Dear NWB Parents and Dancers;

I really thought we had a nice finish to end the school year with our Year End Graduation and Performance. Fitting about 200 people in Studio A wasn’t exactly easy but we somehow managed. I was very happy that most families could make it to the end which was a little over 2 hours. A few things had to be rushed at the end to be sensitive to the time it took for the dancing to finish. There are a few more things I wanted to get in but figured I could get them in in this email.

First of all, again, thank you for allowing us the great privilege to teach your child/children at our school and for being a part of the Northwest Ballet family which is growing each year. We have an ambitious summer ahead and certainly an ambitious fall. I will concentrate on working to improve our existing classes as well as try to add a few classes that people have shown interest in. And I will be trying to make our Nutcracker and Little Mermaid productions special for our dancers, parents and community audiences. As I mentioned yesterday we have have been trying very hard over the years to create backdrops and costumes that look professional and really add to the beauty of our productions. We will have a good start this summer on three ‘new’ backdrops for The Little Mermaid thanks to generous donations from several parents and grandparents. Generous ‘gifts’ like this really get the ball moving for us and we hope we can raise a few more dollars over the summer so that we can get most of the needed work done.

To the parents with younger students that were in Miye’s class, I want to thank you for the love Miye received from you and your child/children. Miye held it together pretty well Saturday in front of everyone but she shed some tears afterwards knowing that she won’t be around next fall and is missing all of you already. The ‘bond’ between a teacher and student can be very deep, almost like a parent and their child, and I know Miye cared deeply for each of her students and they cared deeply for her as well. From time to time, Miye will no doubt come back to Bellingham to visit and I will let everyone know when she is returning. In the meantime, she has pictures and cards from your children that she is taking with her to remember each one she taught these last few years.

By the way, Mieko and I will be around most of the summer so if you wish to pre-register, pick up DVD’s or ask questions about the summer or fall do not hesitate to call us. Things do ‘change’ sometimes regarding classes, schedules and performances even though we try and let everyone know those things well in advance. For instance if we are not able to do five shows of the Nutcracker at MBT in December, we will at least have three again. We will no doubt be split casting our younger dancers so not to tire them(and parents) out too much, even though we know they love to perform. We have had three straight years of very successful Nutcracker performances and we are also hoping to make a ’splash’(excuse the pun) with our original ballet of The Little Mermaid. Other information that will be on the way soon is about a 20% group discount being offered by Mount Baker Theatre for NWB families who wish to see Dance Theatre of Harlem in January. This is a MUST SEE for our dancers and parents and I hope we can have even more attending that show than we had for Movin’ Out(50+) last January. Myself or Judi will be getting that information to you by next week when MBT will start reserving those tickets.

Hey, let’s have a wonderful summer! If anyone wants to get together with Mieko or myself at anytime between now and September let us know. Mike Farkas,  also wanted to be contacted by anyone that had ideas that can help spread the word to the community about our school and productions while getting some ‘tips’ from him on how to do that. Mike is really enthusiastic about what NWB has done so far and has already done a great job getting us out there on the web and by bringing Chamber members to our performances. Googling, facebook, etc. are great tools that do help attract more attention to what we are doing and trying to become. The more of us that can get involved in various ways will cause more ripples and eventually waves. We are also looking into some advertising on KVOS TV and others that we have not tried yet but are exploring. Courteous emails to the editor of the Bellingham Herald, Margaret Bikman on your experience with Northwest Ballet’s school and it’s productions also are very helpful as they may lead to better coverage…hopefully. Thank you everyone for your love and support!

Sincerely,

John & Mieko