Calendar

June is another busy month!!!! Be sure to get your calendar up to date so you don’t miss out on any of it!

Each year at Intermission or after the performance of the recital, we sell purple cookies in memory of Mara Adams, a CDT dancer who lost her battle with DIPG in 2008. The cookies are typically a fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, however this year the Adams family has requested that the funds  go to another CDT family. Charlie Stenson is 3 years old and was diagnosed with stage 4 germ cell cancer in November 2022. Charlie is currently fighting bravely and all the proceeds will go to help with her medical care. Thank you for your donations and well wishes.

Spotlight Theater Company

The theater program had a wonderful inaugural year! We are so thrilled to be able to provide more learning and performing opportunities! We are very excited to announce the next season line up!

Creative Kid’s Art Club

Our artists had such a fantastic showing at the Art show this past spring! They have a lot to be proud of.

Ms. Lindy will be a fun part of the Peace.Love.Dance re-enrollment week! Stop by and see her to check out some fun projects! Keep reading to learn all about them.

Monday: Make a Tie dye cloth
Stop by the art table for a cool project to take home and treat yourself to a blowpop! This event is schedule for a block of time. Participants can come and go within the time range. This is an independent project that is guided by the teacher rather than taught to look a certain way. Parent help is recommended for children under the age of 7

June 5th in Federal Way

June 12th in Auburn

Tuesday: Marigold flowers

Wear flowers in your hair or anything floral to dance class. Stop by the art table to make a marigold painting. Enjoy a ring pop! This event is schedule for a block of time. Participants can come and go within the time range. This project takes and estimated 40 minutes to complete. Please try to arrive at 4:30pm, 5:20pm and 6pm if you wish to participate in this project. Recommended for ages 7+, Parent help required if younger.

June 6th in Federal Way

June 13th in Auburn

Thursday: Make a Sun Mosaic

This event is schedule for a block of time. Participants can come and go within the time range. This project takes and estimated 60 minutes to complete. Please try to arrive at 4:45pm,& 5:45pm if you wish to participate in this project

Recommended for ages 5+, Parent help required if younger

June 8th in Federal Way

June 14th in Auburn

Friday: Make a Hippie Headband

Show us your best hippie style! Wear a headband to class, don’t have one? No worries, man. Just stop by the art table and make one. Also, grab some fun dip to enjoy! This event is schedule for a block of time. Participants can come and go within the time range. This is an independent project that is guided by the teacher rather than taught to look a certain way. Parent help is recommended for children under the age of 7. ALL Ages friendly

June 9th in Federal Way

June 13th in Auburn

Arabesque Academy

Congratulations to our preschoolers! They graduate on June 15th! Some are off to Kindergarten and others are returning in the fall. We are so proud of how much you have learned!

There are still openings for the 2023/2024 school year! Click the link to learn more or send us an email with questions!

The Nutcracker & Spring Ballet

2024 is an exciting year for our classical ballet program.   We are also proud to announce that participation in our classical ballet productions will be free of charge, thanks to our non-profit group, The Children’s Dance Theater Foundation.

Our Nutcracker production has become a long-standing tradition for our families! Nutcracker rehearsals start up in September and we want your young dancer to be a part of the Holiday magic. Dancers from the First and Second Steps and Preliminary classes ages 5 and up are eligible to be in the performance.

There are two ways to be involved:

1, Sign up and start in September:  Dancers can sign up to be a Lamb, Wolf, Peppermints, or Angels. No audition is needed, and rehearsals will begin September 9th. This is in addition to your child's regular dance class.  You can enroll in the production through the parent portal.

2. Audition: There are other great roles like Bon Bons, Mice, Party dancers and more. If those are of interest to you, then please attend auditions on Saturday, August 12th, from 12:30pm to 1:15pm at our Auburn location. These roles may be required to attend our mandatory choreography week in the evenings of August 28th- September 1st. Auditions are a fun and positive experience; we accept all dancers into our production.

We are very excited to announce the Spring Ballet 2024 as Cinderella! A little magic goes a long way in this delightful fairytale. Set to Sergei Prokofiev’s passionate and expansive score, the story of Cinderella has captivated audiences with its emotionally compelling portrayal of this cherished ballet.

Follow our heroine as she falls in love with a handsome prince, overcomes the influences of her wicked stepfamily, and makes her own dreams come true. Lose yourself in an enchanting story that blends humor, heart, and hope—one where wishes come true, courage triumphs over cruelty, and a lost slipper leads to a happily ever after.

Read the auditions page for more information.

Thrive Competition Team

Congrats to the CDT Thrive competition team on a wonderful season!

Join one of the fastest growing competition teams in the state! Team auditions are June 17th. Come to the Auburn CDT location, 102 W Main St Suite 201 for team auditions.

Mandatory Parent Meeting is the Tuesday night before auditions, June 13th at the Auburn location at 7:00pm.

Mini auditions, ages 6-8years @ 10:00am

Junior auditions, ages 9-11years @11:00am

Teens/Seniors, ages 12-18years @12:30pm

Fill out your registration form at the auditions, audition forms will be available at the mandatory parent meeting.

Drake Hedrick

The summer after his 6th grade year, Drake was dragged by a friend to the CDT-Federal Way Summer Camp production of "The Little Mermaid".  After that show, Stephanie asked him to participate in CDT's production of the Nutcracker. Now, seven years later he is still at it.  His passion is Musical Theater, the dance skills that he has learned over the years have already opened doors for him.  With CDT, he has performed in 6 years of Musical Theater productions and 5 years of the Nutcracker.  He has also performed with the Auburn Community Players, the Hi-Liners Musical Theater, the Village Theater Kids Stage, Thomas Jefferson High School Theater and Tacoma Musical Playhouse.  During a number of those productions, he was appointed Dance Captain because of his dance experience. He also received a nomination for 5th Ave High School Awards for his work in Student Choreography. He has taken voice lessons with Katie Jones for a number of years, which has led to membership into All-Washington, All-North West and National NAfME Honors Choirs.

Drake will be attending BYU-Idaho in the fall studying Theater Performance major, Psychology Minor, and Modern Dance Choreography studies. He is so grateful for the friends and connections he has been able to make through CDT and he wants all dancers to know that no matter where you are in your dance journey, you should love the process and be grateful for the incredible dance opportunities you have.

Ciena Edge-Collazo

Ciena has been dancing for 14 years now. She was first inspired when she watched Dancing With The Stars with her mom and grandparents. Dancing has impacted her life by giving her a safe place to express how she feels, and giving her another lifelong family. Her plans for after High school is to continue teaching/coaching at Children's Dance Theater and begin studying Interior design. Some of her favorite highlights of dance journey would be when she performed the roles Dew Drop and Sugar plum, as well as being able to compete with the amazing competition team. Another fond memory is when she got the best nickname of the Lazy Lion from Mrs.Stephanie, and she thought it was the funniest thing to then get a shirt that said that. One quote to leave for dance would be "Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion", by Martha Graham. Something she thinks is helpful that helped her was, don't be hard on yourself when you don't get something, keep trying and you will get there.

Peter Stockdale

Peter Stockdale has been dancing at the studio for 7 years. His parents realized he loved dance when he signed up for a school talent show at age 7 to show off his “moves”. From his first ballet class at Children’s Dance Theater he was hooked and he hasn’t stopped dancing since!

Dance has taught him that one’s mental strength is as valuable as one’s physical strength and that it is important to believe in yourself and listen to your body. He seeks to be an inspiration for other male dancers by performing on stage and teaching younger dancers. Being able to performing in the Annual Nutcracker has helped that hope. This yearly tradition has been his favorite performance, combining his love for ballet, acting and being part of a cast that feels like family.

Peter is planning on attending the University of Wyoming in the fall and majoring in dance.

Big shout out to his parents for encouraging his love of dance and driving him to the dance studio all the days. He would also like to thank all of his teachers at CDT for believing in him and pushing him to grow.