Happy New Year + Steppin' Out January News

Happy New Year! We hope you enjoyed your winter break and that you are ready to return to the studio this week. We're excited to remind you that classes resume today, Tuesday the 6th. As we return to our dance practice we will also begin to learn the choreography for this year's performance, so it is especially important to bring your dancer to class each week as they will build the dances week by week.

NO MORE PERFORMANCE TICKETS!
If you've ever been stuck in the long, long line waiting to be admitted into the auditorium for the performance, you'll be excited to hear that this year Steppin' Out will be introducing a new model of funding for the recital this year. Instead of asking each audience member to buy a ticket, we'll have a simple, modest performance "fee" per dancer (complete with sibling discounts) that will allow you to bring as many audience members as you'd like without any tickets at all.  Keep an eye out for details available in next month's newsletter.

MOVEMENT OF THE MONTH: GRAPEVINE

The grapevine is a sequence of steps that moves sideways instead of forward and back. Though there are many variations, a simple one is just to have your dancers step to the right, then cross their left feet over their right, and then repeat several times. Side to side movement can help dancers develop more awareness of the space (and other dancers!) around them, which can be very helpful as we start to prepare for the performance. For a more advanced variation, try first crossing the left foot in front and the next time in back to make a pattern. And don't forget to practice moving in each direction!

BEAT THE RAINY SEASON WITH A BIRTHDAY PARTY AT STEPPIN' OUT

Skip the "no rain" dance and design your child's birthday party just the way you want it. We offer fabulous and fun movement-themed birthday parties of any kind, from basic to turn-key, at can't-be-beat pricing. You can even add on character appearances, goody bags or face painting! For more information, visit http://www.steppinoutsf.com/p/birthdays.html 

QUICK TIP: 
Research has demonstrated that reviewing movement in your mind can have as many benefits as practicing with your body, so put those drives to school to work and have your child visualize the dance he or she is learning in class--all it takes is a little music!