A few weeks ago at the recital, all of the ADC faculty stood backstage watching the students shine. Our hearts swelled with pride as we thought back to where the dancer’s technique was when they started the year, and how much each individual dancer has grown. All of our dancers work hard every week, falling in love with dance, having fun, and strengthening their technique. Recital is bittersweet because it is the time where all of that hard work has paid off, but it marks the ending of classes for summer break.
It is definitely important to give your body a rest after a busy performance season. Performance season can be stressful and exhausting, and recovery time is necessary! This is a great time to reflect on the performance, the work put in this season, and begin to set goals for what you want to improve on in the future. Take the time to write down your goals and then look at the summer calendar to see what is available for you to reach them.
Dancing throughout the summer has several advantages. The most obvious is that you won’t lose all of the hard work you put into your technique throughout the year. Beyond just maintaining technique, you can continue working on technical skills that were giving you trouble without pressure of a performance right around the corner. Summer also tends to have smaller class sizes, which means more individual attention in class. Don’t be afraid to ask your instructor questions about how to improve. That is what they are there for.
Here at ADC, we really miss seeing our students on a regular basis. As teachers we go from seeing the same students every week to missing them over the summer, and it’s hard! This summer we designed our busiest summer so we could see our students and work hard on reaching some goals before the fall starts. You can find our schedules on summer camps page, or on the google calendars that are on the youth and kinder classes page. When you take advantage of all of these classes you won’t feel out of shape when you return to class in the fall. Instead, you’ll feel stronger than ever!