Anyone been to The Ballet Retreat?

[Ocs97]

Hello, 

Has anyone been to The Ballet Retreat, either in London or Leeds? If so, would you recommend it? And what sort of things do you do in the classes?

Thanks in advance 

[Jan McNulty]

MPH's comments are here:  

 

 

I know at least one other member was in attendance so it would be good if they could chip in too!

[Jan McNulty]

If you are on twitter there are comments there.  I just searched Ballet Retreat:

 

https://twitter.com/search?q=Ballet Retreat&src=typd

[Nicola H]

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

 

Edited August 29, 2017 by mph
incomplete first time

[Jan McNulty]

Thanks MPH.

[sophie_rebecca]

This was my 3rd Ballet Retreat, MPH has covered most of it but I'll add my 2 pence worth.

 

The facilities are always top class, Rambert & Northern Ballet are of course two amazing companies so have amazing studios, the food is always great too, at Northern you get a light lunch of a mix of sandwiches etc or the time before we had soups etc, at Rambert there's a small restaurant next to Ramberd & the food is amazing but be warned the portions are huge for dancing after with.

 

David is a fabulous teacher, the emphasis is very much working with what you've got in terms of elevation & turnout & just having fun, as there's usually a mixed group ability details are never hung up on but he will occasionally single someone out to help demonstrate a better way of doing something, Hanna does the warmup & cooldown & also all the admin, she's always got things super organised & is such a lovely person.

 

As for the people who attend the retreat it's becoming like a family, there's a good bunch from David's London classes who attend both venues & when we all see each other it's like a reunion, they are of course used to his style of teaching & barre routines, everyone is amazingly friendly & always helping each other.

 

The day starts with a warmup then barre work, then a company class which is generally similar to the variation you're going to do then the afternoon is dedicated to learning the variation, the last day you'll perform the entire variation at least once & usually twice.

 

The variations are always challenging but you can choose to simplify them so doing things on flat instead of Demi, the last few for the ladies have been La Bayadere Gamzatti, Odette Act 1, Rubies from Jewels & the Bluebird from Sleeping Beauty, I don't remember the mens variations but in a group of 45 there's usually around 8 men.

 

I'd certainly recommend anyone who's interested in Ballet to give it a go, I don't think you could regret it, I always get a bit blue in the days after as it's as close as I'll ever be to being in a company & we always have such a good time, be warned they fill up fast but David & Hannah are always looking to add more dates if possible, it's just hard as they have to work around NB & Rambert companies.

 

Hope this helps.

Soph

 

 

[Jan McNulty]

Thanks Sophie.

[LinMM]

Were there any people 55 plus on the course did you think or as far as you could judge etc!! 

[Nicola H]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

Were there any people 55 plus on the course did you think or as far as you could judge etc!! 

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. 

[Nicola H]

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

[LinMM]

Thank you mph!! 

Just nice to know at least one or two in ones own decade!! 

[sophie_rebecca]

8 hours ago, LinMM said:

Thank you mph!! 

Just nice to know at least one or two in ones own decade!! 

 

I personally know someone in their 60's in that class & I know at lest 3 others were north of 65, you've no excuse 

[Ocs97]

Thank you so much for all your replies. It really does seem like something i would like to attend. I more likely attend the one in leeds as accommodation is cheaper than in London. Is anyone going to be attending the January 2018 one in Leeds? Or has anyone been there that has stayed in a hotel nearby? If so, would you recommend any hotels around that area? thanks again 

[Nicola H]

18 minutes ago, Ocs97 said:

Thank you so much for all your replies. It really does seem like something i would like to attend. I more likely attend the one in leeds as accommodation is cheaper than in London. Is anyone going to be attending the January 2018 one in Leeds? Or has anyone been there that has stayed in a hotel nearby? If so, would you recommend any hotels around that area? thanks again 

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 ... 

Edited August 31, 2017 by mph

[Jan McNulty]

I like the Ibis Budget and it is very handy for Quarry Hill.  However I've just looked at the prices.  Is there an event on in Leeds on the Saturday evening?  MPH has made some good suggestions about peripheral hotels and public transport.  The cost of car parking in Leeds is eye-watering!

[Nicola H]

3 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

I like the Ibis Budget and it is very handy for Quarry Hill.  However I've just looked at the prices.  Is there an event on in Leeds on the Saturday evening?  MPH has made some good suggestions about peripheral hotels and public transport.  The cost of car parking in Leeds is eye-watering!

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 ... 

[Michelle_Richer]

If anyone is thinking of booking Leeds TBR, its almost fully booked, there were only three places left last night (Wednesday), against my better judgement I've booked one of them as the rep is not disclosed until two weeks before the event, normally I wouldn't have booked that.

As yet I haven't received conformation, so I resent the email.

[sophie_rebecca]

7 hours ago, Michelle_Richer said:

If anyone is thinking of booking Leeds TBR, its almost fully booked, there were only three places left last night (Wednesday), against my better judgement I've booked one of them as the rep is not disclosed until two weeks before the event, normally I wouldn't have booked that.

As yet I haven't received conformation, so I resent the email.

 

Confirmations went out this morning, regarding the rep, 2 of the last 3 retreats we didn't find out until the 1st day only 1 of them did we get 24H notice of which rep we were doing, 2 weeks would be nice but I doubt it'll happen.

[Nicola H]

1 hour ago, sophie_rebecca said:

 

Confirmations went out this morning, regarding the rep, 2 of the last 3 retreats we didn't find out until the 1st day only 1 of them did we get 24H notice of which rep we were doing, 2 weeks would be nice but I doubt it'll happen.

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....

[RuthE]

Just butting in here - I have cause to stay in Leeds hotels a few times a year, and even more than many other cities there seems to be a huge difference in budget hotel prices between weekdays and Saturdays.  Weekdays (especially Fridays) and Sundays can be super-cheap at the Ibis Budget (I've paid about £25 there for my next overnight stay in January) and about £40 for one of the two central Travelodges, but on Saturdays they're so much more expensive that I usually manage to find a really reasonable deal at a much higher-rated hotel.  For example, in 2012 and 2013 I went to Opera North's performances of Die Walküre and Siegfried, one time staying at the Metropolitan, the other at the Hilton.  Both deals were about £50 including breakfast! 

[Jan McNulty]

Thanks for that tip Ruth!  I've come unstuck looking for Leeds accommodation before now ... fortunately friends have been able to help.

[LinMM]

I was very lucky last May and stayed in the Ibis budget for just £32!! That was just the one night on the Thursday but I did book it a couple of months in advance.

When I had to stay up in York in July ( connected with YBSS) it was the weekend of the races and degree ceremonies so when I originally tried to book for that weekend months before even the Ibis there was charging £300 per night!! I was so shocked I rang  head office thinking there must be something wrong with their website! But no this was the price for the Friday night!! The premier Inn was a little,better at just under £200 per night!! 

I ended up in a B and B ( for free ......extremely lucky ...and long story) but the person who had booked it had paid twice the usual price because that's what the market can take when these events are on apparently!!! There was just nowhere cheap in York that weekend but the following weekend well.......much more normal prices.

 

[LinMM]

Forgot to say still haven't heard back from the Ballet Retreat.

i haven't booked it as yet as am still waiting to hear the EXACT date of our show!!

it was originally on December 9th but if it is moved to the 2nd December ( which I have heard it might be) then we will have a rehearsal on Sunday November 26th which could be awkward!! So cannot book just yet but hope to find all this out this next week.

 

[Michelle_Richer]

On ‎01‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 08:18, sophie_rebecca said:

 

Confirmations went out this morning, regarding the rep, 2 of the last 3 retreats we didn't find out until the 1st day only 1 of them did we get 24H notice of which rep we were doing, 2 weeks would be nice but I doubt it'll happen.

Hi Sophie

 

Thanks for the info on their practice as regards rep, I though it would be something like that, as I queried one of there comment which suggested they would decide  the rep 2 weeks before the course, once they knew what dancers were coming, that just didn’t make sense.

 

 Its academic now as I didn’t get a place, but was placed first on the reserve this.

 

This is really not how I work, I have a similar issue with RAD, that why I use my own  one-to-one rep coach twice a week, so I’m not short of rep I WANT TO DO. Strangely enough I a bit of a rep workshop on Sunday with Desiree Ballantyne an Ex ENB soloist for the Alive Ballet Company, it's available for dancers outside our company. Although as far as I’m aware the rep wasn’t published for this one, probably as it was described as a “Ballet Boot-Camp”. As I had arranged the studio at Sadlers for my Artistic Director for this one, I felt a little bit guilty not going. I managed to get in touch with Desiree over the Rep and she is doing Kingdom of Shades from La Bayadere for the group piece, and Lilac Fairy from Sleeping Beauty for the solo, needless to say I have now booked it, roll on tomorrow I really love the Lilac Fairy solo.

 

I see from your comment you have done Rubies from Jewels, I wonder which part, I must say over all the Jewel pieces I really don’t like Rubies as its largely contemporary, I did my own version for Ballet West, re-choreographed to classical with severe editing of the music and as a solo.

 

As for TBR I guess its wait and see, a bit of a pity as Adrian my boyfriend and PDD partner has a daughter that lives on the outskirts of Leeds,  we would have hotelled it in Leeds and he could have at least spent a day with her as there is no way bless him that the would attend the course, pity the experience would do him good.

[sophie_rebecca]

42 minutes ago, Michelle_Richer said:

Hi Sophie

 

 Its academic now as I didn’t get a place, but was placed first on the reserve this.

 

 

Hi Michelle, you are quite welcome, if you're first on the list I'm pretty sure you''ll get in, as these things draw closer work commitments get in the way for people, MPH was on the Leeds waiting list for a long time & got in with a few weeks notice.

 

I wasn't at the Jewels retreat I just knew that's the rep they did so don't know which exact variation they did, it was right around the time my exam result went public so I had a lot going on, Like you I'm an ardent classical fan & I love the staple variations from Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Giselle, Coppelia, Nutcracker, La Sylphide etc but wouldn't be too put out by a contemporary rep every now & then.

 

Fingers crossed for you but I'm sure you'll get in.

[Nicola H]

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. 

[Nicola H]

2 hours ago, Michelle_Richer said:

Hi Sophie

<snip>

 

As for TBR I guess its wait and see, a bit of a pity as Adrian my boyfriend and PDD partner has a daughter that lives on the outskirts of Leeds,  we would have hotelled it in Leeds and he could have at least spent a day with her as there is no way bless him that the would attend the course, pity the experience would do him good.

 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 

[ArucariaBallerina]

I cant go to TBR obviously (though it sounds incredible!) but just wondered what the difference between a 'technique class' and a 'company class' was on the timetable  

[Nicola H]

1 hour ago, ArucariaBallerina said:

I cant go to TBR obviously (though it sounds incredible!) but just wondered what the difference between a 'technique class' and a 'company class' was on the timetable  

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.

[Michelle_Richer]

Just booked the Ibis Budget with cancellation insurance via Booking.com, the cancellation insurance option did not appear on the Ibis site. So its booked just in case but I can cancel up to the 5th Jan. There are still rooms left at £42 a night.