It seems I was just welcoming everyone back to TMDA for the fall semester and now Thanksgiving is just around the corner!! Only four full classes left before our Christmas Recital so we still have plenty of work left to be done.
I can say that dance, Pointe and tumbling are going absolutely wonderful and I could not be prouder of all the progress we are having. This makes all of us dance teachers very proud and very motivated to push a little harder to see what each class can accomplish! Thank you for bringing your children to us each week and for being supportive of them as well as us. Now on with the news…….
November 4, 5 & 6, 2014: Parent-Watch in all classes.
November 5, 2014: Senior Practice with all Seniors/Tiny Elsa and Anna’s from 7:45-9:15pm.
November 11, 12 & 13, 2014
November 11 & November 18, 2014: Petite and Tiny Troupe group practices. Petite stays 15 minutes longer and Tiny comes in 15 minutes earlier.
November 12, 2014: Senior Practice with all Seniors/Tiny Elsa and Anna’s from 7:45-9:15pm.
November 18, 19 & 20, 2014: Christmas Show tickets go on sale. $6.00 per ticket, 4 tickets per family.
November 19, 2014: Senior Practice with all Seniors/Tiny Elsa and Anna’s from 7:45-9:15pm. FULL
DRESS REHEARSAL FOR CHRISTMAS SHOW. (Be prepared to stay longer if needed.)
Week of November 23-29, 2014: No classes; Thanksgiving break.
December 2, 3 & 4, 2014: Parent-Watch in all classes. Final Christmas Tickets will be sold.
December 3, 2014 @ 4:15pm: I need all Wall dancers to come in to our Temple Class so that you may meet your little ones and practice Finale with them. This practice is imperative as your little ones absolutely need to meet you before our Christmas Show.
December 7, 2014 @ 2pm: Christmas Show @ C-Pac.
December 9, 10 & 11, 2014: Christmas Parties in all classes and end of 1 st semester.
December 21, 2014 @ 7pm: Company dances at Dan Ladner’s Christmas Concert in Presque Isle.
No classes from December 14 through January 4, 2015. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
January 6, 7 & 8, 2015: First week of classes for our 2 nd semester
January 13, 14 & 15, 2015: All 2 nd Semester Tuitions are due by January 14 th , 2015; if paid by this date you will receive $10.00 off of each tuition.

“Parent Watch” this week, November 4, 5 & 6, 2014!
We will call all parents in 15 minutes before class is over so that we can go quickly over the newsletter, answer costuming questions and then you can see what your children have been learning for the past month; I think you will all be amazed! Please read your November newsletter so that you are prepared for any questions you may have for us to answer during this time. Parent watch for December is scheduled for December 2, 3 &
4, 2014 and will be only the last 10 minutes of class! We will not dance for you at this parent-watch as this will be our last week of rehearsal before our Christmas show and we want you to be surprised (plus we will need as much of this class time to rehearse as possible). Thanks for always understanding and for your continued support!
Halloween Parties:
Thank you to all who helped with the Halloween parties, who brought in treats and who sent me great pictures. This is always a fun time for our students and it is because of you, the parents who go out of your way each year to make this such a huge success for our students. Thanks so very much, we had a ball!!
PS: Company and Troupe please do not forget to buy your Troll make-up....Halloween is over and it will be much more expensive to order it online.
Thanksgiving:
There will be no dance the week of Thanksgiving, November 23 through the 29th, 2014. Dance will resume on
Tuesday, December 2, 2014. We hope you have a wonderful holiday and please take the time to enjoy each other and this amazing season!!
Food for the Needy during Thanksgiving:
As we have done for the past 7years, TMDA is collecting food for the Catholic Charities food pantry. I will conduct the same contest again this year: when you bring in food products, you will bring it into the front office before placing the items in the boxes under the store window. The secretaries will take your name and on November 19, 2014…I will pick one name out of all of those who brought in food items and that lucky winner will receive a 50% discount on his/her spring tuition. This if for all of my dancers and tumblers too!
The pantry desperately needs our help so please, be generous if you can. They look forward to Clarann, Deana and I bringing in all the boxes each year so please, if you can…they are in desperate need of cereal, canned goods, juice…..but they will take anything you can give. Every year we bring in more and more food….and I wish you could see how much Catholic Charities appreciates what we do. My goal this year is to bring in 2 large “costume boxes” of food to the food pantry from each class…this means we need to collect 34boxes of food! I know this may sound like a lot but if we all do our part, it is amazing the good we can do. Can we all jump to that challenge? Thank you all in advance for your continued generosity!
November 11 & November 18, 2014:
I will need Petite Troupe to stay 15 minutes longer and for Tiny Troupe to come in 15 minutes early on these two dates so that we may practice Spring Pageant together. We will remind you this week during parent watch.

December 3, 2014 @ 4:15pm:
I need all Wall dancers to come into our Temple Class so that you may meet your little ones and practice Finale with them. This practice is imperative as your little ones absolutely need to meet you before our Christmas Show. This is our last class before our Christmas Show so please do everything you can my Wall dancers to be at this practice.
SENIORS:
We will need all seniors to go into their classes starting this week so that you may start dancing with the students. It is easier for us to place you and the students need to get used to you dancing with them. You have the schedule so please follow it and thanks.
Christmas Store Specials: (deals last until December 10, 2014)
1) All winter jackets are $20.00 off,
2) All running jackets are $25.00 off.
3) All addidas jackets are $15.00 off
4) All black TMDA clothing; buy any shorts, pants, leotard or shirts combo and receive 2 pairs of tights free!
(While supplies last and only on items in the dance store.)
Winter Announcements:
I will only cancel dance when/if all the area schools are cancelled. I will post on Colleen’s corner by noon of the day of dance if I have decided to cancel dance for that evening. We will do our best to reschedule dance for the evening cancelled but this will be up to the discretion of the instructor. During the winter months, it is imperative that we keep the door closed between the outside door and the waiting area; we have put in this door to keep our children warm during the winter months so please, take off your boots and put them away into a cubby before opening the door to the waiting area. We need your utmost cooperation with this.
Finally, I am begging you to please use the cubbies for all of your shoes….it is a hazard to have them lying
all over the entrance. Parents, please make sure your children use the cubbies and if you put your own shoes there, I am sure your children will follow suit.
Costumes:
Most costumes have arrived and have been ready to be purchased. The only costumes left to arrive are the
Celtic Costumes for Company, Troupe and Mini Troupe. The last day to purchase these costumes without late fee penalties was last week on the 29 th . A $10 late fee has been added to all costumes that have been left in the dance store. These fees will accrue on all costumes each month so please, purchase these ASAP. Deana is adhering to this rule for everyone as that is only fair. The pictures of these costumes have been loaded onto the costume page. All costumes must be purchases by the Christmas Show in order for you to purchase your
Christmas Tickets. (Please note that all tuitions for the Fall Semester must also be paid in full in order for you to purchase your tickets.) Remember that the $60.00 costume deposit fee was subtracted from one of your costumes if all of your costumes arrived for your class, if not…the $60 deposit will be subtracted from the final costume you purchase.
To clarify some costume questions:

1- Some costumes do not come in X-Small child sizes therefore your child would have been ordered a child small.
2- Some costumes for children’s classes to not come in adult small therefore your child would have been ordered a child x-large. (Only 1 inch size difference from these two costumes)
3-Some costumes do not come in xxl in either children’s or adults….I do my best to buy the exact sizes your children have ordered but in some cases, these sizes are just not available.
4-I no longer can return any costumes for anyone. We have exactly a 2 week time frame to return costumes: I had your costumes available for you the first week of October so we no longer have the ability to return costumes. I do hope everyone understands this as this has always been the rule for me as well as for you.
5-If your costume is too small…you may want to ask other students in your class if they can switch with you.
The easiest fix of a too small costume is to let out the crotch area by adding a piece of fabric. Remember
Clarann and I have worn child x-large costumes very often….we let out the crotch area and in an instant, things are all better. Trust us!
Thanks for your continued support. 
“Baby it’s FROZEN outside!”:
This is the title of our Christmas Show this year, to be held at the Caribou Performing Arts Center on Sunday,
December 7th, 2014 at 2pm. Each family will receive 4 tickets to this performance and they will be available for pick-up in the dance store starting November 18, 2014. The cost is $6.00 per ticket. People are already emailing me saying they need 10 tickets to the Christmas Show and I am so sorry, but this cannot happen. The show is designed to give you, the parents (and possibly some siblings) the chance to see what your children have been learning this semester. I do realize that these children all have grand-parents who wish to see them dance and especially at this time of the year when we celebrate family however……there are only 825 seats in
C-Pac and we have over 250 dancers so I am doing my best trying to give everyone show tickets. The show is general seating so please, do not save seats: we will not allow for this to happen. Please make sure that all of your tuition bills and costumes have been paid for before picking up your tickets. You will have to sign for your tickets so please do not ask for someone else to pick up your tickets. If you need more tickets, sign up
with the office secretaries and we will do our best to get extra tickets to you. We will sell the remainder of tickets on Wednesday, December 3 rd , starting at 5pm so you must pick up your 4 tickets we have reserved for each family before this time or we will sell your tickets to those who have signed up for more. Each dancer must come ready, in full costume and make-up and ready to dance. Parents need to hold your child’s coats and boots as we do not have the cafeteria for this show. (Pointe girls will change in the girl’s locker room near the gym) This show is not a recital and will not be treated as one…it is more relaxed and we want the kids to have fun. It is just a chance for all of us to come together and enjoy how talented your children are. The doors to C-Pac will open at 1:30 and we expect the show to be about an hour long. The Christmas Show Line-Up will be listed under its own tab on this page by November 15 th so please double click on the tab that says
Christmas Show Line-Up and download this word document so that you will know when your child will be dancing. You will need to stay with your child until 10 minutes before the show. The DM’s are only in charge of your kids from 1:50pm until they bring them back to the cafeteria. No children will be allowed to be picked up in the audience. You must pick up your children in the cafeteria. Everyone needs a ticket to this show…all mothers included. (Except of course DM’s.) Please go to the costume page so that you all know how to properly wear the costume and what your hair, tight and shoe requirements are. EVERYONE MUST BE

ALIKE SO PLEASE ADHERE TO THE REQUIREMENTS. You must not wear any dangling earrings, necklaces, bracelets or watches during any of our performances. Only headpieces that come with the costumes may be worn. Everyone must wear show tights. The line up Moms will line up their classes in the hallway in between the cafeteria and the music room. The dancers will be allowed into C-Pac after they have performed so please keep the aisles clear for them to come back in. We will go over which aisles the children will sit in with the DM’s that will be in charge of each class. You will be updated in the December Newsletter. Temple parents will sit in the upper right corner of C-Pac and we will have seats reserved for you there so that you may hold your children after they have performed. They are the first to perform so we will bring them to you there. Thanks!
Because our “Let it go” finale is all on stage this year (like we started to do last year) and not in the aisles as we have always done before….it is impossible for us to get you on stage without a dress rehearsal. Therefore, for our Christmas show we will be having all of our dancers do the finale from the aisles. It is totally impossible to have everyone lined up properly back stage without a dress rehearsal. If we did do this, then we could not allow the children to watch the show after they have completed their dance because they would have to begin lining up for the finale. With this said, we think it is best for our Christmas Show to have everyone (except for
Troupe, Company and Mini Troupe) dance in the isles for the finale. You have to trust us on this….we know what we are doing and we would rather sacrifice everyone being on stage for the last 2 minutes of our
Christmas Show then to have all of our dancers loosing the ability to watch the show.
NOTE: This is a fun time for your children because this is a laid-back production…we do this without a dress rehearsal so whatever happens…happens! Let’s all go into this show with that same attitude….and everyone will leave smiling! Joyeaux Noel!
Second Note: Because we do not showcase tumbling during this show….we do not offer tickets to our tumblers. However, if there are any left-over tickets and you have your name on our sign-up list then our tumblers will be allowed to receive left over tickets (2 per family). We will pass out left over tickets to our dancers first…. I do hope you understand.
So that you all know…..
We know there was a rumor going around that we would hold auditions for our little Anna’s and Elsa’s and I am sorry that our little girls thought that would be happening. We don’t feel like that is the correct thing to do as it is heartbreaking for our little princesses to prepare for something and then to be told that we didn’t choose them. It is hard enough to put children into lines let alone hold auditions. We took September and most of October to watch all of our little ones perform in their classes before we chose our little actors. It is never an easy task for us and…. particularly this year, it was that much more difficult. I hope you trust our decision and understand how and why we do this. We love all of our little ones….so very much!
Photo’s of the Christmas Show:
Kim Griffeth will be taking pictures of our Christmas Show again this year. She will be offering these at $5.00 for all the photos of the Christmas recital. She will donate a portion of these profits to our Scholarship Fund which is a very worthy cause that is helping many dancers again this year. We will not allow any flash
photography or photography of any kind!! Therefore, WE WILL NOT ALLOW CAMERAS INTO C-PAC.
Kim takes beautiful pictures and for $5, you can all just sit back and enjoy the show. Also, her donation benefits many of our dancers. You will sign up and pay for these with the secretaries before our Christmas show. You will receive these pictures via Dropbox. Please make all checks to Kim Griffeth for $5.00.

Miss Krista:
We would like to wish Miss Krista the best of luck as she prepares to become a Mommie! We are so happy for you and we cannot wait to meet our newest princess of TMDA! Are you sure you don’t want to call her like…Colleen Anna or Clarann Elsa? We love you and we will miss you while you are tending to your new little family but just know that we will patiently await your return! Enjoy and congratulations!!!
I love this time of the year…not the cold weather (definitely not the cold weather!) but what joy this time of year brings to each of us. Take time to enjoy each other during the Thanksgiving Holiday. If we can all
remember to do one nice thing for someone less fortunate, than just think what an even more wonderful place this world would be! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving all of you……
Your TMDA Family ….and me, Miss Colleen