News

Dear ABA Families,

I am writing to our dance community to provide an important update about ABA and the coronavirus (COVID-19).

1. OUR PLAN: At this juncture, we are open for all classes as usual. We are watching the local health department updates and tracking the public school response. At every step of the way, we are working to prevent the spread of the virus and keep our community safe.

2. IN-HOUSE:

• We are cleaning and sanitizing the building surfaces daily in addition to our thorough bi-weekly cleaning procedures and keeping a close eye on our facility.
• The barres will be disinfected before and after every class.
• No shoes will be allowed inside the studios as they are know to be a huge transmission for disease. In addition, please do not allow your dancer to wear their ballet slippers outside — not even from the car to the studio door.
• We will also discontinue using the yoga/stretch mats as we do not want dancers sharing mats or other exercise equipment in the studios.

3. HOW YOU CAN HELP: We are asking everyone in our community – staff, students, families, artists, renters, audiences – that you follow these important procedures and guidelines to help protect all of us:

Protect yourself and others…

The most important thing you can do is to practice everyday healthy behaviors that prevent the spread of germs.

• Wash your hands often with soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds. Especially before and after teaching class, handling cash, paperwork, etc.
• Don’t touch your face with unwashed hands.
• Use alcohol based hand sanitizer; you may encourage our students to use before and/or after class.
• Use the wipes and waste bins provided in each studio and the lobby to clean the barres, handrails, door knobs, etc. All staff will be pitching in to do this several times per day.
• Consider ways to greet, appreciate, support and instruct that minimizes physical contact.
• Please support by encouraging young children to hand wash when in the facility as this can be a missed step when they use the restroom.

These actions don’t just protect you. They help keep our whole community safe, especially our most vulnerable residents, by slowing the spread of the disease.

When you’re sick, stay home!

Don’t spread infections to others. When you’re sick with any respiratory illness:

• Stay home.
• Minimize contact with others in your household.
• Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash. If you don’t have a tissue, cough into your elbow rather than your hand.
• Wash or sanitize hands immediately after coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces, like door knobs, phones, and faucets.

Since we have Visiting Week coming up (March 23-28), it is especially important to follow these guidelines, as there will be many people in and out of the building that week. Please reach out to me at any time with questions or concerns. Thank you for being a part of the ABA community. Stay safe and healthy!

Sincerely,

Emilie Skinner
Director of Operations
Alameda Ballet Academy

Please help ABA by voting for us for the Parents Press Best of 2020! You can find ABA under 2 categories: Classes & Enrichment Programs and Camps. Tell your friends and family!!! We’ve won 4 years in a row! Let’s go for 5! CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW!

Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) was a huge success for ABA this past weekend. Our dancers performed beautifully and took home some amazing awards!!! Read more below.

Since September, our level 5 & 6 dancers have been working on the pieces they performed at YAGP this past weekend. Their hard work payed off with 11 beautifully performed solos and 1 ensemble.

Felt choreographed by Ms. Lindsay Leonard and performed by the Level 5 dancers placed in the top 6 ensembles of the competition! Both Shino and Anna (Level 6 dancers) placed in the top 12 for Senior Contemporary and Classical Solos and Shino placed 2nd in the Senior Women’s Contemporary category.

Congratulations to all!!!!

Ms. Abra and all your teachers are so proud. Special thanks to our choreographers and coaches for all their hard work preparing the dancers for such a special and successful experience. Now on to Spring Recital 2020!

Get ready to dance through the summer! We offer camps and classes for every dancer. There are Half-Day Theme Camps for the littlest ballerina and beginning ballet dancers, to Intermediate Ballet Intensives for our older dancers.

Our fun themed camps for little ones explore a different classical ballet each week and include Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake.

Our beginning & intermediate intensives build upon the foundations of classical ballet technique and offer a great opportunity to keep dancing all summer long.

Choose from different camps and classes from the drop-down list below.

Click for more information and registration for additional summer classes.

Important Information for Summer Theme Camps will be emailed to every family 1-2 weeks before the start of camp, but here are some answers to frequently asked questions:

– Please pack a healthy, non-sugary, non-messy food snack for your dancer to eat each day during our snack time.   We request that there be no nuts in any of the snacks!

– Please send your dancer to camp in ballet attire:  Girls; Leotard, Tights and Pink Ballet Slippers (no skirts please!) ; Boys; White T-shirt, Black tights/Leggings, Black Socks & Black Ballet Slippers. We will have all of our dancewear available at the studio for sale. If you need any dancewear, please arrive 20-30 minutes early on the first day of camp.

– We do not allow parents to attend/observe any part of the camp, and we do not have the children perform during camp.  With only one week of preparation, we find that it is too difficult to pull together choreography and still have time for them to learn about the ballet, enjoy the arts and crafts, etc.

We offer a 10% Early Bird discount if you enroll by April 15, 2020. Simply enter promo code ABAsummer2020 at checkout. Contact us if you have any issues!

ABA’s sister organization, the Alameda Civic Ballet, produces a beloved community tradition – The Nutcracker Ballet – which features many ABA students! Please join us for a fun and delicious breakfast fundraiser at the Elks Lodge, 2255 Santa Clara Avenue in Alameda! Your generous tips will benefit ACB and the Rachel Shahinian and Annika Zinsley Memorial scholarship fund. Hope to see you there!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FLYER!