Green Mountain Cloggers
Exhibition Dance Team

Summer was busy busy with lots of shows.  We had a lot of fun travelling all over Vermont for shows.  In August we went to Franklin county Fair, Sharon Old Home Days, Addison County Fair, Washington County Fair and Field Days, and Orleans County Fair.  We also performed at the Order of the Eastern Star meeting in Sharon Vermont.

In September we slowed down with just one show which was the Memphrememagog Arts Collaborative in Newport.  This show was an interesting show with rain sending us inside to perform inside a fancy clothing store.  I think that this was a first for the cloggers!

Classes are going on in Northfield on Sundays from 6-8 and some of us are learning the new routine for the Mud Show Talent show which takes place in April. 

Another exciting piece of news is that Hillary and Jay have opened their new tavern called the Green Mountain Tavern in Barre.  This has kept them very busy but so far the tavern has been doing well.  Starting the first Monday in November our weekly classes will be moving to the tavern from 6-8 pm.  This will save the group some money and also should be a fun place to practice. 

The last bit of news is that the banquet that was supposed to be held in October is going to be postponed until February.  This will give Hillary time to get into the swing of the new business and for our numbers to get back up.  We will definitely be having it though!

WOW... what a CRAZY July!!

We started our month off with the Randolph 4th of July festival where we won 1st place last year for " Civic Group". We were honoured to make this our 16th year in the Randolph parade.

We were once again able to use a truck & trailer from Riverside tractor...I want to deeply thank them for their generosity and help in making the parade possible for us!

We were really excited to have Libby perform with us in the parade..it has been a long time since we performed together, and it truly was a blast!  I want to thank our extra special helpers, Shawn, Rosanne, Chris, Maddie, Jamie, Laurel, Jay, Chad ( hopefully I am not forgetting any one!!) and ALL of our dancers too of course.....As always thank you to EVERYONE who participated and helped make this event a success!

We were saddened that the  Lyndonville Festival was cancelled due to weather issues in their area.  I really hope to get a chance to perform in their area next year, and hope that they invite us once again!

We have had a TON of double bookings recently do to a sudden increase of interests in our performaces! We are soooo excited about this!

We made a trip to Woodstock once again this year dancing like we did last year at Thompson Senior center, and ALSO picked up a new booking at the Woodstock Terrace. Both locations were fablous with really excited folks, who made our performance exhilerating!  Thank you for inviting us. 

I do not normally do nursing/senior centers any more because we were traveling all over the state so much for SO MANY locations, and working on donations only it became more of a expense than a profit. I never made even...... I LOVE performing at these events, but I only travel to them now if I am requested and they are more local to us.  I truly hope all these locations find us exciting, friendly, and professional.

Today brought the close of the July performances for us....and WOW what a day!  Another double booking for two fantastic events. Each event we attended today was a new booking!  The Barre Heritage festival and Lamoille Co Fair. 

We opened our day with a 9:30 AM performance at the Barre Heritage Festivcal being this is right in our home town for our group! We invited our great friends with the Step In Time Line Dancers of Central VT to come and dance with us. I really wanted them to have a chance to get some central VT exposure for their classes and maybe get  some new students and bookings. It was such a FANTASTIC idea!!  I really enjoyed it as I KNOW the rest of the group did too. They are a wonderful bunch of folks to be around, and work with! 

 We danced a couple songs then pulled them back up for one, and did a rotation sharing our booking and stage with them. We ended the show for a final number in stage all together performing the electric slide. It was a blast doing some line dancing again. 

I proudly gave them an open invitation to share ANY performance with us when ever they like. It was the first time I have done this, and I certainly do NOT regret it!  It was simply wonderful. I hope that the Step In Time Line Dancers enjoyed themselves. We were happy to give them the donations from our buckets to help with their expenses to share the show with us!

After the Barre Hertitage festival  we gased up, ate lunch and headed to our next performance in Johnson VT for the Lamoille Co Fair. We arrived on time and truly were treated like professionals upon arrival. We were guided to our stage area, and greeted by the vice president , who also heads the entertainment. She made sure we were all set, and answered questions. This was our first time to this location , it was a beautiful drive, sun shining, and warm summer air.

We set up in a timly manner and performed our hearts out. The crowd was WONDERFUL!!  They clapped, and showed such gret energy and support through out our performance.

After the performance we were aproached by so MANY folks from the crowd who really loved the change in dancing entertainment. When the Vice President came back over after our show folks young and old walked right up to her and said.... " you HAVE to have them back again next year" ...wow how cool. So great of a feeling to know what we did made others happy!  I am pretty sure we are all secure for another booking at Lamoille Co Field days next year!  Thanks to ALL who attended this LONG day together, and really busted BUTT dancing and keeping our high energy profile on stage!

We also stayed to support a square dancing troupe that did a fantastic job performing and even teaching  a few routines to the crowd. the Lamoille Valley Swingers....thank you so much for your great conversation and information. I really hope to see a great demonstration at our annual workshop!  Keep in touch with us!

Classes resume weekly in Northfield and numbers are picking up RAPIDLY!! It is so exciting to see new folks arrive and have a blast at classes. Current active members numbers are up to: 25!

August 1st brings yet  ANOTHER double booking for Sharon Old Home Days, and the Franklin Co Fair.

We truly travel from one end of the state to the other performing for top notch fairs and field days. We are the busiest , most professional dance troupe in VT and really proud we have created such a great name for ourselves with our performances, classes and support towards other groups. Each and every booking seems to turn in to more and more requests to come back for more events with these folks. Which is a super great sign that we really put on a terrffic show!  Sharon Old Home Days has invited us back for another booking this year at a different event, as well as Orleans Co Fair!  ( on top of the performances already scheduled for this summer)

Please keep a close eye on our calendar as it seems that more and more performances will be added through out the summer with more double bookings to handle the high demand in our organization.

Take care everyone, see you around VT real soon!

MAY:

In May we had a blast with all of our classes in Barre & Northfield. Working on new exciting summer routines has really been fresh and flavorful!

May 23rd brought a FULL day of our group spending time together. We really all had a great time.

At 7:30 in the morning a group of us met in Randolph for our annual carwash fundraiser. With out these events this group could not afford to stay "donation only" for performances and lessons. This web site costs money as well as outfits, travel, our workshop, google fees, business cards, brochures, ..just so many things we need to remain professional and successful.

Even though it was prinkling and a little chilly ...the carwash was a success, and funds raised were in the same vicinity as years prior. This gives us hope that folks out there are still supportive to our nonprofit organization and enjoy having us around!

Our car wash ran from 8-1. I want to thank Bailey, Chad, Jacob, Cora, Bob,&  Lydia for their outstanding help in making this event a success.

I am waiting for more awesome photos e-mailed to me from my mother to post. More will follow. Please view them in our photo gallery under "Fundraisers"

I want to thank everyone involved that made it a success!

After the car wash we came to Williamstown to my home and had a Memorial Day picnic together. More members came just to have this time together. The rain held off just so we could have a great time together. Jay was our spongebob Jay pants, and did the grilling of all the crabbie patties, and kelp hot dogs! LOL  He did a great job ( except for the first batch that he FORGOT on the grill, which were perfectly accepted by our dogs)  Hee Hee!!

( is that a burger in my mouth?)

We had Potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, grilled zuchinni, and squash, sauteed mushrooms, and all the toppings you can think of for a hot dog and our burgers! Chips, cottage cheese, fresh veggies, choc. chip cookies were all enjoyed by everyone.  I want to thank everyone for attending!!  I hope this might become an annual event together!

(More photos in our gallery)

After that wonderful picnic another group of us headed down to Williamstown to perform as a part of their Memorial Day entertainment. We were excited to perform so close to our neighbors!  We had a blast entertaining, the crowd was really awesome and enthusiastic! We hope to be invited back again next year. I think i will move the car wash to that Sunday instead in Randolph next year and perform earlier in the day !

THANK YOU to :  ( left to right ) Jacob, Cora, Me, Brean (in the back hidden behind), Tira, Robin.

 On May 30th we were honoured to be requested to perform in Joni's School of Dance annual recital that was held at the Spaulding High School aud.

We only met for two classes to get our routine in order. It was easy steps and we enjoyed the music. Of course we added our normal formations and special effect..lol. We really had a blast working  with them all.  The routine is posted in our video gallery in two pieces being the camera shut off then we had to restart it again to catch the ending! Hope you enjoy!

That finished out our month of May.

On June 6th we held our second annual Barre bake sale fundraiser at the same location we did last year. We had brochures and business cards displayed, our photo board, and vest and shoes, as well as our group banner. We had items for sale that were freshly made by all of our very own members. Everything from Brownies, to variations of rice crispie treats, various mini muffins, bananna bread, various cookies, and tons more. We also sold water, diet soda and regular soda as well. We also had various videos playing non stop on our lap top during the whole bake sale.

Thank you to everyone who helped donate items to sell as well as those who came and donated their time during the bake sale! Brean, Cora, Brittany, Lydia, Holly, Tammy, & Baliey...( me too)

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

The very next day June 7th, a group of us got back together to perform for the first time, at the VT Dairy Festival in Enosburg. It was such a great performance. We are delighted they are looking to have us back again next year.

The dancers did a great job setting up our sound system, photo board, banner, brochures and business cards, and displaying our shoes.

This was Maureen and Stephanie's second performance with us and they did awesome!! Here we are introducing them and giving them the BIG applause they deserve!

The crowd was great, the weather was perfect, and our performers did a fantastic job!

Thanks to: Cora, Jacob, Justin, Stephanie, Maureen ( and me ) .

For the rest of June, July, August and September we have decided to pack the two studio locations together at our Northfield studio to build a better bond between members, and work together at a faster pace for summer routines. I am excited to have everyone at one location till the fall months!

We will have classes June 14th & 21st. NO CLASSES June 28th. I am out of town.

The last event in June is our Barre carwash fundraiser.

This was held in South Barre last year.

This year it is being moved to Berlin on the Barre/Montpelier road across from Yipes Stripes on JUNE 27th 2009 from 7:30 AM-1: PM. 

Cora and Tira are in charge of this event.

 We need all the members we can get. Holding signs,. parking cars, washing cars, IS an exhausting job.

ANY help is great help. Please see what you can do about participating as we anticipate a large amount of traffic!  IF it is raining HARD we will cancell and re-schedule. The call will be Cora and Tira's to make. 

If it is raining PLEASE contact them BEFORE attending the event to confirm.  Get ahold of ME if you are attending and I will in turn give you their contact information!

UPDATE: The car was in Barre was a success with tons of help from Kyleigh and her mom Berniece and there family, Tira and her family, Cora and her sons, and friend Doc, as well as Stephanie and her mom and brother. They all did a FANTASTIC job in my absence. I am very proud of them all.

That is the news for May and June 2009. Please check back again for photos from our carwash in our gallery.

For more info on classes or booking us for a performance please e-mail GreenMtnClogger@aol.com

The VT Western & Folk Workshop would not have been possible with out these attending groups!

Left to right ....The "Step N' Time Line Dancers of Central VT"

 McFadden Academy of Irish Dance

Green Mtn Cloggers Exhibition Dance Team

Thank you to you all for coming to donate your time instructing, performing and spending the day with each other! It really was great to see each group's table set up with brochures, photos, business cards, and even t-shirts to sell!

Our team met early in the morning to set up our props and decorations and set up the sound system our raffle table, our group information table, our bake sale table, and our guest sign in table. The whole team did a fablous job taking charge on their own missions, and making things look great!.

We all met for our annual group photos and they came out great! A few are a little blurry, but still really nice poses from them all great job!

Missing from our annual group photo is, Brittany Bernier, Justin Joslin, Winnie McCormick, Sue Lancey, Libby Clark and Connie Coviello.

The instruction from each teacher was just great! So much fun. Setting aside a half hour for each teacher was perfect. Everyone loved the set up. We ran through each instructor , starting with  line dancing, then went to Irish step, clogging then swing dancing.  Folks stopped in all through out the day to try some dancing fun with us. There was plenty of room on the dance floor this year! We LOVE our new location at Williamstown Elementary School, and we are all in the clear for November 6th 2010!!

During lunck break we had a chance to talk between ourselves about ideas and what we have going on for the summer.

After lunch we ran over the same agenda as before lunch but everything took a more advanced route for each style.

    ( Step N' Time Line Dancers of Central VT Instructor/Owner- Sid McLam)

( McFadden Academy of Irish Dance Owner/Instructor- Beth Anne McFadden)

When the day was done, we enjoyed some fresh VT fiddling from our own member Brean Mead who is a member of the VT Fiddle Orchesta!  She gave us time to listen to her as we all got ready for our demonstrations.

Each group did two routines then we alternated same as the agenda from the day.

Every routine was really just great!  We were all so very excited to have the Irish step group show us some really awesome river dancing too!! All of these dancers are so very talented. I am excited to see these hidden styles of dance emerge from VT!

The props were really awesome. I was excited to have the back drop donated to us by the arts class from the Williamstown Elementary School. We in return, donated money back to them to continue their wonderful program!

The raffle and bake sale went great. I want to thank everyone who bought tickets from us.

The funds we raised helped to cover the costs of this event.

Please view our photo gallery for more photos from our workshop!  We look forward to seeing you all next year.

PLEASE KNOW......IF YOU ARE A CLOGGING GROUP IN THE NORTHEAST, OR A LOCAL DANCE STUDIO TO BARRE/MONTPELIER VT YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND. PLEASE LET US KNOW THAT YOU ARE COMING SO WE CAN RESERVE BOOTH ROOM FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION!

This month also brings an event we are proud to have auditioned in , and been the longest running accepted act into. The Chandler Music Hall's " Mud Season Variety Show". Our practices begin in October each year, and we work along with the rest of our shows and other events, to come together with a totally fantastic, original choreographed routine that has clogging, hip hop, flips, splits, cartwheels, throws, and lifts!!  Formations that are precise and exhilerating! We had alot of fun with this years routine. You can view what we plan to perform in our video gallery as well. The actual show is April 17th and 18th. Showtime is 7 PM.  Tech rehearsal is April 13th at 7 PM< and Dress rehearsal is April 15th at 6 PM. HOW EXCITING!

UPDATE: From the Mud Show!

The Mud Show went really great! It was nice meeting early in our dressing room, and stretching together and hanging out just chatting about the months worth of practices that it took to succeed in our routine.  It really was a blast as it is every year. This group that I had to work with was the easiest to teach, easiest to work with, and very versitile to new crazy dancing and stunt ideas!  I really want to thank them all...

Robin who let us litterally throw her around flip her head over heels and lift her above our heads!

Bailey for her willingness to flip her over and learn some VT style exhibition style clogging!

To Cora and her son Jacob for there involvement once again in their second mud show with us. Cora even was reminded of her old dancing days trying to perform with a broken foot!! So great to see Jacob advance in his steps. I was really happy to share some my competition steps with Jacob and Justin. Both the boys, and Cora really did a great job lifting Robin and showing off their steps!

Tira... well she just reallysurprised us all. Starting in this group not knowing how to dance at all...she came into involve her self thinking she was getting over her head.... I think she even surprised herself...and us all too!! I am very LUCKY to have all these dancers by my side helping this team!

And also thank you to Brittany, who took it upon her self to not only take on instructing BOTH location Irish step classes, but ALSO was at classes for this mud show routine. That is ALOT to take on for a dance who has only been with us for a year too!.... I am very excited for her also managing the Mud Kickin' Cloggers who performed in the Mini  Mud Show too.

Thank you to you ALL!!  Great Job! Please view our videos from the mud show from friday and Saturday night in our video gallery!

The 2nd Annual VT Western & Folk Workshop, being held on April 25th is well underway. We are all so excited to have our new upcoming guest instructors!

I want to send a HUGE THANK YOU, out to Pepper Senquarios, Beth Anne McFadden, and Sid McLam for instructing this year for all of us. With out them this event would not be nearly as exciting!

You will find road signs with our dancing partners LOGO that you can see here above! Look for the signs! The banner which also has the same logo can be found hanging outside at the school as well.

We will have a bake sale to help support our group, selling natural baked items for the health concious, as well as great sugary snacks made to fit in your hand, to keep your energy  UP for dancing all day! MMMM We will also have drinks for sale as well right on the spot!

UPDATE: The workshop went better than expected !!  The attending groups did a awesome job! Please read our seperate workshop news and photos in our gallery!!

I am ordering MORE group t-shirts that will be NEEDED if you are a member spending the day with us at the workshop.

We also take our annual FULL (BOTH locations), group photo, and GMCEDT group t-shirts are needed for that as well!

PLEASE let me know if you need a t-shirt so I can get one to you as soon as the order is complete!

I want to thank Brean Mead, from our Barre class for donating an immeasureable amount of time printing all 500 brochures for our group....oh did I mention she designed them too!! WOW. What a HUGE part of imformation we will be able to hand out this year at our shows, and events!

Speaking of Brean I was proud to accompany her and her friends with the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra during a fantastic LIVE performance at the Montpelier City Hall, April 4th 2009. It was such a treat to perform with them to their live fiddle tunes! The crowd was simply GREAT! Please view the performances in our video gallery!

We have already begun practicing for our summer routines, and have already began to add 3 new ones. More are on the way and expected to start the first class in May!

Hello everyone!

Very exciting month we have happening!

Very IMPORTANT!:

PLEASE view the calendar page for updates on shows that are booked through out the summer.

I encourage you ALL to please make notes to wether you can attend certain shows or not.

I need this information so I can make sure I have enough dancers, and also not too many either!

Please do this as soon as you can to make my job a bit easier.

I was happy to be requested to teach at the beautiful Ballet Wolcott dance studio this past week, and my class students were just great! I had so much fun and would go back anytime they asked! I even made it into the local paper and have gotten e-mails, and phone calls from the newspaper photo about our classes!

I was also given a huge surprise when I saw us in " The Sentinel" news paper. A HUGE write up and photo all about our group and what we do! Thank you so much to the Sentinel for doing that for us.

Since that write up we were requested by a Barre business owner to participate in the Irish Heritage Festival parade down main street in Barre March 14th!

Also from that we got ANOTHER exciting phone call from the booking manager for the VT Frost Heaves! We performed at the half time show for their game March 14th as well!

I want to thank Cora Carpenter for managing this event in my absence! I am very excited to have the group doing these events! (I showed up just in time to perform with the group.)

The beginning of this month also brought the Tech/Dress rehearsal for the Mud Kickin' Cloggers and there debut on the Chandler Music Hall stage for the 3rd annual " Mini Mud Show". They did just a totally fantastic job. Stretching together, practicing, and hanging out in the dressing rooms will be a memory I will have for a long time. I am so proud of you all!

This month also brings the NEW web page especially designed and set up for our most loved teens!

Please visit the Mud Kickin' Cloggers on their web page off of our very own site!

This month was also our audition with the advanced GMCEDT members for the BIG " Mud Season talent Show".

I believe this is the 15th annual?...lol Gosh it has been such a long time I have been a part of this production. I think this is our 12th year if we make it through auditions.

 I will be honored as usual to be performing in this show and bringing in some senior members to this performance as well as some new dancers joining us for this exciting event!

We have been working on this routine since October of 2008, and hope to have a good enough rough draft for the audition after tomorrow class for our audition.

I am very excited as I know the other dancers are too as well!

The performance date for that is April 17th & 18th at the Chandler Music Hall on main street in Randolph Vermont. Tickets are for sale on the Chandler Music Hall web site.

UPDATE: The audition went so great and afterwards we all went up stairs to the gallery to take some cool group photos.You can view our audition video in our video gallery, and  all the new photos in our photo gallery!

I have designed and ordered road signs, and a matching new banner for our workshop, ( with logo above to represent our workshop) as well as working with Brean Mead ( Barre member) on designing and creating brochures that we will use through out the summer and of course offer to guests and spectators at our workshop.

 I also have designed and ordered buttons that have matching printed info from our workshop filled in them to give to guest as a thank you!

We are all also planning baked goods to sell at our 2nd annual Vt Western & Folk Workshop, as well as items to be donated to raffle off for expenses that our group needs to pay.

Items that can be raffled:

Hand made jewelery, maple syrup, hand made afgans or quilts, etched wine glasses, gift baskets of handmade soaps or other hand made items....I want to have items that are hand made in Vermont or certainly hand made items from our very own members!

I hope the raffle is a success to cover costs that our organization has to cover for this event and other fees.

Please consider donating goods to sell through out the day, and also items for our raffle.... and maybe offering your time running the table, or greeting guests. Any helping hands are welcome!

Please let me know if you can donate time, baked goods, and possibly more will be needed as we get closer! I appreciate all the help I can get!

PLEASE let me know if you can NOT come to the workshop... I hope to have as many as I can for the group photo!

This is a HUGE event yearly for our group. I hope to have you ALL share in the day, meet members from our own group that you may not know yet, and help out the group. I want to have fun spending the day together as a team...but mostly as friends!

I am ordering MORE group t-shirts that will be NEEDED if you are a member spending the day with us at the workshop. We also take our annual FULL (BOTH locations), group photo, and GMCEDT group t-shirts are needed for that as well!

PLEASE let me know if you need a t-shirt so I can get one to you as soon as the order is complete!

More business cards are on their way as well as 25 promotial pens for our group.

I also designed and ordered car magnets for my car. I feel this will allow great publicity for our group, as well as allowing for easier access to the show locations for our dancers and equipment! They look great!

I am seeking new members.... please do your part to publicize our group and help raise members yearly. It is an on going job and I hope to spread our wonderful classes to all of our communities! If anyone needs help sponsoring a new member please call or e-mail me for ideas.

HAPPY MARCH ALL!! See you real soon!

Love, Hillary~

This month is already very exciting with the "Vermont's Got Talent show" that we were honoured to perform in February 1st.

We met and caravaned up to the show location. Once we arrived we got cozy in the dressing room and were prompted as to the afternoons events. HOW EXCITING!

First up was our wonderful " Mud Kickin' Cloggers"...we were so proud of them!  The were performing the same routine they plan to use for the mini mud season talent show. Their audition for that is TOMORROW! ( Feb 10th) They floored even us! We have seen them at class..but to see them in their debut performance was just such a treat for us all.

Their hip hop as a team really came through perfectally!

We can't wait to see more creations from this fantastic , amazing teen oriented group.

To view more photos of them from this performance please visit the Vermont's Got Talent photo album in our gallery!

Next up was the Green Mountain Cloggers Exhibition Dance Team.

Excited waiting back stage, having those nervous " (gotta p's) feelings.... we were eye balling the pizza and KNOWING we just couldn't eat it being so excited we could not help but joke about it. Watching the Irish step dancers back stage gave us inspiration and energy to perform.

We entered the stage as professionals, smirking as friends at each other..... the curtain opened, and the crowd started cheering right away... Their is just a certain feeling that comes from CLOGGERS! ;)  The music began, and PERFECTALLY we began our routine with awesome new hip hop moves. The crowd loved them!

.... along with the floor touches, formations, full line turn, flips, carthwheels and splits, not to mention that excellent lift and HIGH kickin moves!

I want to thank Brittany, Justin, Cora, Jacob, Robin, and Bailey, for all working together as a team week to week, making this event possible for all of us to be a part of! THANK YOU!

To view ALL photos of this performance please visit the " Vermont's Got Talent" photo album in our photo gallery.

Video's of the routines are also in our video gallery!

___________________________________________________

FEBRUARY NEWS:

Please visit our calendar page for summer show dates.

You can open the link to the date and make remarks wether you can attend that performance or not right on the page. This makes it MUCH easier for me to make sure I have enough dancers attending...and also making sure that I dont get too many for one show ...LOL

Our classes are well under way for the summer performances. We have our Barre classes loosened up a bit, by offering beginner clogging & Irish step in Northfield as well. Northfield class was closer for some students so it made for more room on the Barre dance floor. We all know that 23 on the floor at the same time was too much and made it hard to see the instructor. We are excited to have 15 members in Barre now, and 18 in Northfield!  Barre is 1-3 every Sunday, Northfield is 5-8 PM , every Sunday.

(Please visit out " Interested in Lessons' page for much more info.)  I want to thank Brittany Bernier, our Irish step instructor for taking on this extra class for you all in Northfield. All these classes would be just too much for me weekly. THANK YOU BRITTANY!

Now is the wonderful time fo the year to think about helping out your team and working towards that wonderful "Sponsorship Award"  given out to those who sponsor a successful member in 2009. This award is given out at our annual awards banquet in October of 2009. 

Bring a friend to class, give out my contact info, or give me theirs,... I will be happy to help you.

The mini mud auditions are tomorrow February 10th at 6:30 PM for Justin, Jacob, and Brittany! We are all wishing them luck! We are very proud of you.

The mini mud show will be March 7th at the Chandler Music hall in Randolph VT. They do have a web site and I believe you can order tickets for the show right off of the site. Please support our dancers!

The GMCEDT Mud Season Talent show auditions are March 11th at 7 PM....and the show would be April 17th & 18th.

Fundraising season kicks off our summer events for 2009. Please be aware we really LOVE the help and support , group wide to raise funds to keep us all going. We are in desperate need of  more vests, t-shirts, business cards as well as saving up money to help fund the workshop events yearly, and much more. Website fees become overwelming at times, as well as I really just need a new lap top for classes! This one was NOT even close to new....I am happy to have it still working to this day....it just is not handling the stress load very well and is slowly dieing.

Please keep in mind we hold 2 car wash's and 2 bake sales annually. Our focus is not only to raise money, but at all times we are handing out contact info about our classes and performances. There are so many ways you can support your group...please think about your involvement level for the summer and what you can do to help.

Thank you everyone for being a part of this organization. Your involvement, and personal connections means the world to me. I know each one of you personally....that makes me honoured to say. Thanks for allowing me into your lives.

Love, Hillary~ 

OH YEAH!!! ......

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

PLEASE visit www.VermontsGotTalent.com to see details of the event and get directions.

It is $5.00 if you order tickets in advance, and $10.00 at the door.

Each vote is .25 cents....and there will be a jar to put your quarters in then that is how they determine who wins!! 

Please bring quarters!!..... I do HOPE that you all will come and support us FEBRUARY 1st 2009 @ 2 PM at the Essex High School in Essex VT. 

Please order ahead ...go to www.VermontsGotTalent.com for more details!

Or visit www.MovementCenterVt.com to contact them to order tickets.

The studio number is (802)-878-4213.

You can also e-mail June at MovementCenter@aol.com

DIRECTIONS FROM MAP QUEST TO SHOW LOCATION @ ESSEX HIGH SCHOOL!:  http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Barre&1s=VT&1z=05641&2c=Essex+Jct&2s=VT&2a=2+Educational+Dr&2z=05452+

THERE WILL BE NO CLASS FEBRUARY 1ST TO ALLOW YOU ALL TO COME TO THE SHOW!!

 VGT dancers are to arrive at the show at 1:15 PM. We will meet at a mutual area that day to car pool together, get dinner afterwards then off to Northfield class!..... Please make arrangements.

We are VERY excited that Jacob Benoir ( not show in picture),( then from left to right), Robin Combs, Bailey Flores, Hillary Barcomb, Cora Carpenter, and Brittany Bernier ALL MADE IT IN to Vermont's Got Talent show!

They of course were EXCITED to see our flips, cartwheels and splits, and lifts!  ALONG WITH OUR DYNAMIC DANCING & OUR PERSONALITY'S,  ALL could see we were more than a exhibition dance team... we are friends!

Please view our VGT Audition 2009 video, from our video gallery page by clicking this link!

http:/www.greenmountaincloggersexhibitiondanceteam.com/apps/videos/

The ride up was a BLAST with 6 of us in my 7 seater car, it was a GREAT time talking, and laughing, sharing ideas, and the excitement of the day ahead of us!

Once we arrived we found the Movement Center to be VERY inviteful and friendly! They were great! They gave us a place to hang our coats, and a whole studio to warm up in!!  It was like VIP BABY!

( Beautiful Bailey always stealing the picture....is that a tounge? BOY aren't we EXCITED!!)

I ended up meeting someone way up north in VT at this dance center who knew me when I was 15!! I used to work at Pittsfield Deli way down by Rutland VT and this lady used to work with me. It was so weird she was telling this story of a girl she used to know who clogged ...then she said where she worked and I was like OMG!! That was ME!  WOW...just goes to show it is a small world after all!

We will be dancing against our friends at the Step Above Dance Studio where we rent to have our classes... I wish us ALL luck. Their lyrical routine was fablous!. I could not imagine floating across the floor they way they did! Good luck ladies!

After we auditioned with Superstition, we were immediatly told we were IN like FLYNN! LOL.... then I asked if our teen cloggers could audition there Me and MY Gang piece.... so they said yes..and Justin had come with us to check out the audition and ended up being in the show as well...THEY MADE IT TOO!! 

I was SO proud of them ...seeing them perform together... was very touching. I never really have a chance to sit back and watch other dance. I enjoy it so much!.... It was an honour to see these fine dancers that I have worked with!!

So the VGT audition is DONE , now next is the Mini Mud Season Talent Show audition on February 10th at, 6:30 PM....then off to the mini mud show IF they make it in  March 7th...... then to the  BIG Mud Show audition March 11th, at 7 :00 PM!!   That Mud show would be April 17th AND 18th IF we make it in....;)  WISH US LUCK on all of our achievements!

Very Exciting times ahead of us!! Great job to you ALL.... I am so proud of you ALL!

Love, Hillary

Fresh pics for our new album "Northfield Class", and also in existing album " Barre Class" and NEW video clips have been posted this month!! ( I got a new camera!! yeee haa )

Well as we all know writing WEEKLY news here is SO important because we are the busiest dance organization in the state! With over 30 events during our REALLY busy summer months we HAVE to post weekly news so everyone can view what has been happening.

BUT.... the winter is a different story. We have auditions!!  And ...classes are working on advancing their movements for the summer months.

The beginner class is working on Rhythm Sticks, and Long Cool Woman.

The intermediate class is working on BOTH of the above, as  well as Rocky Top and Iko Iko.

The upper level intermediate class is working on ALL of the above PLUS...Superstition, and also soon Black mtn Blues.

Our advanced class is busy preparing for our THREE auditions. This deffinitly has proven to be the MOST PRODUCTIVE winter season in 16 years!

Our group has decided to take on a totally new area of Vermont, and branch out to do an audition for the "Vermont's Got Talent" held in Essex VT!

To do this we are recycling at the last moment a great FUN intermediate routine called "Superstition" We have added formations, and our usual fun exciting movements to " wow" the audience. This routine is finally finished, and we are adding the "finesse" over the week!.  I want to thank Brittany, Robin, Cora, Jacob, and Bailey for there participation in this stressful yet FUN event to support our group and our state!

Our audition for the VGT is January 10th 2009 @ 4 PM.

We plan to meet at 3 PM to go over the routine for the audition. I will update this news letter once we have found out if we make it in or not

Our NEW teen clogging group...the " Mud Kickin' Cloggers" will be making there debut February 10 or 11th for there audition in the Mini mud show in Randolph VT.

There routine was a recycled version of one of our very own GMCEDT group choreographed routines called " Me & My Gang". They did a unique twist with there own arm movements, formations,a nd slight changes to make it there own! I am extremly proud of them. GO  BRITTANY, JUSTIN & JACOB! A  I will always be there to support them!

(There SHOW would be March 7th if they make the audition!)

Our Northfield advanced dancers are still preparing for the mud season talent show auditions.  This routine was choreographed by me, and is a new routine with a few new steps and new ideas that I am happy to introduce to the group !  We are doing an exciting new lift in the beginning of the song!! I am really happy to have a neuroligist for a CLOGGER who is willing to take chances and fly high above all of us on the dance floor!  THANK YOU ROBIN!! and the rest of the MUD SEASON TALENT SHOW performers....Brittany, Bailey, Cora, Tira, Justin, Jacob ( &me )

I have no doubts that "Bob that Head" will be a HIT, and I excited to see if fully finished this month and well on its way to finesse and audition readiness by March 11th!

(This show will be April 17 AND 18th if we make the audition!)

Everyone has been doing just simply FANTASTIC job at ALL of our classes!!

I am excited to have our ACTIVE members up to 33!!

I welcome, Jackie, Sally, Liam , Meghan, Kelly, Tracy, & Ruth. Our NEW dancers!!

Please pass the word on our wonderful classes to ALL that you know! At church, school, work, neighbors, friends and family! YOU are the key to making our organization a success!

THANK YOU !!

Love, Hillary

I was honoured to be invited by one of our wonderful members, Brean Mead, to view a concert at the Barre Opera House for the Vermont Fiddle Orcestra this past Saturday night!!

Brean Mead has been an active member with the VFO playing fiddle for the past 5 years, and she simply FLOORED me. She was amazing! I feel so gosh darn lucky to have such a multi talented member of our group. Brean even accepted the invite to accompany us this summer for a routine playing fiddle while we dance! I am excited to see the progress on how that goes!

This performance with the VFO at the Barre opera house had special guest fiddlers and singers, and they WERE even expecting a famous clogger named Ann Whiting! (Search Ann online she has some amazing history to her talents!) During intermission I was invited to perform on stage with the Vermont Fiddle Orcestra for there last number! I was honoured to be called on stage! It was amazing..... I have never felt so welcome to participate, and they even invited me back again to acompany them for another performance! Thank you Brean for that amazing experience. The whole night was simply amazing!~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barre classes have been going simply wonderful! We have grown so much since our move to joni's School of Dance in Barre! I want to take the time to welcome some new members, and aknowledge a few who have been with us almost a YEAR now!!

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!!!!!!

Sue, Tammy, Brean, Claire, Stephanie, Jamie, Laurel, Maddie, Linda, Emma, Lilly, Joanne, Jackie, Kelly, Liam, Meghan, Sally, Cecile and Jasmine!!!

The members listed above have been with us any where from 1 week to 4 months!

These members listed have spent ALOT of time dancing weekly with us, and even participated in shows already with in there FIRST year!!

THANK YOU!!!!  Winnie, Brittany, Maureen, Kyleigh, Holly, Lydia, Loretta.

With out ALL of you, we would not be possible!

ALOT of sponsoring has been going on!! I am really impressed with everyone's efforts!!  I see ALOT of sponsorship awards being given out at next years annual banquet!!! CONGRADS!!

_______________________________________________________________________________

TO ALL MEMBERS!----

This IS the time of year to gain new members.... interests in something other than being house bound are going through everyone's head, and finding a way to exercise with out expensive gym costs are also on the mind. Remember to always talk about your team, and the fun with your new friends that you have weekly at our classes together. THIS IS HOW WE GROW! By word of mouth.

Please make paper posters to tack around at school, work, your local country store, the post office, ANY WHERE!!  Ideas for your posters can be what ever you like as long as important information is posted such as....

The full group name:

Green Mountain Cloggers Exhibition Dance Team

Class info:

Classes in Barre VT EVERY SUNDAY from 1-3 PM offering soft soled Irish step AND Clogging .

Classes also offered in Northfield EVERY SUNDAY from 6-8 PM.

ANY age, for males and females, children or family's! No shoes needed to start lessons!

DONATION ONLY LESSONS. Requested donation of $15 a MONTH for BOTH Irish step & clogging combined at BOTH studio locations. Family's never make a donation of over $30.00 for any family size!!

Contact info:

Contact Hillary Barcomb at (802)-522-2935

E-mail at: GreenMtnClogger@aol.com

( Sponsorship awards are given out at our annual banquet! )

_____________________________________________________________________

Honestly there are so MANY things that can be done to help this group if any one of you chose to do so. Along with making flyers to promote your group,  you could take class photos and e-mail them to me, sending me e-mailed letters of your experience at classes so I can write up weekly news that actually comes from the dancers as a whole! As well as finding areas of interests that YOU could see you self WANTING to perform at! I want to be where you all want to be...that is important to me.

I teach you all this wonderful gift of dance so we can share that love with others. Performing is much more than the excitement of it, or the fun of the traveling with our friends.....it is what WE ARE ALL ABOUT! Giving BACK to the communities of Vermont and beyond! Sharing our love and talents for dance with everyone, and representing what a professional non-profit dance organization is all about.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR BEING HERE!

_____________________________________________________________________

I also want to WELCOME back BAILEY FLORES!!  I am so excited to have her back as an active member on our team!

Bailey has come back to audition with us for the Mud Season talent show where our team has been the longest running act for 11 years! We plan to make a great come back and have some exciting moves to share,.. with some deep beats coming from out feets!! LOL 

Thanks Bailey for offering your help and coming back to save our routine! It was a gracious, unselfish offering for you to make to us......we will NEVER forget it!

Our Northfield classes have been going fantastic. One member needed to with draw from the pressures of the talent show, and she will GREATLY be missed. This practice that we had last night was spent catching Bailey up on the steps, and changing around a couple dancers spots. By the end of class we already had it right back to speed again!

I think we are ALL excited about this years routine. It is offering some new ideas, and new steps, with out forgetting about some of our trade mark ideas from years past! It is sure to be a great combination to bring the crowd to there feet!

THANK YOU TO MY WONDERFUL ADVANCED DANCERS!!!:

Cora, Jacob, Bailey, Brittany, Robin, Tira, Justin

Speaking of Brittany, Justin and Jacob as well... there routine for the "Mud Kickin' Cloggers" is going FANTASTIC. Lots of formations moving around, great foot work, and new arm movements. I am REALLY impressed with my teen group and I feel that they are going to take this whole organization to a new level!! I am excited to see them audition for the Mini Mud Talent show!! GREAT JOB!!!!

_______________________________________________________________________________

At this time I am completing this week's news. I really hope that EVERYONE has a fantastic Christmas. I hope everyone got their Christmas cards.... I have a few more to mail out still!!

At present time our ACTIVE group member number has jumped to 33!! I am just overwhelmed with this participation level..... you all set the example for ALL new members.... Keep um' coming everyone! The more the merrier!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON TO EVERYONE!!