Audio Transcript
Hello, it’s Ruth. I’m here at your Silver Creek Clogging Dance and Movement Center in Silverton, Oregon. It’s the home of Dance Classes that Make Kids HappyTM.
This is What’s Happening at Silver Creek Clogging the week of February 8th.
We have several announcements this week, so we’re just gonna get right to it.
First: competition is this Friday in Boise. Super excited! Just a couple of notes, for those who are attending Boise competition in person. We will meet this Friday, February 12th at the Nampa Civic Center at 11:00am sharp and then we will go on the competition circuit.
Remember that masks are required at all times while inside the facility and the only exception is while dancers are on stage dancing. So, you’ll wear your mask all the time immediately up until you get on stage, then you’ll go on stage, you’ll dance and then you’ll put your mask right back on.
Another thing. Audience. As of now, there are no audience members allowed except for the instructors, directors, coaches and the dancers. However, there is a chance that could change. If it does change, we will let you know as soon as we know. We just got an email yesterday, from America OnStage, indicating that updates these days come more frequently than usual. So, they’re gonna just keep us up to date with all the info. So, if there are audience members allowed we will definitely let you know.
Another update regarding the competition is that for all Thursday classes this week, they’re going to be conducted online. So, if you have a class that’s on Thursday, just get ready to do that online and Brooklyn, who has been one of our fantastic instructors here at Silver Creek Clogging, will be substituting in those classes. So, that’ll be kind of fun to get to dance with Brooklyn this week. It’ll be super awesome.
One last reminder about our updated phone number and our office/admin hours is that we’re gonna make the final switch this week. So, if you haven’t already updated your contact information for Silver Creek Clogging in your address book, please do that with our new phone number which is: 503-874-6458. Because, we’re cutting off that old number this week, okay?
And then, just remember our office hours Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00 to 5:00 and Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 to 3:00. That’s just when we’re regularly monitoring our emails and phone calls and texts and such. So, just an update on that.
I also want to give you an update on our instructor certification course. So, this is something that we had announced at the end of September last year; that we were going to roll that out early this year and I just want to update you on that.
We are putting all the final touches on that. We’re kind of waiting to see how things go with COVID before we actually hit the start date on that, but all the details on that instructor certification course are in your email.
Just a couple of things. One, you’ve got to be a currently enrolled Silver Creek Clogging student for the duration of the program and the subsequent student teaching requirement in order to be eligible to take the course; you’ve got to be at least at a high intermediate (so, a level two intermediate) in order to take the course; you have to be able to demonstrate a high level of technical proficiency and quality of your sounds, including an energy of presentation, and that’s going to be determined by Silver Creek Clogging (that’s another requirement to be able to take the course); and you also need to commit to do the program, complete all the requirements, complete the post program student teaching requirement; attend, participate, all of that; and those are the requirements as of now. If there’s any other requirements, we’ll have that in your application. So, there will be an application to enroll.
We will be learning several things. It’ll be between an eight to ten week course. We’ll be learning… The first week, we’ll have an introduction to the course and an introduction to Silver Creek Clogging’s philosophy to dance education. So, that will be the first week.
The second week we’ll learn about music; like how to select a song per skill level and so forth, how to map out a song to choreograph, how to edit the music, all that kind of stuff. That’s what our second week is going to be.
Then, our third and fourth weeks we’ll do choreography. So, we’ll learn about selecting the steps based on your skill level, how to use formations and arm movements and that kind of thing. Those are… that’s going to take us two weeks.
The following week, we’ll do class structure and leadership. So, we’ll learn about the lesson planning and how to run your class and how to manage the team interactions and all of that kind of thing. So, that will be the next week.
The following two weeks, we’ll do teaching and instructional techniques. So, we’ll be learning about breaking down the steps, breaking down techniques, how to review and troubleshoot items with students. We’ll talk about and learn how to do advanced queuing, all that kind of stuff.
And then we will have our final week. It will be a certification exam and a celebration.
So, that will take us through eight weeks. If needed, we have two additional weeks built in that, you know, if we need to take extra time, an extra week, on some of those more critical/time consuming items, then we’ll have those extra two weeks kind of as needed or optional, just depending on how things go.
We, as of now, are tentatively planning to begin the first part of April. But, of course, all of that’s going to depend on the COVID guidance in place. What we’re hoping for is that we’ll be able to roll out this course in time for students to complete that eight to ten week course this spring and then also have time to do their post-program student teaching requirements, so that then they’ll be poised to take on a class either fall to winter. So, that would be really, really awesome.
And, anyone who completes the program successfully, they pass the certification course, they successfully complete the post-program student teaching requirement, they will be eligible to apply for teaching jobs at Silver Creek Clogging in the future. Yeah? Yeah. It’s gonna be awesome.
So, we’re gonna have an eight to ten week program. It’s $150. It includes all the weekly classes, there’s a course workbook and, if you pass the certification exam, then you can go on to get your post course student teaching mentorship; which will be required for being fully certified.
So, I’m really excited about this course of training our up and coming clogging instructors. We’re the front runners in our area and it’s really awesome to see. I’m really excited uh yeah so that’s that please let us know if you have any questions about that.
Also, I want to let you know what’s on the calendar. So, of course, this Friday is competition. Check out the America OnStage Facebook page, if you want to see livestreaming.
March, April, May (the first Friday of all of those months) we’re gonna have first Friday open studio. We’ll see how that goes, as far as you know what we’re gonna do on those days, depending on COVID and all that stuff. But, please keep those on your calendar; we’ll do that every first Friday.
Also, March, the week of March 22nd, we will not have classes at all. So, please put that on your calendar, because it’s spring break. So, we’ll just take a little week off, get a break. That’ll be awesome.
May, please keep the following dates on your calendar. May 14th and 15th, Nationals competition in Salt Lake City, our qualifying students/routines will be participating in that.
And then, the last Saturday in May, we’re going to do our recital at the Historic Grand in Salem, so please keep that on your calendars as well.
This week, I want to leave you with our quote of the week. This is something that Les Brown said. This really spoke to me.
Les Brown said, “If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you.”
And, one of the reasons this really spoke to me, is because it talked about the gifts that you have. You have your own unique talents and gifts that can take you amazing places. So, remember: set your goals, work hard to achieve them and then enjoy your amazingness.
Prepare to be amazed by your amazingness. There you go, that’s the thought.
And, of course, remember… happy dancing!