Season of Change
Cream Cheese has big feelings (so do I)
Cream Cheese the kitten is really embodying my current feelings in this photo. 🤣
Friends, I'm in need of a big change, so I'm diving right in with the big news.
This fall (2025) will be my final class session in the current format.
Bright Star will be closing in January 2026, and I am going to take some time to enjoy dance on a purely personal level for a while, after completing a couple more projects.
These last five+ years have been a lot, for all of us. I'm really, really proud of the class formats that I’ve developed for a hybrid environment, and the technology that I’ve finagled in order to share high-quality online classes. Connecting with dancers near and far has been an absolute lifeline.
I’m grateful for all of the dear in-person students who have been willing wear a mask to dance class. I'm grateful for the folks who have joined online from all corners of Maine, the US, and the world. We have uplifted each other and we have danced through frustrations. Truly, movement changes everything.
But... I've managed to tip over into burnout territory and I need to reset. I've tried refocusing, I've tried cutting back, I've been working with a coach who really gets me (huge shoutout to ​Katie Shaarany​--highly recommend!) but I've come to realize that a break is the only thing that will actually help.
What to know:
I’m not going away, just taking a break from the business side of this beautiful dance for a while.
I look forward to listening to music purely for fun, not just listening for the next class song.
I want to learn new things purely for my own enjoyment—hopefully including Arabic language classes. Duo has taught me to read and let me squeeze in study juuuust before midnight (IYKYK) but it’s no replacement for real human interaction based in a specific country and cultural context.
I am excited to return to doing interviews for Dancer Origin Stories and highlighting people who I love… eventually.
I'm planning a fall veil workshop online and in-person, maybe even a Bright Star goodbye dance party in December, and, hopefully, a fully updated Delicious Pauses online course filmed in our beautiful studio while we still have access to this space.
Who knows--there may be some online class options sooner than I think, but a break is the only thing I'm committing to after the fall class session.
The other half of my life is in bookkeeping, a business that has grown organically through referrals rather than marketing. That relationship to the world is working for my energy level now, so I'm going to lean into building ​Ember Bookkeeping Services​ these next few seasons.
So... I hope you can join me for fall 2025 classes. This is going to be a truly heartfelt session.
10% of my gross class fees still go to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, doing intensely important work due to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
So many of us are having big feelings for all kinds of interconnected reasons, from the genocide in Palestine, to the ongoing pandemic that is largely being ignored, to the drama big and small that always pops up in a community filled with passion. I’m sending my love your way.