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Summer Schools 2016 feedback


BlueLou

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I thought it would be great to get as much feedback as possible from all the different summer schools this year, all in one tidy thread! Dd is doing Hammond, York dance assembly, and NBT this year, but would love to try others next year so would be great to hear everyone’s experiences. 

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Dd went to the summer school at Ballet west in Taynuilt, Scotland, and she was very happy with her week there. The level was good, some of the full time bachelor students were there as well. The younger students seemed to be very well taken care of, living in the same house as the principal at Ballet West. We as parents were very impressed by the showcase, as the level there was a lot higher than what we are used to from a similar summer school in Norway (used to live there before).

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Dd went to the summer school at Ballet west in Taynuilt, Scotland, and she was very happy with her week there. The level was good, some of the full time bachelor students were there as well. The younger students seemed to be very well taken care of, living in the same house as the principal at Ballet West. We as parents were very impressed by the showcase, as the level there was a lot higher than what we are used to from a similar summer school in Norway (used to live there before).

Frost can you say roughly how many students attended? were they grouped by age and /or level? Thanks if you can share some more info
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I'm at the ballet west summer school now and im absolutely loving it! This week there are about 22ish of us, split into two groups. Class was split by level but the teachers asked some people what level they wanted to be in/try if they were in between. Some students (especially younger ones) stay in the big house, this year im staying in a chalet, 2 mins walk away from the house which is also nice. Teachers are lovely and generally very helpful (although a lot of attention has been spent on one girl with amaaaaazing feet which a bit annoying!) but lots of personal corrections. Such a friendly and open atmosphere. We've had ballet, contemporary, pointe, rep and contemporary pieces as well as body conditioning which was very sore but really worth it! The teacher encourages you to do all of it and not give up, I wouldn't be able to do the workout without him pushing!! Any more questions, just ask!! BB x

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My dd went to Ballet West last year and loved it. The best she has been to and was worked very hard. Lovely staff. And of course a stunning location. A good place for the family to take a holiday at the same time. The only issue is that Scottish holidays are earlier - they do 4 weeks in July so only the 4th week overlaps with English hols - unless you've just done exams or some private schools I guess.

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My dd went to Ballet West last year and loved it. The best she has been to and was worked very hard. Lovely staff. And of course a stunning location. A good place for the family to take a holiday at the same time. The only issue is that Scottish holidays are earlier - they do 4 weeks in July so only the 4th week overlaps with English hols - unless you've just done exams or some private schools I guess.

 

I noticed that the 4th week completely sold out this year so its clearly gaining in popularity.

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DS did white lodge this summer for a week. As he's only 10 it was his first experience of residential summer school and he absolutely loved it. Apparently the best bits were meeting friends from all over the world ("particularly the French girls" - I haven't asked why - may be best not to!) and the food (particularly the scrambled egg!) He had an absolute ball and watching the classes on the Sunday was fab, although the younger ones in particular were clearly exhausted by the end of the morning. DS loved being in an all male class, too and watching him in class was different than any class I've watched him in before. He was so much more confident than usual. We asked him why the friends he made were so special and he said something along the lines of 'because no matter where they were from in the world, they got me and we found the same things funny and for the first time, I felt like I fitted in.' The dancing and teaching was clearly fabulous, but for me, that was reason enough for him to go.

 

He's off to Tring in a few weeks, too, so it will be interesting to see his comparison x

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Just dropped an excited dd off at Hammond. All very friendly and welcoming, but could have done with a heads up on the lack of parking! It’s on a busy road, double yellows all the way, no obvious side streets to pull onto. Dh had to hover on the double yellows, along with lots of others, whilst dd was hastily dumped! Fingers crossed for a great week of dancing!

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You can park at the back - take first road on right with university building in the corner (approaching from fountain end of road) and then right again. You can go into the boarding house from the back - if the downstairs back door is not open you can walk round the side of the house to the front door.

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I can highly recommend Sussex Summer School.

 

Dd went last year and had a fabulous time.  She loved boarding and stayed in comfortable dorms in the boarding school they use.  Great food and homemade cake every day!  They did ballet, modern, contemporary and Greek (very unusual to find Greek teaching).  Lots of international students especially from Japan who came for two weeks (dd just did one).  The Japanese girls were lovely and taught the others origami!

 

This year they are only doing one week and a different venue.  Just dropped dd off yesterday afternoon.  Everyone is SO friendly, they welcomed dd and remembered she came last year.  They are adding Musical Theatre this year which isn't dd's favourite thing but it will be something different.  Ryan Jenkins is teaching modern and contemporary who dd tells me is quite well known!

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Just back from The Hammond Summer School Show! Thanks for the parking tip Karen - much better than when I dropped off last week!

 

First off, dd had a fabulous week, loved every minute. She didn’t know anyone there but has made lots of new friends. She was initially a bit disappointed at the level/amount of ballet, but got over that as she got into the other styles which she doesn’t usually do.

 

They did 5 one hour classes every day - ballet, modern/jazz, commercial, contemporary, and musical theatre. Each group did 5 dances in the show, one for each style, which I thought was an impressive amount of dancing learnt in 5 days. The routines all looked well drilled. They all had different costumes for every dance too, which made it into more of a entertaining show!

 

The standard was mixed, but everyone seemed happy and like they were enjoying it. It looked like there were pre-vocational dancers through to less experienced ‘recreational’ dancers. There were 5 groups, which seemed to be arranged by ability/experience as well as age. Everyone seemed well placed, and happy, so something for everyone!

 

Dd loved the boarding. Lovely matrons and lots of fun in the evenings - trip into Chester, pizza, swimming pool, the park……… Also very happy with the food!

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My daughter has just finished the BBA Summer Intensive. She said it was the best SS she has done and today was taught by Anna Rose O'sullivan. She can't wait until next year.

Anna Rose is teaching at the summer school my DD is attending next week. Looking forward to it!

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richieN does your dd go to regular ballet classes at Centre Pointe?

I am thinking about classes there for my dd from September if her current dance teacher allows it as there is only 1 class a week for her level at her current school and she is asking to do more ballet.

My dd will just be doing the Monday at the moment at the summer school to see how she gets on as she is just 7 and not danced for so many hours before.

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Mine have just done the RAD Dartington course. There were 66 students split in to 3 classes. For the middle and younger groups they were split in to an hour each of ballet, creative, group dance, musical theatre and singing. The older group did contemporary instead of singing. My youngest dd is 8 so the youngest that can attend and grade 2 which is the youngest grade too. She thoroughly enjoyed it and felt that she was really pushed due to having higher grade students in the class. My other dd (who was in the middle group) felt that she was pushed but I dont think as much as my younger one. Both have said they'd love to do it again although dd2 wouldvalsblikd to do one that's all ballet.

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My DC went to Ballet Cymru summer school. It's not residential. They both really enjoyed it.

 

DS was in the youngest group (10+) It was just over 30 children. Very mixed level - some never did ballet before, some were RBS JAs. There where always around 5 or more professional company dancers at the same time. One as a main teacher, the others were helping, correcting, showing steps etc. There were lots of personal corrections.

Children were put into small groups according to their level and did slightly different exercises, routines so everybody was challenged adequately. Apart from dancing there were a few music or drama games to keep it fun. DS enjoyed it, found it challenging enough and his only complain was that the brakes were too often.

There were several boys in this group.

 

DD was in the 12+ group. There were around 25 children, 4 were from vocational schools, plus there were associates of different schools/companies. DD said that it was challenging enough for her. Lots of personal attention as well as there were up to 7 company members during a class. Once Ballet Cymru artistic director himself took a class.

There was ballet, repertuar, stretching, creative and PDD which my DD loved!! The girls were partnered with and lifted by company male dancers which was an amazing experience for my DD. There was just one boy in this group.

 

The show at the Riverfront theatre consisted of 4 dances - both groups danced one classical ballet piece and one creative. Creative For younger group was more of a jazz/modern/street dance which children have mostly choreographed themselves. 12+ group was more of a contemporary style. I understood that mostly choreographed by one of the teachers.

 

My DC would like to attend this summer school next year again. Also I think it's important to add that this SS is really affordable in comparison to other SS I know about.

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My dd was in the senior group at Ballet Boost last week.

 

Dd enjoyed this course and found it challenging. Although mostly ballet based Emma had arranged classes in contemporary and musical theatre. The faculty were highly regarded professionals and each brought something different to the course. There was a mix of abilities within dd group and during the classes I observed everyone got individual attention from the teacher. At the Easter course there was an end presentation of the work they had been taught by Will Tuckett, this time the parents could ask to watch individual classes instead if interested. There is something to be said for both approaches. It was amazing to watch what WT had achieved in a couple of sessions with young dancers that had only come together for a few days but without a presentation dd felt more time was spent on perfecting technique which she relished.

 

Each day finished with a yoga class which dd enjoyed least, mostly it seems because two classes were brought together for the session and some of the children wouldn't cooperate with the yoga teacher. She felt the yoga teacher was too calm and quiet to keep control of such a large group.

 

The course was held at Pineapple studios which although hot were ideally placed for those travelling in from suburbs and we managed to find a local, reasonably priced hotel for the week. The day started at 11am so there wasn't the commuter rush or peak travel rates to contend with either.

 

Dd would do any other courses or workshops arranged by Emma Northmore. Our experience so far of the two Ballet Boost attended are of high quality teaching, full schedule with the aim of everyone having fun as they learn regardless of ability.

 

Kudos to the reception staff at Pineapple who were tireless in their tolerance of buzzing a constant stream of Ballet Boost parents into the building. On day 5 they were still cheerful and friendly.

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My dd took part in the Rambert summer intensive which was advertised as a taster of full time training at the school. This was not a residential course but there was the option of staying in Homestay accommodation. Each day there were classes in ballet, rep, contemporary and creative led mainly by Rambert faculty although I believe some contemporary classes were taught by graduates. There were three groups, split I think by age as the ability level in each was clearly very mixed. There were very few vocational children on this course. My dd was in the middle group which meant the ballet class held no challenge for her although she joined in with the senior group when her timetable permitted. All in all, she enjoyed the week, particularly the repertoire classes and felt that the experience confirmed which direction she wanted to follow as a dancer, but would not want to go again, preferring a more ballet focussed course.

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My dd took part in the Rambert summer intensive which was advertised as a taster of full time training at the school. This was not a residential course but there was the option of staying in Homestay accommodation. Each day there were classes in ballet, rep, contemporary and creative led mainly by Rambert faculty although I believe some contemporary classes were taught by graduates. There were three groups, split I think by age as the ability level in each was clearly very mixed. There were very few vocational children on this course. My dd was in the middle group which meant the ballet class held no challenge for her although she joined in with the senior group when her timetable permitted. All in all, she enjoyed the week, particularly the repertoire classes and felt that the experience confirmed which direction she wanted to follow as a dancer, but would not want to go again, preferring a more ballet focussed course.

This is on our short list for next year as Rambert is on dd’s short list for applying to for full time training. Could I ask what age your dd is? 

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This is on our short list for next year as Rambert is on dd’s short list for applying to for full time training. Could I ask what age your dd is?

 

She was 16 this month which just cut her off from being in the group above. I think it's such a good idea to take part in a holiday course of a school you may wish to apply for as the reality is very often different from dc's notion. Edited by All4dancers
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My DS as also just returned from this summer school at Rambert . He generally enjoyed it but as he is very small for his age he was in group one .He did not feel that the ballet challenged him enough .

The contemporary was also easily within his grasp although he plainly enjoyed the performance. All in all it was a good experience for him and he made lots of new friends . I think it also made him aware of just how good the teaching is at his current vocational school !

Edited by Billyelliott
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If anyone is still looking for a late place - I have spaces in 2 of my groups .

Week 15 th - 20 th .

Performances on the Saturday .

Please refer to last years' testimonials from Harwel , Kiwimum , Oldermum and Yorkshire Pud etc .

I have students from White Lodge , Elmhurst , Tring , Hammond and non vocational .

I'm delighted that we have 6 boys in the upper groups , and that there are no more than 12 in each group in total .

Please PM me if interested

Tutugirl

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A week at Chantry Dance last week for us - just love these people, they really made every dancer feel special.   Many have been to all four years which speaks volumes, and one attendee offered further training as a direct result.  International mix for people, and a chance to learn company choreography.

 

The Greek Bachaelia (and yes there is no chance I spelt that correctly) definitely a highlight.  

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