NAPA News - Week 1, Term 1, 2021
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for joining our NAPA Family for 2021. We whole heartedly welcome you all to our first week in the studio! May it be a year of your child smashing their goals, developing new performance techniques and igniting their passion for performing. We can’t wait to work with your children.
Our vision from the birth of NAPA is to:
ARTISTICALLY SHAPE FUTURE PERFORMERS TO ACT OUT THEIR DREAMS.
Our success rate in achieving this has been exceptional as seen from past and current students working professionally and the difference we have made in the lives of our students. This is frequently expressed in feedback from our parents and the children themselves. Countless times we hear after a child performs, words to this effect - “this is the best moment of my life.” Also seeing the excited faces of our students as they return to begin the new term (which we saw at last week’s Performance Team auditions), and so often the children tell us they do not like the holidays as they miss NAPA too much. Their happiness and achievements makes what we do, so worthwhile.
We have an exceptional teaching team who are the ones that make the difference, and we are so grateful to them. We welcome in 2021 some new amazing staff members: David Willis, Hannah Stanton, Jackie Turner, Mandy Morrison, Scott Johnson, Verity Hunt-Ballard, Zane Powell. Thank you for joining us as we embark on another year of making a difference to these young lives.
NAPA NEWSLETTERS
The all-important newsletter. You will receive a newsletter each week. We need you to read this thoroughly and make note of any dates that are relevant to your child. This is our main form of communication, so the newsletter is emailed to you, on our website and on our P&F Facebook page. We hope by having it in three places you don’t miss it. See our most recent newsletters below.
PRIVATE LESSONS
First day of classes starts back on the 1st February. Privates also start back this week. If anyone who wants privates, hasn’t booked, please contact Lynn ([email protected]) as our teachers’ time slots are nearly filled up.
WELCOME NAPA COLLEGE STUDENTS!
Our first day of NAPA College for 2021 was last week. It was great to welcome our new students. Their first day was to complete all their Workplace Health & Safety units so they can begin the rest of the Cert IV in Musical Theatre course. As an orientation day we organised a fabulous day on a boat, cruising the Broadwater. It was a fantastic fun way for last year’s students to get to know our new students.
FIRST WEEK OF CLASSES
Many students are trialling classes this week, so numbers in classes will be large. Once enrolments are finalised, some classes may need to be split to make the classes smaller. Please note that Musical Theatre classes have three teachers on them, as these are much bigger as musicals depend on the whole, large casts. So, if you see about 50 children going into a class, please don’t be concerned as they get split into three groups and rotate between the acting, singing and dancing teachers.
SECOND WEEK OF CLASSES - PARENTS Q+A SESSIONS
Please arrive 10 minutes before the end of the class to pick up your child and come into the room, as this is a chance for you to meet your child’s teacher and ask any questions you might have to deepen your understanding of what the class entails.
UNIFORM ORDERS
Much of our left-over stock was snapped up last week. We will now need to order uniforms online [VIA YOUR NAPA PORTAL]. On Monday we will put up our online shopping with size charts, so you can order uniforms from your portals. Dancewear takes six weeks to manufacture so we will be closing off the orders on 20th February so that our Performance Teams have their uniforms by their first competition. We have a variety of NAPA dance wear to choose from but please note, only the Performance Teams can order the jackets. Winter jackets for all students will go on sale closer to the onset of the colder weather. For students who are doing any of our acting classes, we have t-shirts for you, and these don’t take long to produce. Boys Crew have their own uniforms and we have some in stock if you want to try these on. These also don’t take long to produce.
PERFORMANCE TEAMS
Congratulations to everyone who successfully auditioned for our 2021 Performance Teams! We are so excited to welcome so many new team members!
We know there is a lot of information to take in, but the PT Guidelines booklet that you received after auditions, is a valuable resource of information. Make sure you have joined the NAPA Performance Team Facebook group also, as this is a great place to stay up to date with information and you can also ask questions to other parents here. Our competition dates for 2021 are locked in:
Gold Coast Eisteddfod (schedule to be confirmed)
SATURDAY 7 AUGUST + SUNDAY 8 AUGUST 2021
SATURDAY 14 AUGUST + SUNDAY 15 AUGUST 2021
SATURDAY 21 AUGUST + SUNDAY 22 AUGUST 2021
Get the Beat Gold Coast
May 30th at the Star
Get the Beat Finals
SEPTEMBER 27-OCTOBER 3 (schedule to be confirmed - groups usually run over 3 days)
*Please note GTB Finals are held on the Sunshine Coast (Caloundra Events Centre) and all teams will travel up to be part of this event.
BROADWAY BOUND EXTENSION - Into the Woods AUDITIONS
All students will need to prepare a vocal solo (a song from the show that is sung by the character/role they are interested in auditioning for), and dramatic or comedic monologue of their choosing. Vocal solos will be done in full and to backing track, supplied by the student on a USB or device. They will then do a movement audition which will be taught to the class and then performed in small groups for the audition panel. If the character you are auditioning for does not sing solo, then you can prepare another song that best shows off your voice and that would be suitable for your character. All auditionees must do vocal audition to qualify for this class.
Audition 1: Vocal and movement
6.30-8.30, Tuesday, 2 February 2021
Audition 2: Vocal continued and monologues
6.30-8.30, Tuesday, 9 February 2021
Ensure you have enrolled into this class to register for auditions!
COVID CONSIDERATIONS
Although COVID restrictions have been relaxed somewhat, we still have to be mindful of some practices. Students will use hand sanitiser as they enter the room. Teachers will wipe down equipment with disinfectant after use. The canteen still will only sell pre-packaged food at this time. To keep numbers on the premises as low as possible, we ask that you drop off your child and return later to pick them up rather than wait around. If it is your child’s first time and they are anxious or you have very young children, we make an exception. There is seating outside to reduce the numbers inside. Hopefully, later in the year we can organise some social events for the children as COVID restrictions are lessoned even more. In the past we have had some great events so we look forward to bringing them back again.
NAPA P+F
We hope you have all joined our Facebook Group. It’s a great way to be informed and communicate with other parents and is often a place where important, breaking news or information is posted to keep you informed. The P&F raise money to help with student resources above and beyond what is covered by fees. Half of the air-conditioning was funded by our P&F. Our big acro mat was also bought by them. Currently, they are looking at buying a new fridge for the canteen. They also organise parent helpers for the canteen, so our children can buy snacks and drinks in between classes. If you can help out, even if it’s only an hour a week, please contact Janneth (our President) [email protected]
NEW PARENTS
If you only just joined this week, you may have missed last week’s news. This is on our website if you want to catch up (links also available further up in this newsletter). We had included a link to the Parent Handbook for more information about procedures at our studio. Here is the link again as the content is important for you to read.
Have a fantastic first week everyone!!!
Lynn Dyer, Director
