Sapphire Ballroom & Dance Center
Sapphire Dance News - January 2015

The first Sapphire Dance News of 2015 is here! We hope it finds all of you happy and healthy while wrapping up the holiday season. We also hope that you have lots be thankful for in this past year and lots to look forward to in the year ahead. You can find some of the highlights of our 2014 at http://www.sapphiredance.com/Email/2014-12.html#6. We are looking forward to another year to make memories of dancing, learning, friends, and community. See ya dancing!!!

Snowflake

1. Back in the Swing: Kick the Winter Blues Dance Party, this Saturday, January 10 - read more
2. Welcome to Luke, the newest member of the Sapphire Staff - read more
3. Friday Night Beginner Workshops, aka CTAMs - read more
4. Upper Level Mondays: We’re shaking things up! - read more
5. Spring Sampler: FREE Intro Lesson for you and your Friends! - Tuesday, Jan. 13 - read more
6. Blacksburg Group Classes: Great Options for New and Experienced Dancers - read more
7. A Taste of Elegance - Wine Tasting and Dance Party - read more

 
 

Calendar GraphicDates to remember:

Friday, Jan 2 - First CTAM of 2015
Monday, Jan 5 - Upper Level Monday nights start back up with Salsa and Single Time Swing workshops
Saturday, Jan 10 - Winter Blues Dance Party
Tuesday, Jan 13 - Spring Sampler: FREE Intro Lesson , Blacksburg
Tuesday & Wednesday, Jan 20 & 21 - Group Classes start, Blacksburg
Saturday, Jan 31 - A Taste of Elegance: Attimo Wine Tasting and Dancing
Saturday, Jan 31 - Last chance to buy private lessons at 2014 prices

Back to Top.

1 - Back in the Swing: Winter Blues Dance Party, this Saturday, January 10

bluesShake the snow off and heat up the night by coming out to our tribute to the Blues. Wear blue jeans, a blue shirt, or blue hair - whatever floats your blues-boat. The lesson will feature West Coast Swing - a more bluesy dance is hard to find! If you are new to West Coast, be sure to come at the beginning of the lesson, when the material will be the easiest. Remember to bring a dish to share for a chance to win a gift from Sapphire.

Back to Top.

2 - Welcome to Luke, the newest member of the Sapphire Staff

Luke You may have noticed Luke participating in most Sapphire events as of late: he’s a quiet guy with a crew cut and patent leather shoes. If you talk to him, you’ll find that he’s into Sci-Fi, always helpful, and (sometimes) wickedly funny, as well as a really knowledgeable dancer. All of these things make us really pleased to announce that Luke is going teaching with us!

Luke and LindaWant to know more? Luke is a student in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering and has been an avid ballroom dancer since his mid-teens. He has assisted teaching in other dance groups and is an active member of the Virginia Tech ballroom dance club, Ballroom Dance @ Virginia Tech, which is where we met him.

Here’s to Luke and everything he will bring to Sapphire Ballroom!

Back to Top.

3 - Friday Night Beginner Workshops, aka CTAMs

CTAMHere's a trivia question for you….What does CTAM stand for?
   (a) Communication and Theatre Association of Minnesota
   (b) Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing
   (c) Community Television Association of Maine
   (d) Cheaper-Than-A-Movie
   (e) All of the Above

The answer is actually (e) All of the Above. But the only one we care about is, of course, (d) “Cheaper-Than-A-Movie” aka - Sapphire’s Friday night beginner workshops!

Sapphire's Friday nights are a hot spot for beginners to come out and try something new; for a couple’s out-of-the ordinary date night; or for current dancers looking to have a good time, meet new people, and review some dance steps. Whatever the reason, we always get a fun crowd of full of both new and familiar faces.

CTAMSapphire’s CTAM rotates through 13 different dance styles, teaching a different combination of 3 each Friday. So, you’ve got variety. Also, the rotation of dances allows for each dance style to show up 3 consecutive Fridays. So, you’ve also got repetition. And every week, we start each lesson from scratch, letting dancers drop-in whenever they can. So, you’ve got flexibility, too! Basically, CTAM’s are the most magically perfect beginner workshop you will ever find….if you don’t believe us, come see for yourself.

Check out the Winter/Spring schedule at http://www.sapphiredance.com/cheaper-than-a-movie.php

Back to Top.

4 - Upper Level Mondays: We’re shaking things up!

smoothIts a new year and we have a new Monday night line up with some twists and turns that you might not have seen coming. As you peruse our Spring schedule, you’ll notice two big differences from previous sessions.

First, you won’t see the workshops labeled in “Levels” as much as they used to be. Now, workshops are titled by the theme or concept that they will feature. As frequent ULW attendees know, that is usually what the instructors do any way: use a flashy new pattern to highlight a certain topic. But don’t worry, we still have levels in mind as we choose our topics and will post pre-requisites so you will know which workshops are right for your level of experience. The best of both worlds!

For example, on Monday, January 12, the 8:00 workshop will be Salsa: Shines, roughly a Level 3-4ish workshop (but not limited to those levels), that will be all about doing shines in Salsa. The workshop might only teach one shine, but teach a lot about how to get into and out of them, or it might give you lots of options for shines. Either way, if you want to learn how to incorporate these distinctly Salsa-esque moves in your dancing, you’re going to happy in this workshop. Plug into our full Workshop Schedule at http://www.sapphiredance.com/int-adv-wksp.php

Upper Level MondaysThe second change to the Monday Night format is that we will be hosting FOUR separate, unique 4-week classes. So, rather than having Monday Night be mostly workshops with a group class exception every now and then, the classes (4-weeks) and workshops (one-nighters) will be working hand-in-hand to give you the most awesome combination of follow-through and flexibility we could wrangle.

The January Group Class is going to be High Powered American Tango beginning January 12, and followed with another Silver Waltz Class in February.

It’s going to be a great year for Monday nights!

If you want help deciding which classes and workshops are right for you, please ask any one of our staff members, give us a call or an email. We’d also love to hear what you think of these changes.

Back to Top.

5 - Spring Sampler: FREE Intro Lesson for you and your Friends! - Tuesday, Jan. 13

wineIf you are making New Year’s resolutions to do something new, fun, good for your health and your social life, then we are making it easy for you to get started. Each semester of classes begins with a FREE Sampler for people to test the waters and see what our 4 week Group Classes are all about.

Join us Tuesday, January 13, 7:00 pm, at the Blacksburg Community Center, where we will be ready to dance with you, demonstrate a variety styles, and answer any questions you have about our upcoming classes.

If you sign-up for a Blacksburg Group Class that night, you’ll get $6 off your tuition, plus you can hear about other discounts and deals. In all, it’s free, it saves you money, and (this is the big one!) it’s going to be FUN. Grab your friends, your sweetheart, or come on your own - you can’t lose with this deal.

BTW - if you’re already involved in Blacksburg Group Classes, and know what you’re going to take this term, come anyway! For the same reasons - free, saves money, and FUN.

Back to Top.

6 - Blacksburg Group Classes: Great Options for New and Experienced Dancers

bburgAre you biting at the bit to start our new session of Group Classes at the Blacksburg Community Center? We are!

After a few weeks of downtime and seeing the fun stuff in store this season, we cannot wait to get the dancing started. There are lots of cool higher-level classes for those of you that have some dancing know-how and two great choices perfect for beginners: Waltz for those who fancy a slow dance and Cha Cha for those who want some speed.

groupOn Tuesday nights, starting January 20, there will be a Level 1 Waltz for beginner dancers and, for more experienced dancers, a Level 4 Argentine Tango and Level 2 East Coast Swing.

Wednesday nights offer Level 1 Cha Cha for ambitious beginners, and Level 2 Night Club 2 Step and Waltzing Your Fox Trot for returning dancers.

Details are available at http://www.sapphiredance.com/groupclasses.php.

If you want to learn more, sign up with a discount, or just start dancing a week early, make sure you come out to our Spring Sampler on Tuesday, Jan 13 (see above).

Back to Top.

7 - A Taste of Elegance - Wine Tasting and Dance Party

wineWe asked ourselves…..”what is something never before done at Sapphire, that is sure to be a crowd pleaser, fun for our favorite dancers and staff, and a great way to dance the night away”? The obvious answer was a wine tasting!!! The distinctive flavors of wine will pair beautifully the many styles of dance. ;)

The award winning Attimo Winery is coming to Sapphire on Saturday, January 31, to guide us through a tasting of 8 different wines. There will be food to pair with the wine and dancing to pair with the experience!

Plan to invite someone special, get a little dressed up and join us for an elegant evening starting at 7:30. Registration is required by January 23 and the first 20 guests to sign up get a complimentary Sapphire Ballroom wine glass. The evening including wine, food, and dancing is $55 for couples and $32 for individuals. Reserve your place today!

Back to Top.

 

To subscribe to Sapphire Dance News, our monthly e-newsletter, visit us at SapphireDance.com/email.php.

Sapphire Ballroom & Dance Center

30 W Main Street, Suite C, Christiansburg, VA  24073 - 540-382-8782
www.SapphireDance.com