Kashtan: Message from the Artistic Director
Hello Parents, Students, Friends and Supporters! I hope that you are all staying nice and warm this winter and thinking warm thoughts. We have had an exciting start to the year, and we are even more excited to continue the second half of the year with some fun dances.
When I began as the artistic director in 2012, I would never have imagined that we would have grown so quickly – this year we have over 75 students! That being said, we are always accepting new students – in fact we grew by one since Christmas break – so please feel free to let anyone new know that they can join us any time!
As with everything, sometimes the wonderful “ups” are marked with “downs” as well. As many of you know by now, the UCAA board made the very difficult decision to cancel the Kashtan trip to Slovakia and Ukraine. The decision was not made lightly. In the early planning stages, we had over 30 dancers that expressed interest in going. Unfortunately, when it came down to committing, we did not have enough members sign up to put on quality performances. That coupled with the unpredictable political situation gave the board no other choice but to cancel the trip for 2015. However, we have made some great connections in the planning process and hope to being planning another trip abroad in the near future.
I know that many of you came to our fundraisers and supported us throughout our fundraising campaign over the last year and we cannot be more grateful for the support from our community. The community began this school and ensemble, and we would not exist without your support. The board has placed all the funds that were raised for the trip into a travel fund which will be specifically used for the purposes of taking dancers on trips only. We already have a great trip planned for September to perform at a festival in Fayetteville, North Carolina that many students are looking forward to participating in.
The cancellation of the trip has been hard on me and the dancers, but bittersweet – some good has come out of it. We have decided to continue using the rehearsals that were set aside for the trip to focus on perfecting a performing ensemble. To clarify, ALL students will continue to have various opportunities to perform throughout the year at festivals and large shows, the performing ensemble will be in place to concentrate on small- er shows throughout the year. The performing ensemble will be made up of the dedicated students who had already put so much work into auditioning, rehearsing and committing their time. The performing ensemble cast is set through the end of the school year, but students who are interested in auditioning will have the opportunity at the end of the school year in May to begin preparing for summer shows.
Despite some setbacks, Kashtan is in a great place and I cannot be happier with the students and the school. As always, if any of you have any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to contact myself, Jonathan, or any board member. Again, I send my gracious thanks to the continuing support of our wonderful community and I look forward to seeing you at our recital on Sunday, May 31st or at one of our future performances!