Hamilton City Ballet

Hamilton City Ballet is proud to introduce a new opportunity for dance students everywhere.  Hamilton Academy of Performing Arts will be opening at 108 Park St. W. in Dundas.

Hamilton Academy is a school that offers both Performing Arts and an Academic program for students in grades 4 to 12.

The school is a private day and boarding school affiliated with Hamilton City Ballet.

Through its advanced and creative Performing Arts and Academic programs, the Hamilton Academy inspires  young people to discover and develop their talents and maximize their potential for success.

Highlights:

- The school offers Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum geared towards university preparation

- Performing Arts program focused on Dance, Music and Vocal

- Small class sizes stimulate student learning and class participation

- Personalized attention to address students’ individual needs

- Interaction with students from all over Canada and around the world

- Extra curricular program focused on organizing cultural community events

- Progressive and positive discipline system

- A caring and student-focused environment at school and in residence

- Leadership program

For more information contact info@haofpa.com or (905)521-1256.

Now in addition to the excellent programs offered by Hamilton City Ballet, students will have another option with a more intensive arts program.

Stay tuned for upcoming information about Hamilton City Ballet’s Summer Camps for the upcoming summer.  Plans are in the works, but details have yet to be confirmed.  Check back regularly for announcements about this year’s summer camps.

We hope everyone is having a fun and relaxing Spring Break.  So far the weather has cooperated (for those who stayed home in the north!) and it has been warm and sunny!  Enjoy your break from classes everyone - except Caleigh who hates going a week without a ballet class!

Classes resume Monday, March 23.  Everyone will have to buckle down to prepare for the year-end recital of “Coppelia”!  Stay tuned for information about purchasing tickets and other studio information.

HCB is excited to announce two new workshops in the Spring for Modern & Yoga:  Friday, April 3 & May 1.

5:00-6:00 PM - Modern (Junior age 10-14)

6:00-7:00 PM - Modern (Senior age 15+)

7:30-9:00 PM - Yoga & Meditation (Open for all ages)

These are tentative dates and times.  A sign-up sheet will soon be posted at the studio or email the HCB- info@hamiltoncityballet.com.  Space will be limited, so sign-up quickly!

Pilates anyone?

Let us know if you would be interested in Pilates classes.  Great for all to strengthen your core & muscle toning, especially dancers!

We are pleased to announce that the preparations for our year-end recital have begun.  Hamilton City Ballet is proud to present for the very first time - “Coppelia”- a three act Ballet.  There is no more need to pester Mr. Max about his annual secret- which ballet the dancers will be performing that year!

The recital will take place in Hamilton at the Downtown Arts Centre- 28 Rebecca St.

Performance Dates:  Friday, June 12, Saturday, June 13, and Sunday, June 14

The school will be having three performances this year!  Mark these dates on your calendars!

The Hamilton City Ballet Valentine’s Potluck was a wonderful evening of fun and food for everyone.  Many students and their parents joined Miss Melania at the studio last Friday, February 13.  There was delicious food, toys and fun for the kids, and joyful music.  Everyone had a fabulous time.  We’ll look forward to the next HCB potluck!

Welcome to the Hamilton City Ballet Blog. Visit us here regularly for school updates, photos, up and coming local dance events and auditions, Mr. Max stories (not to be missed), and Vaganova Pointers.

The Hamilton City Ballet has started up its exciting 2008/2009 dance season. After a summer of hard work for many of the dancers, most are back at the HCB studio to work even harder!

During the summer, Ulana went to study for a month with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. We look forward to hearing more about her time in Winnipeg, and hope to share it with you here.

Caleigh went to Cuba for two weeks to study at the Ballet Nacional de Cuba. She loved working with the Cuban dancers and hopes to return there soon to work with them again. They have a fabulous company and great school to study at.

Emile, Cassandra, and Ailish went to the Quinte Ballet School in Belleville for the summer program.

Sadly, Ricky was not to be seen much in the HCB studio this summer. His pas-de-deux support was sadly missed but we think we’ll see more of him this season. Where have you been Ricky?

Mr. Max was away for a while also but his location was no secret- Mr. Max did guest teaching in London, England and in the U.S. He was in high demand this summer, but even with his super human driving skills, he could not be everywhere at once!

This is a year of change for HCB as many of the senior students have moved on to University. Stacey, Maria, Andrea, Olesya, and Madeleine will be sadly missed. We wish them well in their endeavours and hope to see them sometime in the future at the studio again.

Classes have now started and even with the missing dancers the classes seem to have expanded, meaning lots of new students to share their talents with us at the year-end recital. Welcome to all the new students! On the topic of the recital, there is already speculation about what Mr. Max’s year- end show will be. The studio rumour mill is running although we know it will be quite a while until Mr. Max will reveal the great annual secret….

We hope everyone has picked up his or her copy of last year’s recital- Pinocchio and Don Quixote. The DVDs are all ready and waiting. A huge thanks to Peter Armstrong for doing the filming last year.

For anyone interested in photos of the recital, please check out the website with lots of lovely photos from the recital. Andrei Chelekhov did a fabulous job of capturing the dancers at the shows. Go to www.picasaweb.google.com/ashel58 to see the photos.

Check back with us often for the latest news and community dance events.

Happy Dancing everyone!