Burlington Westie

Hello and thank you for coming dancing last Friday :) I was so nervous to jump back into hosting after so long. But I quickly felt fulfilled and relieved to be dancing with you all again!
I asked how often you want to dance and you mostly said 3 to 4 weeks. However, the 4th weekend is already a no-go for a few people.
Please comment below your preference for Friday Sept 10th or Saturday Sep 11th. (Since the polling option is missing for me somehow 🤷‍♂️). And please let me know if you're aware of any big event or dance conflicts.
Thank you so much and see you all again soon! :D

We are so excited to see that Brett Hughes will be playing at the free weekly event, Summervale, this week (Thursday)!
Come dance in the grass, or just enjoy being outdoors together listening to the nostalgic singing and playing of this local icon and his H***y Tonk friends 😃
Food and beverage for sale on premise. Details Below. See you there!

This week at Summervale we are so excited to welcomed back to the stage one of our favorites, Brett Hughes and his H***y Tonk Crowd! Brett will be joined by Lowell Thompson, Steve Hadeka and Tyler Bolles – what a stellar lineup! Come on down to the Intervale Center this Thursday from 5:30-8pm, grab a brew at Zero Gravity Craft Brewery, Halyard Brewing Co. or Citizen Cider and enjoy! We encourage you to bring a picnic with your favorite local snacks or enjoy food from The Skinny Pancake or American Flatbread Burlington Hearth, and ice cream from Lake Champlain Chocolates! Activities provided by Slow Food Vermont, City Market, and Winooski Valley Park District. Plus enter our raffle to win fun prizes! Free bike parking with Local Motion, please carpool otherwise as we have limited car parking! No pets or outside alcohol, please. All the info at http://www.intervale.org/summervale. Thanks to our sponsors: City Market, Vermont Family Farms, Gardener's Supply Company, Mascoma Bank, Twincraft Skincare , Dealer.com, Four Seasons Dermatology, The WaterWheel Foundation, Ceres Natural Remedies, Natural Mattress Company VT, The Skinny Pancake, Zero Gravity Craft Brewery, American Flatbread Burlington Hearth, SKIRACK, Patagonia Burlington, EatingWell, Burlington Electric Department, and New Vitality.

Dear friends and dance fam,

We are very disturbed to hear the news that Ben Bergstein, the former* president of the Vermont Performing Arts League and former* director of North End Studios (where we have rented studio space for the past 10 years), is alleged to have initiated many, many inappropriate encounters with women in spaces he directs or manages. That report is linked at the bottom of this message. We caution that some readers may find portions of the article, including the more severe allegations, triggering.

We want to first express our concern for and solidarity with the survivors who have come forward, and for those who may still be silent. We appreciate that those brave people are now being heard and that the broader Burlington community can take steps to prevent Ben from causing additional harm in the future.

We also want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that we aspire to build a safe and supportive community at Burlington Westie. If you have ever experienced behavior from Ben or anyone else in our community that made you uncomfortable, we invite and encourage you to let us know.

Knowing that you may find it helpful to understand how we will respond to you and your concerns, we’ve been developing a reporting process that we look forward to sharing with you all soon. In the meantime, if you want to let us know about an experience you have had, please reach out to Alison and/or Ryan, our designated reporting individuals. If you do, you can choose whether that information remains confidential, whether any information is shared with any of the other instructors, and whether we take any action. If you are concerned about being identified, we will work with you to ensure your comfort and avoid actions you think would put your anonymity at risk.

Alison Nihart - ‪802.349.1559‬ or [email protected]
Ryan Doyle - 802.528.9322 or [email protected]

We hope to update you in the coming months about when we might expect in-person dancing to start again. We have missed you greatly throughout this past year and hope we can see each other and dance again soon.

https://vtdigger.org/2021/04/15/north-end-studios-founder-ben-bergstein-accused-of-sexual-misconduct/

Edits since posting
* Ben Bergstein is no longer employed by or on the board of the aforementioned organizations.

‘This is the way the world is’: North End Studios founder accused of sexual misconduct - VTDigger Eight people, including three former employees, allege that Ben Bergstein sexually harassed or abused them over the course of a decade. He has been barred from Winooski city property.

Burlington Westie wants to share well wishes and holiday cheer with this entire community! 🤗 A toast to a new and better year where we can come together to dance, hug, and cavort once again. In the meantime, may your days be merry and bright 😎🥳
Congrats to the Frisbees! Enjoy their holiday announcement 😁
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiC2l9Wc7s8

Merry Christmas from the Frisbee's | Jordan Frisbee & Larissa Thayane Frisbee Happy holidays from the Frisbee's, and stay tuned for a special surprise!🎁🎄🎅🏻 ▶️Online Classes: https...

Great News! Our long awaited BWestie shirts have arrived!
Ariana (who says "Hi, I miss you all!") has lovingly sorted out all the shirts and bags into little piles with your names on them 😃
Now we just have to get them to you! I am happy to drop them off on your doorstep, meet you for a catch-up chat and cup of tea, or even exchange a masked dance when I bring your shirt to you. Message me to let me know how you'd like to get your shirt and we'll set up a time 😁
We hope this brings a little joy to your unusual year. We miss dancing and socializing with you and hope you are staying healthy in other ways right now.
We love you, Ryan & Ariana 🤗

*** Thank you all for filling out our survey and helping us understand your needs and interests during this difficult period full of many transitions.
At this time, we are putting a hold on all of our studio time for the foreseeable future.****...............................................................
The Beginner Series will continue online with Alison and Adam for the duration of the month. You will be contacted directly through email if you are in that lesson.
In the mean time, we are trying to find a good format for hosting "online parties" where we can have fun and relate over our common love of dance, where we can fight the solitude while being safe. We hope to have something up and running by Tuesday 3/17 but please be patient with us if it's not, this is all new to us................................................................
Dance brings me (Ryan) the most joy in life and I want to continue to share and experience it with others, even in it's most distant forms.
I will continue to provide most updates over Facebook, saving emails for solid plans going forward.
I hope you all are managing life's adjustments as well as possible during this unusual time, and I look forward to seeing you online in the near future 😁

Hello Friends!
Most of you are probably aware that we are being encouraged to "self-isolate" to slow down the rate of Coronavirus infections. Please take some time to answer this survey about how we can find ways to continue growing as dancers and as a community while limiting contact, and helping us to make decisions about how to help with that.
Thank you!
BWestie Team 😁

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe2u6yZ_s-he0CwjY60T6QSZCrdeT_CmTd25MjvsT2D_nnnWQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Future of Dancing in a Self-Isolating Time Period We would love to hear your thoughts, interests, and ideas for keeping dance education, enjoyment, and community alive during a time of increasing self-isolation. Your answers will help us guide the community through this unforeseen challenge and make key decisions about if and how we can emerge afte...

What happens in the studio.... may end up on Facebook 🤣
More fancy variations tonight at 7:00!
https://www.facebook.com/events/521882281796838/?ti=cl

Come dance with us tonight!

We are happy to let you know that this week we look forward to Scott Chilstedt joining us again for Tuesday dancing!
We also have two weeks left of our webstore. From the shirts you see us wearing at classes and events, to the new styles we are offering at this link. All of the orders will get printed together as a group and delivered to BWesite to give to you at or before Boston Tea Party in March!
https://burlingtonwestie2020.itemorder.com/sale
Message us if you have any questions :)

We are back from a Big, Snowy dance weekend in Ottowa! But we're not done dancing yet 😃 Bryon is celebrating his birthday this evening and our founder Scott will be back in town to dance with us as well! We hope that you will be able to come out and dance with us tonight 😁
https://www.facebook.com/events/1308723269301443/?ti=cl

I have no idea why we can't share Ariana's post with you. But here's the reminder that a new series of lessons start tonight!
https://www.facebook.com/events/1308723269301443/

Thank you all for coming out and celebrating out 9th Birthday together with a full night of dancing and great lessons from our pro guest instructors Anne Fleming and Alex Glover!
We have fun dances every month, you can RSVP for our next one here: https://www.facebook.com/events/820316918430947/?event_time_id=820316931764279
And because we want to make our 10th birthday party the biggest one yet, here's an event for that too!
https://www.facebook.com/events/138489357223852/
See you in the Studio this Tuesday for a new series of classes! 😃

Burlington Westie is going to be 9 years old this February! 🥳
Celebrate with us by adding a temporary frame to your profile picture called "BWestie Birthday 2020."
How?
Just go to your profile picture - click the "update" button and then select our frame! 😁 See you on Saturday!

It's now easier to send Burlington Westie a message.

We have 2 more classes this month, tonight and the 17th! Then a holiday break until January 😁
Also, I promise we are better at dancing than we are at taking pictures...

Congratulations to all of our Vermont dancers competing in finals this weekend at Upstate Dance Challenge, all 15 of you!!! 😀
Fun Fact #1: BWestie dancers make up 1 out of 2 Novice finalists.
Fun Fact #2: There is a 1% chance that none of them get paired together 😄
Fun Fact #3: Hotel Room Singalongs and Photoshoots are the best!
Thank you Dance Family for all of the wonderful experiences, on and off the dancefloor this weekend! 😁

This is a big, friendly reminder that there is no First Saturday Dance this weekend. It was held last weekend due to a schedule conflict.
Enjoy your weekend activities! 😁

Dancing the in the rain on in ☔️💃🕺 Thanks to everyone who came out to dance and support! 💜💙

Photo cred: Judson Kimble

If you are coming to class to practice for the rally tonight, don't forget to bring your outside dancing shoes! We will practice on the pavement, weather permitting!

Tonight is David's last night before moving away. Come out and send him off in style! Expect an afterparty.
Sylvie and Minh will also be here to social dance on their way back to Montreal from Summer Hummer!
Did I mention Emma is coming tonight too?
See you on the dance floor!

Thank you for making this past week so fun and lively!
I appreciate everyone for bringing food to the beach party on Sunday, and especially Alex for getting the idea off the ground 😃 Lets have another one of those before the summer is out!
Also, we had more than 40 people in the studio last Tuesday between classes and social dancing. Thank you Jake for having a birthday and bringing the energy together. With Tuesdays like that, who needs a weekend?
I hope you all can join us for another fun night of dancing this Tuesday at North End Studios 😁
Photo: Jake's afterparty last Tuesday night.

Cheezin hard repping in Ottawa at the Marcus & Tren workshops!

Amazing energy last night! Thank you to Just For Kicks for performing twice, and Scott Chilsdedt for teaching a special lesson. The switch it up dance was a hoot too! We really appreciate all of you coming out, bringing your energy, and having a blast with us, all 60+ of you! 😃 We hope you have a relaxing Sunday and enjoy some of these pictures from the event 😁

Congrats 🎊 to two of our instructors placing in finals in J&J at this weekend! We are so proud!

Thank you everyone for coming to our 8th Birthday Party Potluck and Dance, all 60+ of you! 😃 Thank you for filling our studio with good cheer, great food, amazing dances, and mostly, your wonderful selves!
Our instructor team did a great job setting up and cleaning up, Mary and Alex took some great pictures for us to enjoy, and I already can't wait for our next dance on Saturday March 2nd 😁
In the mean time, come dance with me and Sara tonight, and every Tuesday this month to improve your musicality and expand your pattern and variation technique with orbital patterns!
https://www.facebook.com/events/397978184305382/