Hello Everyone,
I hope this letter finds you all well and busy getting ready for the recital. It has been a rough spring for many reasons and I know we are all excited for a better year ahead. I apologize again for another long letter with a lot of information.
Refunds (not CGE):
After looking carefully at our accounts, we are pleased that we are able to offer each family a credit of $125, with an additional credit of $40 for each additional child the family has in company. This is an overall credit per family, not per company and this credit does not include CGE credits for CGE families.
In the next week, you should all receive an email with your account status. A (-) in front of your balance will indicate your credit to be used toward next season. If you still have a balance after the credit is applied, you will need to contact our business manager, Kai Hinkey or Teresa Atkinson, our Treasurer, to bring your account up to date. If you would like to receive a refund rather than a credit for next season, we are happy to write you a check. Once you receive your account statement, just contact Kai Hinkey and we will write a check to you as long as your account is current. For those of you who have indicated that you wish to donate your refund back to the Foundation, we will indicate that on your statement as well and will send you a separate letter for tax purposes.
A separate email will be coming out regarding CGE plans and refunds.
Auditions for the 2020/2021 Season:
Because we are not yet back in the studio, we are not able to offer face-to-face auditions this year. Our artistic directors strongly believe that auditions are a vital part of a dancers training. However, this year, and this year only, we are going to allow each dancer who is already in one or more companies to apply to be in those companies again for a flat application fee of $15.75 (meaning $15.75 for all companies they are reapplying for whether it is 1, 2 or 3 companies). If the dancer wants to join a company that he or she was NOT in last season, the dancer will need to do an online audition for each company in which they are interested with a fee of $26 per audition.
Dancers new to the CDC Performance Companies will need to do a separate online audition for each company in which they are interested, with a fee of $26 per audition.
Please note that auditions for CGE and Carolina Groove are the same audition. If a dancer is already in CGE and wishes to switch to Carolina Groove, or is already in Carolina Groove and is interested in CGE, they will not need to re-audition, but rather, apply to the company in which they are interested (CGE decisions are based on director recommendation). Remember that a requirement of CGE is that you also have to be in Carolina Rhythm or Carolina Civic Ballet.
Audition dates will be set once we know how many dancers need to do an actual audition. To refresh your memory, dancers can audition for the jazz companies at age 7, tap at age 8, and ballet at age 9. The age is based on the child's age on September 8, 2020.
In order to finish our plans for the season and finalize our budget, we would like to start our audition/application process this week. Please fill out the application form by clicking on this link and then pay your application/audition fees at our secure website store: www.carolinadancefoundation.org/shop (Click on the hot pink circle that says "Returning Members").
This is not a commitment or contract. This is the "audition" that should have taken place earlier last month. Once auditions and applications are completed, we will set up a parent meeting to go over the new contract and handbook. If you have multiple dancers, please fill out a form for each dancer.
If you have a child (sibling to a Company dancer) who would be new to company this year, please fill out the Audition form at this link and pay the audition fees at our secure website store: www.carolinadancefoundation.org/shop (Click on the teal blue circle that says "Brand New to CDF Companies").
If you have friends who are interested in joining Carolina Dance Foundation, please let them know that an information letter will be coming out shortly from Carolina Dance Center. They can also go to our website for more information,
www.carolinadancefoundation.org/auditions (The complete audition details will be posted there by 6/12/20.)
It is important that we have a form for every dancer even if your dancer does not plan to return next season. If your dancer does not plan to re-enroll in Company, please let us know by checking that box on the form and if your dancer does plan to re-enroll in Company, please complete the entire application form by this upcoming Monday, June 15 this link.
Questions regarding applications/auditions can be directed to our Vice-President, Annette Trammel,
vp@carolinadancefoundation.org
Notes on Next Season:
As you may guess, planning for next year with any certainty is impossible, but we are really excited for next season and hope to make it as normal as possible. Below are a few basic points regarding next season with more details to follow in the new Handbook for the 20/21 season once it is finalized.
(Performances and Guest Artist)
As I mentioned before, we plan to continue with as normal a season as possible with a both a Holiday Show and Spring Extravaganza. This spring would also have been the year for our Ballet, but we will postpone that until spring, 2022. Guest artist week not be "a week" this year, but rather a series of master classes spread over time. We will have more information as we work out the logistics. Guest Artist will still be required but the format (for this year only) will be different.
(Dates)
We will need your patience as we work out dates for shows and conferences. We don't yet know how or if schools will be renting their auditoriums, and it is extremely hard to find space in private theaters, but we are trying. The ballet conferences have not set their dates yet, so there is still a lot up in the air.
(Fees)
We hope to keep Fair Share fees similar to last year, but much of this will depend on the number of company members we have. Venues, master classes, etc, all have fixed costs no matter if we have 5 dancers or 500, so our Fair Share fees depend somewhat on the number of dancers who return to company.
(Fundraising)
We are hoping to offer many of the fundraising opportunities we have had in past seasons (Consignment Sale, Butterbraids/Cookie Dough/Popcorn/Yankee Candle Sales, ETC.) assuming these fundraisers are still in operation. However, the board has decided at this time, that all fundraisers involving the solicitation of businesses will be put on hold, including Banners/Program Ads and Silent Auction. Because those sponsors that purchased banners and ads only received half of their benefits last year, we will be keeping all banners up through this next season and placing their listings/ads in the programs for both planned shows. The board will be sending letters to each of our current sponsors acknowledging that this has been a hard year for us all, and we would like to give back and support them during this upcoming year by honoring the remainder of their sponsorship and offering some additional exposure. We hope these businesses will remember us when we ask them to renew during the 21/22 season. We also do not want to solicit for new banners, ads and/or items for a silent auction (also on hold) because it has been such a tough year economically for so many businesses. We are exploring additional fundraising opportunities for this year and welcome you sharing any ideas with Andrea Cook at fundraising@carolinadancefoundation.org.
(Summer Dance Training)
The summer dance training requirements remain the same. Please contact the artistic directors if you have questions regarding these requirements. This is the actual excerpt from the 2019/2020 Handbook:
"In order to maintain the pre-professional level of our companies, summer training is required. Specific requirements are based on age and skill level. Please direct all questions to the artistic directors. CDC offers a full summer of training options in every genre including afternoon/ evening classes and weekly intensives. We also fully support out of town professional summer programs, as well as Carolina Ballet's summer intensive. CDF dancers not attending a professional out of town summer program are required to maintain a rigorous training schedule either through classes at CDC, local intensive programs (such as Carolina Ballet or ones held at CDC), etc., to ensure technical improvement during the summer months. The artistic directors can help you determine what is appropriate based on your dancer's age and level."
(Attendance)
Attendance at studio classes and rehearsals is extremely important, but it is equally important that our dancers do not come to class with any cold or flu-like symptoms. We will be more lenient with our attendance policy, but we do not want dancers taking advantage of this. It will be more important than ever that the dancers communicate all absences ahead of time to the scheduler, cdfschedule@gmail.com. We hope to be able to Zoom all or most rehearsals so that if a dancer must miss a class, he or she can Zoom in from home and mark the dance if they feel up to it, or take notes if they only feel up to watching.
(CGE)
Please contact Miss Missy directly for questions regarding CGE.
(Covid-19)
CDF is lucky to be able to use the studio space of Carolina Dance Center. Our Company dancers will follow the same guidelines put forth by the owners of Carolina Dance Center. We may have to do a combination of Zoom and in-person classes until we are able to have normal classes in the studio (and we have no idea how long this may take). We obviously cannot promise that either performance will happen, but we will be trying to come up with alternatives should this happen. Refunds will once again be given based on what was not already spent and funds that have already come in. As a non-profit, we operate on a very small margin.
The Artistic Directors work very hard to provide all of our Company Dancers with amazing opportunities and amazing choreography, both their own and from all across the country, and we, as a Board, work very hard make this and the performances possible. We were all incredibly sad the Spring Extravaganza could not be performed. We know the dancers are in Company because they love to perform and we parents love nothing more than watching them. I think it's important to remember that while the shows are amazing and fulfilling, there are so many other things about being in Company that are even more important and far more lasting such as the friendships the dancers (and their parents) make, and the technique, choreography, work ethic, teamwork, and confidence these dancers learn, and the outreach to our community. The shows are not the most important things about CDC Performance Companies. They are just the icing on a very rich delicious cake (don't you love my metaphor?).
(Plan B)
We know we need a plan B and C and D for this year and we are working hard on these. Please feel free to share any ideas you might have with me, president@carolinadancefoundation.org.
We are really excited about our 20/21 season. We know there will be some hurdles, but at least now, we know to expect the unexpected. I know the dancers are anxious to get back together.
Please remember to fill out the application/audition form by Monday, June 15, 2020 by clicking this link and pay the application/audition fees at our secure website store, www.carolinadancefoundation.org/shop (Click on the hot pink circle that says "Returning Members")
Thank you so much for your patience, and feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.
Yours,
Cathy