Right below you will find a picture of our class schedule for this summer! I hope that you or your children can find time this summer to join us for a class! Hope to see you soon!

See.... that wasn't long! See you soon!

Courtney

Coming Soon: Summer Class #1

We're Back!

After a long school year and some in between Holiday Dancers Anonymous classes, we find ourselves welcoming the arrival of summer! I cannot begin to express how excited I am about starting up our summer, and all that we have to offer our students this year.

We have a new lineup of teachers this year, and I am ever so pleased with how our staff has worked out. Please watch our video below to see our teachers!

Secondly, we are having a registration day this year! We are doing this event so that people who want to get their payments out of the way can do so, and they do not have to worry about it the day of class, and instead can just head in and dance. Parents are encouraged to come to registration day, ask questions, meet the teachers, and sign the liability form as well. Registration day will be held in front of the New Mexico State University Activity Center, outside the main building doors. It will start at 12pm, on May 26th (a Saturday, in hopes more parents can come) and it will end probably 2pm. You can pay for your first class, you can pay for the first month, or you can pay for both months!

Speaking of paying for class, our prices have changed as well. Dancers Anonymous has become an official business as of this year, and we will not only just be paying for our studio space this year, but we will also be paying taxes. So while our prices have been raised to accommodate this price change, and while I know it may be scary at first, I promise it's not as much as you think! There is a studio in Las Cruces that charges $80 a month for one class a week. Here where I work in Clovis, our studio charges $40 a month for one class a week, and that class only lasts 45 minutes. That in turn, for two months of tuition, turns out to be $80 for 2 months, for only 8 classes. What we are asking, is $50 a month for three classes a week each at 2 hours a class. This means, you are paying $100 dollars, for 2 months, 27 classes, and 54 hours worth of class time. :) I think  you may begin to see what I mean by it's not as much as you think. If you have any further questions about this, please come talk to us at registration day! :) Our drop in rate has also increased to $10. This is for students who do not plan to be involved during most of the month, but still want to come and take a class or two!

At the beginning of this blog I talked about some opportunities we are having for our students this year! We have begun talking to a few photographers and videographers about taking pictures and recording our classes. While this is something we did last year, the people we have been talking to are professionals with great quality cameras who are looking to make a name for themselves, and we are jumping on the opportunity to help them out! So, this means our students will not only be getting quality pictures of them dancing and taking class, but also high quality videos to go along with each class!

We are also producing a music video this year. This is not your typical music video, but rather it is what choreographers are calling concept videos. It has all the attributes of a music video, but it's focus is not on the artist who sings the song, but rather the dancers that create meaning to the music! Students who are wanting to be a part of this music video must attend a Ballet Class, a Contemporary Class, a Hip-Hop Class, and a Jazz Class. These are the four styles that will be represented in the music video and it is important that they take time to work on their skills to be a part of the music video.

Last but not least, we are doing a show off at the end of the summer in which parents and family may come, and enjoy watching their child perform what they have learned over the summer. It will be an enjoyable time for everyone! And best of all, free of charge! :)

We are really excited about this summer and cannot wait to get started. So what do you say? Will we see you at registration day?

-Courtney


Coming Soon: Summer Schedule (Times, Dates, Teachers, and Styles)

Dancers Anonymous.... We Made It.

I'm sure many of you reading this can vouch for the fact that people are always willing to put us down for some reason or another. Maybe not all people, but there are definitely quite a few that seem to think telling us that we are not capable of doing something is helpful and productive in some way. I cannot really say that I understand this way of thinking, but none the less, it happens. Unfortunately, it's when I hear from my students that it is coming from their friends, teachers, and most hurtfully, family. To be more specific... their parents. I grew up in a household where I was told I COULD, not that I CAN'T. Perhaps that is why I never saw limits to my future, and believed that I held the world in my hands. (Between you and me... I still think that sometimes even today).


Students, especially at the young high school age that most of our students were at, needed to hear a message other than what they had been hearing, and I wanted to provide that for them. Our final class was about proving the world wrong. Julian Rodriguez helped me come up with a small piece of choreography that allowed the students a chance to just enjoy the moves and the moment. It wasn't a lot of choreo so that they had time to perfect it and feel comfortable in front of the camera. :) I told them to have fun, and they did! It was a beautiful class. I also had them make signs. These signs were supposed to say, "I will..." and then they were supposed to write something that they will do. They did this with great pride and enjoyed telling the person who told them they couldn't... that they would no matter what. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end Dancers Anonymous for the summer! I hope you enjoy our final class!


Thanks to everyone who came out and made this a great success!!

 Courtney

We Got It Poppin!

Before our final class, you get to meet a new teacher! His name is Jermey Edmonson and he's a dancer at New Mexico State University. Ever since the first class when I met Jermey, he had a really great personality, and it was obvious that his passion in life was dance. He most likely eats, drinks, breathes, and sleeps in dance. People who love dance that much, are the type of people I like to see. I guess I should also say that I love people that are this passionate about other productive things as well. I think it's important to have something that these students should strive for. Jermey is this type of person. So when he asked me if there was a spot to teach, I was more than happy to move things around and allow him his moment. I'm very glad he did. It was a really fun class and the students really enjoyed it. It was a style of Hip Hop that added a little bit of pom to it, and so some of our dancers who are also cheer leaders, really really really enjoyed the class! Definitely a teacher I hope to have teach again!

Courtney

Creepshow Is An Understatement.

I'm sure by now you have caught on to the fact that I am trying to get these blogs uploaded, so that you do not have to sit around waiting for them anymore! :) So here we go!

After the Amber and Courtney class, Josh Bernal gave us a modern routine. Not modern in the sense of what we see today in most slow modern/contemporary companies, but a style that we will call Josh Modern. :) It was a very creepy class to say the least. The story behind Josh's piece is that everyone is in an insane asylum. Therefore, they had to take on the persona of such characters. After recording many of students, it was obvious that these kids enjoyed embracing their creepy side! While it was a small class, which is always okay, it was also fun to watch these kids who usually only attempt Hip Hop, were branching out and trying something different. We had a great response from that class, and everyone REALLY loved the concept and the choreography. We hope you enjoy it as well.

Courtney

Is This Place About To Blow? Really Ke$ha?

Before I start this blog, I would like to start off by apologizing for getting so behind. I was doing really well until right at the end. Summer took it's hold on me and I became utterly lazy in my writing.

Please forgive me.

So, after our Dejan Tubic class, Amber and I got together for a collaboration! We wanted to add our own style of Hip Hop to the class, and we presented the class with Courtney and Amber Hip Hop. Not much of a name for a style, but it'll have to do. It was an interesting class that's for sure. A pretty good turn out, with some new faces, but choreography that definitely required the students to think outside of their normal Hip Hop box. I think some took well to it, while others... well it just might not have been their cup of tea. But that's okay. Dancers Anonymous is all about finding out what you like and being the best you can be at it! I enjoyed it, and I hope you all enjoy the below video.

Courtney

Dear Dejan Tubic, Love Dancers Anonymous

There are many choreographers that will inspire you in life. Perhaps it's not their work exactly that inspires you, but the way they teach it, the way they handle their business, or the way they care about people they don't even know. The dance world is full of competition, so to find someone who not only made their living and has become such a big name from posting some YouTube videos, but he does his best to respond to the people he comes into contact with. Most big names wouldn't even take the time.

The choreographer I'm talking about, is Dejan Tubic. He's based out of California (of course, because that's where all the cool people are) and he teaches his own style of Hip Hop. Just from watching his videos, he seems to have a fun personality, a great grip on life and an idea of what it means to have a good time in class. Great teachers know what it means to show their kids a good time, and make them strive for more. That's exactly what he did for me, and my kids.

I'll share a little side note with you. I did email Mr. Dejan Tubic and ask him what it would take to book a class with him so he could come here to New Mexico to teach our kids. It would have been great to give our students an opportunity like that! He was not the only choreographer I had tried to email, but he is indeed the only one who responded to me, which made me respect him even more. I explained to him that New Mexico has very limited opportunities when it comes to pursuing their dreams. Dance in this area, (good/well instructed technique and dance) is hard to come by, and most students decide to leave their dreams behind once leaving high school. I can't tell you how many dance students embarked on the college journey to pursue dance, and decided to give up. I wanted them to all realize that there were plenty of opportunities out there, they just had to go after them. I also explained to Dejan why I started Dancers Anonymous, to give him a better understanding of what I was trying to achieve with my students, and to let him know I would do anything for these kids. I want the best for them. Dejan so kindly wrote back, and here's what he had to say:

Hi Courtney!

First of all I want to say that you are absolutely amazing for what you are accomplishing and I commend you for that. I do have some bad news unfortunately and would not be able come that day or even that weekend due to a job that I am doing. I am literally booked out from the 26th of July all the way to the middle of August. I hope you don't take this email as a set back and continue to what you are doing. I want you to let everyone know involved that I wish I can be there and to have an amazing time at your workshops. Dance Dreams are Reality and I hope you all achieve it.

Thank you Courtney and I do hope to hear from you soon."  -Dejan Tubic

So, to show him our appreciate that he even responded to us, we taught one of his routines during one of our Dancers Anonymous classes. We taught it, made a video, and emailed it to him to show him. Before you proceed to watch the video, please note that their are a few bad words in the song, so if you're offended by that kind of thing, we apologize ahead of time. We again would like to thank Dejan for his encouragement and for all he does in the dance world! We hope to book him for next summer, or possibly around winter time for the kids to have such a great opportunity. Below is the video, and under that is the comment he left us on YouTube after watching the video :) he truly is a great person for the kids to look up to!

"LOVE THIS! Good job everybody!! I loved the video! Can't wait to come out to DejANCE with all of you!! Much love to you all at Dancers Anonymous!"
-Dejan