Choreographer's Showcase

Community Choreographer's Showcase is Friday Feb. 5 at 7pm. Tickets are $5 and will benefit the Vista Grande Dance Dept. The venue is Vista Grande High School Auditorium at 1556 N. Arizola Rd. Casa Grande.

The show will be about an hour long and will be featuring student choreography as well as choreography from members of the local community. We have belly dancers, Salsa Dancers, Lyrical/Ballet, Jazz and Hip Hop. Its a very family friendly show.

Hope to see you there!!

Choreography Auditions!

Greetings all! I hope you all have had a fabulous Christmas and New Year. Being an instructor at a new high school, I have the opportunity to start some new traditions at Vista Grande High School. I am pleased to announce the first annual "Community Choreographer's Showcase". Auditions will be Friday, January 29th at 5pm at Vista Grande High School. The address is 1556 N. Arizola Rd. Casa Grande. We are looking for original choreography pieces from performers of all ages and styles. Choreographers will have the responsibility of costuming their pieces. We would like to encourage as much participation as possible so please spread the word!

Performance will be Friday, Feb. 5 at 7pm at Vista Grande, with a dress rehearsal Thursday Feb. 4 at 6pm.

Please let me know if you have any questions. 520-876-9400 ext. 423, email is clee@cguhsd.org or simply respond to this message.

Nutcracker and Ballet Arizona

Greetings all! I just would like to make it known that "The Nutcracker 2009" for Casa Grande tickets are on sale! No you do not need to live in Casa Grande to purchase tickets, but you do need to be willing to get here to see the show.

Tickets are $10 and it is reserved seating. If you're interested either leave a comment on the blog or email me at clee@cguhsd.org.

We spent Tuesday night at downtown Casa Grande's "Art in the Alley" promoting the show and selling tickets.

Another update was the Vista Grande and Casa Verde dance departments trip to see Ballet Arizona perform Swan Lake. We saw an hour long excerpt that left us all wanting more! I think next time we'll opt for an evening performance with student tickets and the entire production. I think I may have more chaperones for that also!

My students were dressed so elegantly and behaved so well! We were the best dressed group in attendance. The very sad part was that people were stopping to ask us what we were dressed up for. My response was "the ballet of course"! I am always amazed by the lack of respect for the art and artists reflected in the way patrons now dress. Symphony Hall is a very elegant place and should be reflected in elegant attire.

Thank you to my students for showing respect for the art, artists and for themselves by dressing up appropriately! I'm very proud of you all!

ASU Dance Symposium

We attended the ASU High School Dance Symposium. Our students were among the youngest ones there but they had a fabulous experience. Many of them have only taken class from me in the two years they've been dancing. This was the opportunity to take college level classes, gain new experiences, visit a university campus and meet other dancers.



On a sentimental note, my students were taking classes in the very same studios that I took class in. It was pretty neat!



As a teacher, I don't have many opportunities to take class. I was able to take class from one of the instructors that was a grad student instructor when I was still in college. It was so good to "take" class instead of teach it.

Students took six different dance classes, saw an informal performance and had a question and answer session with the grad students and staff. Teachers took a creative movement class, a choroegraphic process class, participated in AZDEO meeting and did a dance and video technology training.

There were things I was reminded of that I have long since forgotten since my college days. The choreography class was amazing. A quote made by the instructor that impacted me was "creativity is a life force, not something that is exclusive".

The whole purpose was to teach choreographic practices in creating meaningful work with purpose. Something I think that I have lost sight of in an effort to teach technique and foundation skills. We had to work in small groups, where everybody was equally heard and valued. It produced a piece of choreography that was creative and had significant meaning for all of us involved. We forget the art lies in the craft and discovery and not in the end products. This is something that I would like to implement more in class.

Casa Grande Nutcracker rehearsal schedule for Friday Oct.23, 2009

Due to a school activity taking away many of our dancers and choreographers, there will be no rehearsal on Saturday, Oct. 24. We will have an abbreviated rehearsal on Friday, Oct. 23 beginning at 5:30. Some groups will not require the makeup rehearsal


5:30-6:00 pm
Gigiones (Black Box) Julianne
Mice, Soldiers, Clara, Drosselmeyer, Prince (Stage) Reana and Patrick

6:00-6:30
Clara, Drosselmeyer, Maids, Christmas Party Cast (stage)
Julianne, Patrick
Chinese (Dance Room) Reana

6:30-7:00
Flowers (Dance Room) Julianne
Candy Canes-(Stage)Reana

7:00-7:30
Snow corps & Snow King and Queen (Dance Room) Julianne
Dolls (Stage) Reana

7:30-8:00
Angels (Stage) Reana
Flutes (Dance Room) Julianne

8:00-8:30
Arabian-Stage
Russian-Dance room

8:30-10:00
Clara and Prince- Julianne (Dance Room)

November 3rd Override-Casa Grande HS District

Last year's failure of the override cost students in the Casa Grande High School district dearly, especially when it came to the arts. The Fine Arts department was hit hard when the drama teacher, and choir teacher were laid off and the remaining programs were significantly cut back.

At the time we thought the override failure was the worst thing that could happen and then came the budget cuts from the state legislature. This district now has two major high schools and guess what the first cuts to be made are? The remaining drama and choir programs at two schools, the dance programs at three schools, art and some music.

As it is, many of us continue to work beyond the school day without extra duty contracts, our pay has been frozen and our health benefits cut way back. We are enduring class sizes of 40+ only for those to become even larger if this override fails again.

Like last year I volunteered to call registered voters and encourage them to vote for the override. Although many are supportive, there were many that were not because they don't want to see taxes go up.

Here are the facts:
The override has been in place for twenty years prior to its failure in 2008.
The decrease of taxes due to the failure was less than $32.00 a year per household.
The need for the override is not due to schools mismanaging money, but due to extremely poor funding in our state, which has just become much worse in the past fiscal year.

Please get out and vote on Nov. 3. Toltec and Casa Grande Elementary Districts also have overrides on the ballots. Please support the schools and all of our futures by voting Yes! for the overrides.

Aren't our kids and our future generations worth it?

Nutcracker "The Tradition Continues!"

Nutcracker is back!!! I know that its been awhile since I've posted and I need to fix that. Two weeks ago we held auditions for Nutcracker and we just finished our second week of rehearsals. We also have a Facebook page for Nutcracker.

Here is the current rehearsal schedule.
Saturday Sept 19, 26 Oct.3, 24, 31, Nov. 7
No Rehearsals on Sat. Oct 10 and Oct. 17

Sugar Plum- times TBA
Arabian-times TBA
Spanish times-TBA



12:15-1:15 Dolls (Stage) Reana
Snow corps & Snow King and Queen (Dance Room) Julianne

1:15- 1:45-Chinese (Dance Room) Chinese

1:45-2:15- Candy Canes-(Stage)Reana
Gigiones (Black Box)Julianne
Jesters-(commons) Patrick

2:15-3:30
Clara, Drosselmeyer, Maids, Christmas Party Cast (Black Box)
Julianne, Patrick
Russian- (Dance room) Reana

3:30-4:30 Mice, Soldiers, Clara, Drosselmeyer, Prince (Stage) Reana and Patrick

3:30-4pm Flowers (Dance Room) Julianne

4:30-5pm-Flutes (Dance Room) Julianne
Angels (Stage) Reana

Saturday Nov. 14
10:00-1:00 Act 1 Cast (Full Run of Act 1) With Tech crew
1:30-4:00 Act 2 Cast (Ensemble Pieces and full Run of Act 2) With Tech crew

Saturday Nov. 21-10 am-4pm (All Cast) 2x Run through and pictures

Pictures Nov. 21 Video tape, Dec. 1,
Nov. 30, Dec 1, 2 All cast dress rehearsal 5pm-9:30 pm
Performances Dec. 3 and 4.

Rehearsals are closed to the public. Performance dates are Dec. 3 and 4 at Vista Grande High School. For info contact clee@cguhsd.org.

Vista Grande High School is a brand new high school. With the recent budget cuts we are starting our brand new baby dance, drama, choir and band programs with less than we need. Tax Credit monetary donations are accepted in our bookstore, just specify the Fine Art department of choice. Email me or call 520-494-9400 and ask for the bookstore.

The drama dept is always looking for clothing, furniture and accessories to start off our prop and costume supply. Unique and period clothing is always in demand! We'll even take old Halloween costumes.

Nutcracker/drama booster meeting will be this Thursday at 7pm in the blackbox.
We have some important issues to discuss!