Academy Newsletter: September 2022

Welcome to a new Academy year! We’re thrilled to have students from our Preparatory, Community, Young Dancer and Advanced Divisions back in the studio, and we can’t wait to welcome our Professional Training Division, Children’s Division and CB Moves students to class soon, as well!

Join us this season as we celebrate the arrival of Jodie Gates, our new Artistic Director of Cincinnati Ballet and the Otto M. Budig Academy. If you missed her welcome message in your inboxes earlier, we invite you to watch now!

This season, David Morse expands his role in the Academy as our new full-time Resident Faculty member, following six seasons as a Soloist with Cincinnati Ballet and eight seasons with Charlotte Ballet. He’s danced numerous featured roles in the works of George Balanchine, Jiří Kylián, Dwight Rhoden, and Twyla Tharp as well as much of the classical repertory, and his choreography has been performed throughout the United States by professional companies, universities, and pre-professional schools. Since its inception in 2018, David has served as the Director of Cincinnati Ballet’s Collegiate Intensive, a partnership between Cincinnati Ballet’s Otto M. Budig Academy and the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. While David has taught with the Academy part-time for several years, we are so excited to have him on board with us in an expanded capacity this year and beyond. Please give him a warm Academy welcome!

Absence Reporting and Make-up Class Scheduling

Should a student need to miss class for any reason, please complete the absence notification form or contact the Academy Administrative Office via the channels below so we can alert their instructor and make a note on attendance sheets.

Students who need to be absent for any reason are welcome to request a make-up class during another class time in their same level or a level lower. Because class sizes are limited, students should request to participate in a make-up class and receive approval prior to arrival to ensure the class size allows for them to participate. Make-up classes can be requested in the Absence Notification Form or by calling the Academy Administrative office at 513.562.1111.

For absence reporting, please use one of the following channels:
Absence Notification Online Form
By phone: 513.562.1111 (Option 1)

Remind

The Academy will continue using Remind this season in addition to regular email communication to send families reminders, emergency alerts and other notifications via text, push notification or email. Accounts are in the process of being created for this year. If you'd like to change your notification settings, learn more HERE. If you'd like to change who receives these notifications, please contact the Academy Administrative Office.

Additional Resources and Support

When in doubt, the best way to communicate with the Academy team throughout the year is by email (cbacademy@cballet.org) or phone (513.562.1111 - please leave a message if you reach our voicemail! We’ll call you back!). These are shared channels monitored by multiple members of our team and will help ensure your request is seen quickly and by the person or people who can best support you.

During class hours on evenings and weekends, our Student Experience Representatives (SERs) serve as ambassadors of the Academy. They’re typically stationed in the lobby at a standing desk near the Welcome Center (though on busy nights they’re often out and about!) and they’re present to support things like welcoming new families, monitoring students in non-studio spaces, helping tardy students get to the studio, and otherwise helping to ensure positive experiences in our shared spaces.

Finally, the For Academy Parents page on our website is worth bookmarking! This is where archived newsletters will be linked, as well as the absence notification form, this year’s handbook, calendar, Uniform Shop, and miscellaneous forms, and we’ll continue to update the page as new things happen throughout the season.

CB Moves is a dance and creative movement class for students with specific needs, presented in partnership with Cincinnati Children’s and Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. This year’s CB Moves program will run from October to April, and we invite new and returning students to join us! We will be placing students in class with others who share the same resource needs, including visual supports, volunteer support, and access to our state-of-the-art lift system. If a student in your life is interested in taking CB Moves classes in 2022-2023, please invite them to visit the link below to learn more and fill out the Request Placement form.

Have you spent all your time at the Margaret and Michael Valentine Center for Dance in the parent lounge? Ever wanted to check out more of the building and learn about our 57,000-square-foot facility? Did you know Cincinnati Ballet offers tours of the Margaret and Michael Valentine Center for Dance? A behind-the-scenes tour with a trained docent, featuring details about our nine state-of-the-art studios and how our dancers train for the stage, is offered on a regular basis for groups of up to 20. These are held on the third Thursday of every month at 10 am and 3 pm and the first Saturday of every month at 1:30 pm. To join a tour, or with questions about this opportunity, please contact Community Engagement Manager Noelle Johnson at njohnson@cballet.org.

Our partners at Mercy Health are excited to announce a preventative cardiac screening program for young dancers, ages 12-22. This event will be held on Saturday, October 15 from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM in their annex on site here at the Margaret and Michael Valentine Center for Dance. Eligible dancers are invited to receive a high level mobile cardiac assessment that gives a baseline heart evaluation, performed by registered cardiac sonographers, with results read by a team of pediatric and general cardiologists that can be shared with your medical provider. Each test is approximately 10-12 minutes, and the $79 cost can be covered by your healthcare or flex care spending account. These screenings are offered in partnership with the MCORE Foundation to prevent Sudden Cardiac Arrest.