So we’ve hit the second half of the year, which means in the dance world, it’s officially #CONCERTSEASON! For some of our first-time parents and students, this might sound a bit scary or daunting. For our more experienced families, you probably felt a shiver of excitement shoot down your spine. If you’ve been with Main St Funk for the better part of this year, you may have caught on that we do things a little bit differently to other dance schools and concert time is no exception. Or, maybe, this is your first time ever being involved in an activity like dance and performance and you have ZERO ideas of what to expect. That’s ok! We’ve put together a little bit of a guide to help you brace yourself for what’s bound to be the highlight of your child’s year.
1.COSTUMES
Main St Funk holds a reputation for being grounded and down to earth and for the most part, we are pretty casual. However, when it comes to concert season, Main St Funk pulls out all the stops. Expect bright and funky hip hop costumes, gorgeous and glittering jazz and ballet costumes. The cost of these is included in your term fees and require no sewing on your part. We aim to keep cost and hassle low, so all costumes are creatively sourced and created in a way to suit our budget. This means that you might receive a costume that is not your exact size, or requires a slight alteration (by the MSF team) or maybe, it’s just simply not your style and not what you would pick when you head out to the shops. Trust that the MSF team are professionals and know what looks good on stage. We would never let you on stage in a costume that didn’t match our high standards. So, when trying on your costumes, if it doesn’t seem right at first, remember that the MSF team know all of the tricks of the trade to make it work and please be patient, remembering that your child’s costume is one of the hundreds that require our attention.
After your child has been fitted into their costumes, they will be taken home. The costumes will become your responsibility from then until concert day. Please look after them, to ensure your child looks fabulous on stage. Missing or damaged items may incur a replacement charge. All costumes will be returned to Main St Funk on concert day after your child has performed.
2.THE SUPERMODEL LIFE
Every year Main St Funk hold a professional in house photo-shoot with a professional photographer. Every child is given the opportunity to pose in single photos and group photos in their dance costumes. These make gorgeous keepsakes, thoughtful Christmas presents for relatives and they are the perfect way to keep the memories of a beautiful dancing year. Participating in the photo-shoot comes at no extra cost and all photos will be available to purchase in hard copies and digital formats.
3.DATES AND TIMES
Now that the fun is amping up, so are the commitment levels and opportunities for your children. We run many optional performance opportunities, the photo day, a compulsory rehearsal and annual concert in the second half of the year. If your child is participating you will need to know call times, venue addresses and important dates. Often at these events, we are running to a strict timeline. So being late may mean that your child misses out on their opportunity to dance, even on concert days! Check out our events page to ensure your child doesn’t miss out: https://mainstfunk.com/dates-events/
4. COMPULSORY THEATRE REHEARSAL
As mentioned above, and in every newsletter released this year, Main St Funk only hold one compulsory event throughout the whole year! The theatre rehearsal, held in the week prior to the concert, is a strict requirement for all students who wish to participate at the end of year concert. Why is it compulsory? The rehearsal is the only opportunity the students have to practice their routines on stage, before the big show. A theatre can be a big and daunting place for a little person. The rehearsal ensures all students feel safe and in familiar surroundings when they arrive on the concert day. Professional theatres cost thousands of dollars a day to hire and our students having access to the theatre prior to their performance is an absolute privilege that comes at no extra cost to our students. At Main St Funk our priority is to give every student a positive experience on concert day. This compulsory rehearsal aids us in doing so.
5. HAIR AND MAKEUP
When you perform on stage, it is important that you look the part. Stage make up is a requirement of all students (all ages and genders) who perform on concert day. The MSF Team understand that putting makeup on young people may feel uncomfortable for some parents. The purpose of stage makeup is to enhance the dancer’s natural features on stage. On concert day, the MSF kids dance under professional stage lighting. This can make the performers face appear “washed out” or blurry from the audience and on the video footage. Wearing the required amount of makeup ensures that you will be able to see your child’s smiling face from the audience. Main St Funk does not use makeup for glamour purposes but rather to highlight the child’s features. We ask parents to use neutral tones and natural colours, to ensure our students do not look “overdone” or “made up”. Makeup is compulsory for concert day and optional for photo day. As well as makeup, each age group will have an allocated hairstyle. You will be required to do your child’s hair on photo day and concert day. You can expect to add “Hairspray. Gel. Hairnet. Bobby pins. Bobby pins. And, bobby pins.” to your shopping list. Slick and neat hair ensures each student looks uniform, presentable and groomed on stage.
6.EXPECT TO WORK HARD
As your moment on stage draws closer, choreography will be finalised, positions will be set in stone and performance skills will be refined. Your teachers will be pushing you to dance bigger, work harder and to take responsibility for knowing your work. You will be expected to be trying your best, to be working as a team player and to take pride in your craft and especially as you get older, you will be held accountable for missing class, being late or not pulling your weight. The MSF teacher’s see your fullest potential and it is their job to draw the best out of you! Once again, our priority is to ensure that every student has a positive experience on concert day. Arriving to the show underprepared can leave the students feeling even more nervous and overwhelmed than what is expected on such a special day. We want our students to be able to put their best foot forward and to walk off stage with their head held high, knowing that they gave it their all and have put in the work to give their best performance.
7. THE MSF BUDDY SYSTEM
During concert season, you can expect your child to act independently and confidently without mum and dad! Main St Funk has a “no parents backstage” policy. All of the younger students are buddied up with an older student who looks after them backstage on concert day and during the rehearsal. We are pretty proud of this buddy system. It teaches independence, responsibility and teamwork and ensures that every single parent gets to sit in the audience and see their child shine on stage. The theatre rehearsal is a parent free-zone as well which keeps the performance a big surprise for our mums and dads and is great practice for concert day. If your child (or yourself!) may take some time to get used to the idea, it would be a good idea to practice attending dancing independently by dropping your child off for their weekly class and coming back to pick them up. You can build up the amount of time you are away from the studio each week. This will help to further build yours and your child’s trust in their teachers and the MSF team and help them to feel comfortable and safe when they attend dancing events.
8.TEARS
Expect tears. Tears of joy! Nervous tears. Tears of frustration. Tears of pride! Tears from laughter. Tears when you say goodbye to your dancing friends, your favourite routines and beautiful costumes. Tears from mum and dad who are blown away in the audience. Tears of pride from your teachers, who see you dance every week but can’t help but feel SO PROUD when they see you on that stage. Concert season is a beautiful and emotional time and like all things that we are passionate about, will have its highs and lows. Dance is an art form. It’s for the big-hearted, not the faint-hearted.
9. BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES AND FOREVER FRIENDS
Whether your child will dance for years to come or never again, the memories created at dancing and during concert season will be cherished for a lifetime. Years from now you and your grown-up dancer will look back on your dancing photos and concert videos with love and fondness. You won’t remember all the emails you had to read or all the rushing to and from the theatre you had to do. You will remember squeezing their little nervous hand as you walked them to the dressing room. You will remember tucking in laces for tiny feet and hair spraying back little baby hairs. You will remember the goosebumps you felt sitting in the audience waiting to see your child on stage. You will remember thinking “I’m more nervous than they are!” and feeling like you could burst with pride. Years from now, you won’t be able to bring yourself to throw away their old, tiny dancing shoes because they hold such treasured memories.
Your child will make beautiful friends. Concert season has a way of bringing people together. The experience bonds children in a way that only “dancing people” understand. Dancing friendships are famous for lasting a lifetime, even years after you stop dancing.
As a grown-up, your son or daughter won’t be able to help themselves but dance when they hear old “dancing songs” on the radio. They will remember the hard work, the butterflies in their tummy, the itchy costume that looked gorgeous on stage and the teacher that believed in them more than they believed in themselves.
You will both remember one thing, “it was all worth it.”
The MSF Team know that concert season is super exciting but can also be daunting, overwhelming or stressful, especially if you are new to the dance world. We will always do our best to ensure you are kept in the loop and will give your child every opportunity to have the best time in the studio and on stage. All information will be provided to you and available on our website but we also always welcome questions. If you are ever not sure, just get in touch by email or phone.
IMPORTANT DATES: https://mainstfunk.com/dates-events/
LATEST NEWSLETTER: https://mainstfunk.com/2019/07/11/july-2019/
mainstfunk@gmail.com 0433220973
