Welcome to our first Saturday of the year. It is very busy and very exciting. It is fantastic to see the student back in the studio in their new leotards, taller and more confident. We are always excited to settle in our new students who can be a little nervous but it does not take long for them to find their dancing feet. All ten teachers/assistant teachers are ready and waiting. Have a fabulous week.

The men in Ballet Companies must constantly work on their classical ballet technique to strengthen that technique to a level where they are capable of lifting their partners, and dancing at a level of excitement expected by an audience. Building their strength daily means mens ballet classes very early in the morning and evening, specific muscle lengthening exercises in our own gym, pilates, rehearsals learning new repertoire. Fabulous work during the holidays guys, looking good for April.

We have had wonderful Summer of dance, the first time Duprada Dance Company has held a Summer Intensive Week. The opportunity to have Peta Bailey and Jasmine Ahwah in the Studio teaching for our Summer Intensive week was fabulous for the dancers who filled the studio with their enthusiasm. 27 dancers started at 11.00am every day and danced through until 6.00pm for 6 days. A couple of muscle sore days but by the end of the week all the dancers looked fantastic.

There are many secrets dancers need to learn about to become elite athletes and having the time to give the dancers so information was inspiring.

Thank you Peta and Jasmine, our dancers in good hands.

Chloe Skoss who left Alice Springs to begin Early Childhood Training at University in 2017 just happened to be in Alice Springs for her Summer Holidays. The timing was perfect as she became Iona's Nanny for our Summer Intensive Week. Iona is Peta and Doug's five month old baby daughter. She came to the studio everyday and Chloe did a fantastic job of looking after her. I was very proud these two dancers have known each other for years and they couldn't have been happier. Iona loved her week in the studio, so many dancers and so much to see and learn. Thank you Chloe we love having you back in the studio dancing and having an Early Childhood Placement right here at Duprada!!

I forgot to mention that then there was the Ironing, folding, counting and updating the costume, headpiece, shoe and props catalogue. Thank you to everyone who helped. Done and Dusted until our next performance - April 2018.

Wow, I can see the floor after 10 loads of washing every day for the last month as we pack away Darwin's fabulous 'Blossom Tea Party' and 'Arabian Nights' and of course 'The Nutcracker' which seems to be the biggest of all the ballets to costume. Luckily I like washing Tiffanie and Alex are busy ironing, counting, filling out repair sheets, updating the catalogue and packing. Our Alice Springs stunning blue skyes, bright (very hot) sunshine is fantastic for our costumes.

Life is full of lovely surprises Our annual Christmas Party Classes began last Tuesday and other than a brief moment they were on every day finally winding up with Duprada Dance Company Christmas party and Alex's farewell on Saturday evening. Happy little faces everywhere, we had fun decorating the studios lighting them with fairy lights. The children loved dancing to different music and playing simple games. As I reflect over our busy year it is fantastic to stand back and watch them living in the moment and seeing how much they have changed over the year. Growing up is hard to do but all of our students seemed to have excelled and flourished in 2017.

The usual mind set of "looking forward to the end of the year" does not happen as you would think here in the Duprada studios. Dancers, like athletes must stay in shape so daily classical ballet classes are scheduled throughout the holiday break with a brief pause from Christmas to New Year. The fact is if dancers take two days off it takes two days to get back to where you were and if you take a year off it takes a year to get back into the challenging technique of Classical Ballet. At a professional level having a break for seven weeks over the holidays is not an option. A Brief pause it is!

Interesting, I always think I have more time than I actually have so I guess this is late news. Tiffanie, Billy and Tamara arrived back from a very successful trip to Darwin and 12 hours later straight into Nutcracker rehearsals. As always they were focused and quickly got into the rhythm of classes, rehearsals, production meetings, costumes, teaching and packing for our theatre bump-in. The added tasks of preparing the 2018 timetable writing reports and preparing certificates for the students certainly made the studio a very busy place.

The Nutcracker had fantastic audiences which certainly lit up the faces of the performers. Our youngest dancers learn so much from those who are a little older than themselves and this week in the studio they are very different people, more than ready to progress to the next level of ballet, jazz and tap.

In the next few days Christmas classes will be an exciting time for everyone as we celebrate wrapping up the end of 2017, and wrapping gifts for loved ones. On the 9th December will launch our 2018 Performance Seasons and keep an eye on the website, we will be announcing planned Guest Teachers and Study Tours as they are finalised.

On a 40 degree Sunday Billy, Tiffanie and Tamara met me at the Airport ready to fly to Darwin. They have been kept busy in the last few weeks with Morning Melodies rehearsals and performance and Nutcracker rehearsals. This week-end they are performing at the Darwin Entertainment Centre with Duprada Dance Company Darwin as their Principal Artists. It is certainly inspiring for the Dancers in Darwin to have their Principals arrive and dance with them in rehearsals and on stage. They left Alice Springs with six suitcases - mostly costumes and theatre necessities. Dance well and have fun which we know you will as soon as you get used to the humidity!!!

Alice Springs is the hub for everything ballet in the NT, a busy hub for the Australian Dance Academy, Leisa's School of Dancing and Duprada Dance Company Darwin and Alice Springs. Our organisation began in Alice Springs and expanded into Darwin. The weather in Alice is better than Darwin for costume, props and scenery so everything is made, laundered, catalogued and stored in our wardrobe in Alice Springs.

Leisa's school of Dancing and Duprada Dance Company will be performing two different performance at the Darwin Entertainment Centre next week end making our wardrobe VERY BUSY!! Alex (our fabulous wardrobe fairy) has packed and sent 9 suitcases to Darwin while preparing our costumes for Morning Melodies. There are three more suitcases packed ready to go with costumes we held back to use in Morning Melodies. Three of our dancers are currently packing suitcases yet again (their own clothes, pointe shoes, ballet shoes, leotards etc.) they travelling to Darwin to perform. Tamara, Tiffanie and Billy will each have an extra suitcase of costumes.

It is safe to say suitcases are a part of everyday life for dancers. These three dancers have in this year alone travelled to Melbourne, Brisbane, Darwin, Singapore, Paris, Prague, back to Melbourne and mow off to Darwin on Sunday.

Alex is knee deep in costume being prepared for 'The Nutcracker' in 3 weeks time. Wardrobe is constantly busy and the smiling faces of everyone who puts on their costume just before they step out on stage is worth every broken fingernail.

Our 33rd Morning Melodies went a little longer than expected but it was exciting to see very bright eyes backstage and very excited ballet students preparing to step out in front of their audience.

We try not to rush them and engage them in all parts of the theatre which takes such a lot of concentration and energy.

They were all really good backstage waiting for their turn to dance and be dressed in their costumes. It is very exciting for them to see their own ballet teachers in their own costume, with make-up and headpieces. They are always very surprised and can't take their eyes off them.

Congratulations and well done to everyone and thank you to Araluen's fantastic technicians Greg Thompson and Daniel Sawyer for their expertise and showing our young dancers in the best light.

It is one of those busy days, lots to do as we prepare to bump into our Theatre tomorrow for our 'Morning Melodies Gala.' An exciting and proud time for our teachers and the parents who are preparing their little ones for their first appearance on stage. Once the little ones step out onstage it is difficult to predict how long the performance will be. Hopefully we will be finished by 12.45pm.

It is 33 years since our first Morning Melodies performance in 1984. It was lovely to spend some time with the parents of our Morning Melodies cast. As Teachers we are so proud to present them on stage and excited to show them around the backstage area of Araluen. The costumes are ready, a production meeting today 3 sleeps to go. If you would love to see the youngest dancers in Alice Springs experience their first steps on stage and be entertained by Duprada Dance Company all you need is a ticket from Araluen Box Office and suddenly you become the most important part of our performance - An audience member supporting our classic art form. Starts at 11.00am Saturday 28th October, 2017.

Doors open at 10.30am where Duprada Dance Company will be taking their daily class on Stage. See you there!

It is not often that such opportunities become a reality for young dancers. Prague was certainly a once in a lifetime experience for Billy, Tiffanie and Katherine who are currently well into their Professional level full-time training. The Prague International Master Classes bring together 90 dancers and treat them as Professional Dancers on tour and work them through 8 hour days for 14 days. Every dancer is away from home and experience working long hours combined with the challenges of many different languages spoken in the same studio, different techniques, different studios and dancers. All of this with the different weather and food.

The Master Teachers and coaches were 15 of the best, they travelled from various places in Europe to bring their expertise to the Master Classes. The 90 dancers are separated into smaller groups working in three different studios. As a teacher of classical ballet at this level it is very necessary to travel with the dancers and observe their capability, endurance and how they cope with the challenges of such an experience. It is always inspiring to watch Masters at work. I travelled with Leisa Jackson and Tamara Diehl who will also benefit from their experiences in Prague with the Northern Territory being the big winner with the best of the best of Classical Ballet being brought back from 15 unforgettable teachers. I took and amazing amount of photographs and video when they are sorted we will happily present them.

Flying out of Alice Springs was certainly different, it was exciting to have finally stepped into that place where you can't do anything else, all the preparations and organising are finished . We were leaving an amazing team of people behind and they were smiling when we left. We arrived in Darwin around 7.00pm, thrashed out all the details with Leisa making sure we had everything covered. We had a ballet class in Darwin at 10.00 with the dancers and Leisa's teachers, Juliet and Emily were in charge at Leisa's ballet school and we headed to the airport travelling to Singapore where we would have a rest day before travelling to Paris.

Well we are 18 days away from destination Prague. The Masterclasses are an amazing opportunity for three young dancers from your own ballet company. Be very proud of your part in making Duprada Dance Company what it is today. There are 90 worldwide placements offered in the Prague International Masterclasses and four placements have been given to Duprada Dance Company dancers.

Preparations for our first Study Tour for 2017 are nearly complete and as always the excitement builds as the students begin to pack. The trip starts to be come real when they are packing ballet clothes and shoes for classes in Melbourne and elegant clothes to wear to attend the State Theatre for an exciting performance. They will be watching The Australian Ballet production of Sleeping Beauty. 'cant wait'

This is the third year we have held a high tea which seems to have taken on a life of its own. Duprada Dance Company's main studio is transformed into a 'pop-up cafe' with a difference. Our dancers prepare their favourite recipe and bring it into the studio with their family's tea pots, tea and coffee cups and every different variety of cutlery and decorative plate you can imagine. It does make for a fantastic afternoon, thank you to the dancers who changed their afternoon from a ballet class and rehearsals to their creativity in the kitchen, decorating our 'pop-up cafe' and serving the people who support them as dancers.

Fabulous night scheduled for the end of term. Dancing into the sunset with great music, a chance to dress up and lots of games to play. Friday 23rd June 2017 if you are a Jazz student join the fun!

At the Australian Dance Academy we are looking forward to presenting our 'Open Days'

Parents, relatives and friends are invited into our studios to watch their young dancers their class. It is exciting for the students who will have an audience in the studio.