Nicola H

It's called criteria referenced marking and it;s not a new thing, in this type of markign moderation only moves the grade boundaries and markign criteria slightly , however this is to provide consistencny with the criteria and comparaility between current diet and previous diets on same specification. in norm referenced marking the awarding body has predetermined what proprtion of candidites will achieve a amark and moving boundaries to ensure consistency is restricted by that.

UK Use tends to place Q as questioning interestingly enough there is debate at times aobut moving to GRSM or GRSD as the umbrella terms ( gender, relationship, sexuality minorities / gender,relationship, sexuality diverse ) - although this starts fights as it could also include cis gender hetereosexuals from the Poly and Kink communities ... longer versions than LGBTQIA or LGBTQ+ tend to be used for somewhat satirical purposes. wi the regard to use of language in schools etc. there are various figures floating around , often depending on definitions as well that put gender none conformity any where between 0.5 % to couple of % of the population and the figures for notbeing heterosexual and monogamous are all over the place, often dependiong on whether it;s a 'have you ever' figure ...

Part of the issue ( and iirc why lower schools stopped or were stopped from assesing out at the end of y10) is the loss of that year in terms of 'normal' exams etc. Esp now ASes have been deemphasised / removed again.

Depends on the school but equally unless you work lates or 12 hours nights an 8pm class could be a good option for adults.

sometimes over 55 is because of funding sources / grants ( e.g. Age UK involvement) or being linked to U3A as iirc the 'miniumum' age for U3A is 55 ... 55 is also the minimum age for various things to do with occupational pensions ( although that is also going up over time ) ... exclusionary policies with little justification are an issue, but sometimes it;s funders that create the 'problem '

the company class is your common or garden ballet class with a David Kierce twist - and consequently standard ballet class stuff such as barre exercises etc etc take up a good chunk ofthe class) , the technique class looked at the techniques needed for the rep, where the rep classes look at building the sections of the rep and then putting them together, somewhat of an artifical distinction ( also there;s only rerally one technique class in the time table for the three day version as the space it takes up on the secodn day is the mystery taster class and on the third day it was the perofrmance and lunch as the third day is a half to 2/3s day iirc you reason for not being able to go is age , well i';s only a few years until you are 18 , and there are good summer schools for under 18s which aren;t mega elite ... Intensives for adults are relatively rare , the mix TBR offers is wonderful ( been trying to come up with analaogies for other activities and they just sound ridiculously improbable ... ) It may not help you but i have a feeling that TBR could end up as quite a thing ( all depends on where Hannah ( and to some extent Gavin) goes professionally over the next few years - i think we know where David Is 'at ' professionally ) and if running TBR ends up as the 'real life job' for Hannah ( or for Gavin supporting Hannah and David ) there may be more and there may be ones aimed differently, as it stands running 4 or 5 TBR on top of a demanding full time job is a big order.

why wouldn't / couldn;t he attend ? the atmosphere is so lovely and supportive , he's unlikely to be either the best or the worst / newest dancer on the retreat. 8 boys +1 'honorary boy' the August one ... out of 40 odd

yep the reserve list does move , sometimes it'll move quickly after the dates are announced when people who are booking provisionally find that work won;t letthem have the leave or change shifts and give their reservation back , other times i'll move closer to the date as life happens and people have to drop out.

yet conversely as someone firmly of working age, but currently in a role which is late shift heavy , i could complain that to get a second class in a week i have to travel long distances to find a morning class that it;s exclusivlely for the over 55s ...

I think the short notice on the rep ( and where there is a mystety taster class it's cobtent ) adds to the fun a bit....

the January one it's the weekend of the First Friday which seems to bump up prices now the chain hotels have realised why there are so many rooms taken on the first friday / saturday of the month , especially on that side of town as that is where LGBTQ bits of Leeds are ( and i suspect that the Cosmo will be booked out for the friday and possibly the saturday nights because of LFF) there doesn;t appear to be anything on at the Arena, but with Leeds there are several theatres as well as as kickball and both flavours of rugby ...

loads of hotels in Leeds ( and if you are a little creative in your thinking some of the more peripheral ones can be very convenient for getting to Leeds Bus station or even right outside the NB building by public transport - rather than feeding the meters in the quarry hill car parks - as NB's own parking is very limited and also a working area (their loading bay / scene dock access ) hopefully prices and availability won;t be as problematic as they can be for August's retreat ( Leeds Festival - even though Bramham is half way to York, Test Cricket and the carribean carnival can all conspire to make central hotels either full or expensive ) there are some recommendations on the TBR site , plus of course there's a coupel of travelodges and premier inns in leeds and there's alsways the lovely Cosmopolitan Hotel ( as long as dates don't clash with First Friday which this January's dates might - which runs the risk that that Cosmo will be full with LFF people ) there were still rooms at the ibis budget last weekend but the price per room was such that a little creativeity and remembering that leeds public transport isn;t that bad and a day ticket for first buses is 4.20gbp - meant you could pay less than half their price ) also some people were stayign in airBnB etc ...

the UK has one of the larger ranges on coinage which doesn;t help matters , if the coin handling is designed around the US common circulating coins cent/ nickel /dime / quarter rather than 1p /2p / 5 p / 10 / 20 p. 50 p and commonly circulationg 1 pound ( where the USA still loves it's dollar bill despite the pound, the euro and both the Canadiain and Aussie dollars have a coin for the 1 ( and 2) whole unit denomination )

likely to be the 'department' theproduct belongs to in the stock control system if booze is department 23 for arguments sake, putting the none booze you want to sell from the booze shelves in dept 23 makes sense , ratherthan say dept 27 with the fizzy pop ( even if that is a closer legal match ) , law of unintended consequences means that any 'dept 23' sale triggers an age check ...

the pose turns and chaines were in the daily class , however it as there as it is in the gamazatti variation ... but you'll have to ask the ladies about that as i was doing the male rep. ( which was the Coda so loads of assembles) in terms of finding spaces - it's finding spaces that match up to using Northern or Rambert and also where there is the space to spread out ... TBR had free run of the Northern Building builiding at the weekend * there was something associaty or CATy going on upstairs on Saturday , but otherwise it was 'us' (as no NB company class on saturday as they had 'broken up for their break ) which was really lovely and adds to the atmosphere - it;s the closest recreational dancers like me will get ot the 'feel' of vocational training or company life ... ( a number of us have said the ideal amped up version of the ballet retreat would be a full week , ideally with everyone staying in acommodation and finishing with some kind of performance , even if it was just for friends and rellies )

mens variation on this was was the Coda that goes with the Gamzatti variation

if you can keep up with class you aren;t too old... the age range spanned from 'studentish' age to 'older' exactly how old i'm unsure but safe to say that those apporaching the big 40 were firmly in the middle of the age range.

another thing that has struck me , and it;s come up in a number of different topics is inconsistency of nomenclature , with directors, in the upper school audition thread and somewhere else you see some companies who have very few principals , but have three ranks of soloist (even technically 4 in the case of Northern - even though the current roster only has one first soloist bettween the leading soloists and the 'plain' soloists +junior soloists) AND coryphees 'above' their corps and apprentices , yet here are other companies with a dozen principles but only 2 ranks of soloist ( or even 1 and half due to small numbers in one ofthe groups) , above 'first artists','artists' and apprentices ( coryphees and corps) ... this is before considering thaose who wear multiple hats - as raised with those who are both Artistic and Executive in their role and those who are both directors and choreographers / 'sti;;' performing as principals ...

having had the luxury of a real pianist at The Ballet Retreat , a good pianist is better than any recording .... great in the rep sessions for the teacher to be able to say ' we 'll do it with the music but a bit slower than written ' and while you can do changed pace / music for classexercises if you have enough of a library on your media player of choice , a live pianist can do that instantaneously

Yes. i was there as was @sophie_rebecca among 40 odd other people ! ( i'm sure that some of the other participants must be balletcoforum members , given how other socialmeeja aware we seemed to be - twitter and FB has been beeping all day with new friedn requests , comments and shares ) These are entirely my own thoughts as a participant and they haven't been screened by or otherwise run past Hannah and/or David. the example programme on the website is a fair reflection of the three day retreats . ( this year however Noerthern had allready finished for their bank holiday break so there wasn't their company class to observe ... would i recommend it ? absolutely I would what did we do in class ? in the warm ups at the beginning of the day and the coold downs at the end of the day it;s the usual stretching / relaxation type stuff you might expect , Hannah usually leads these sessions , although Dreda did lead one of the cool downs ... other members of the team ( including the fabulous Pianist Andrew who is one of NBs company pianists ) took part . the 'daily class(es) ' were lead by David and were a fairly standard in format and exercises class that should be familiar to anyone who takes class , barre, centre, turning , jumping ... with the wonderful advantage of the Stanley and Audrey Burton theatre in studio mode at 30 metres * 15 metres - which meant that despite the numbers in class there was plenty of space even more so when splitting into two for some of the centre work in class how challenging you'll find the barre depends on the level you are at yourself , but 'improvers' upwards will cope without problems and despite the size of the class David's eagle eyes can spot those who are struggling with an exercise and correction offered ... a genuine beginner may find it a little challenging if you aren't used to 'going straight round to the other side ', weight changes and 'inside leg working' in your barre ... The Rep sessions worked on the Rep , i can;t comment on the ladies rep teaching , but for the chaps ( including honorary chap Liz - so that answers another question some may have ) the fact we were 9 in number was great , David worked between the two groups , supporting Dreda and Gavin in their teaching and coaching and also leading some of the work for both together ( so both the boys and girls did parts of each others rep pieces , although the main thrust was to get the rep you were doing down ) the 'mystery taster class ' ( which is only for the 3 day versions) this time was Gaga Technique and that was lead by Amaury Lebrun ... an great class and a complete contrast to the classical rep ... OCS if you have any more questions feel free to ask them here for the hive mind to answer or drop hannah a message via the contact form on https://www.theballetretreat.com/contact-us-and-booking

Lin absolutely I thought we had fun in class where I usually take class, but David takes it to another level, especially with the advantage of a real pianist for class. watch TBR's website for new dates as they are released. the Northern Ballet building is fabulous - a 30 *15 metre studio space on the ground floor - how to feel like you haveplenty of space even if there are nearly 50 people in class ( slightly fewer number of people on the retreat as participants, but warm ups/ cool down , morning class and the Mystery taster ( Amaury Lebrun taking a class on Gaga Technique ) had some of the 'staff' as participants ... also throws a whole new perspective into turning and jetes as part of centre work in class ... i don;t think many people who attended this August's TBR will forget pose turn , pose turn , chaine-chaine-chaine-chaine, pose turn, pose turn chaine-chaine-chaine-chaine in a hurry and still having space at the end of the studio to run off ... I don't think the ladies ( barring our 'honorary boy' Liz) got to see the other studios but they are 15 *15 m with high ceilings ( the 'boys' got to see those as we used one for one of our rep sessions ...

You are correct about La Bayadere and The Ballet Retreat, the female rep was Gamzatti's variation and the male rep was the Coda ... TBR is an absolutely fabulous event , biggest problem that Hannah and David have is finding Spaces ( such a lovely lovely experience to basically have the run of Northern's fabulous Building this weekend ) and also Hannah's timetable given her current post and roles ... A generally held sentiment among those who hae attended TBR is that more often would be good, and even some longer events ....

however the phraseology is not as loaded as it with the referenceto adult women as girls , and it;s rare to hear reference to boys and women in the same breathe , unless it's a comparison of performance ... i.e. in certain sports the elite women or elite paraathletes perofroance / scores are in line with the top 'boys' age group ( i.e. the 16 -18s)

incredibly common to mix this in situations where it's not appropriate or necessary to ... part of the systemic biases that are there and which many people claim aren't a problem usually becasue they are on the powerful side of the equation or are sufferign a form of stockholm syndrome ... ladies and gentlemen , men and women , boys and girls , choose one pairing and stick to it; Unless you are talking about where one component of the pairing is an adult and the other a child. if your whole class / gorup are adults it;s just a matter of idiom if you make reference to the 'boy' work and the 'girl ' work ...

like many of the comments slagging of 'mickey mouse' subjects , it just deomnstrates the commentator's ignorance when they have a go at subjects such as dance ... like the idiots who turn a mis read read of one module description into a 'Degree in David Beckham Studies' or seem to think that a research interest or PhD supervision area of an acdemic means there is a bachelors degree in it ( classic one for that is 'Queer musiciology' )