Paris Opera Ballet Summer School 2021

[Tdc34]

We received an acceptance e-mail this morning for my dd to attend the 2021 Summer School (providing Covid restrictions allow us to travel!) Has anyone else been accepted for this year? Anyone from previous years have any helpful tips? I found a 2019 thread but it died out before the course so I’m hoping there might be people with some helpful information!  

[Activeswi]

Our two dd's attended in 2019 and both will be going back this summer. Its a well run course and very adapted for the international attendees (everything in English and French) and the facilities are very good. Drop off is normally around 7pm on the Sunday night, and on the final Saturday they have an early afternoon show for parents (if I recall they had two with the younger classes in show 1 and the older half in show 2), with everything wrapping up by 4pm. There is also the possibility to watch lessons on the other days (they sell tickets normally from April time onwards on a FCFS basis). 

 

Two items to be aware of though. One, you have to bring not only bedsheets but also pillow and duvet and they have no possibility to lend/rent these to overseas students so it means an extra suitcase to bring. However, if I recall there is a medium sized supermarket 1 minute away (next to the metro) and it was possible to buy some things there including towels but I don't recall if they had pillows etc. Or you can certainly buy in the shops in La Defense (see below).

 

Secondly, the area around the school is totally closed on Sundays. You have to drop off at 7pm having fed the children (as the provided meals start only from the following breakfast). but nearly all the restaurants were closed on Sunday, even in the one hotel next door. The only options we saw open were in the supermarket or one bar. 

 

One tip is to look at La Defense. This is the big business area about a pleasant ten minutes walk from the ballet school. But it has two large shopping centres, many hotels, many restaurants, and open on Sundays. We found it much more agreeable to stay here and walk to the school on the last day. 

[Jan McNulty]

Hello Activeswi and welcome to the Forum!

[Marconcini]

Hi. My DD also went in 2019. Lovely course and the show at the end was simple but beautiful. If you still have the choice, definitely register on Sunday night. I made the mistake of deciding to register Monday morning. The check-in took quite a while, resulting in having only 10mins inside to find the dorm, make up the bed, unpack and say goodbye before the first class began. It made the start a little unsettling.  Take some good healthy snacks. The food was not great and surprisingly had very little in the way of fresh vegetables or salads. The organised trip for the children to the Opéra at the end of week one was well worth it. And don’t leave Paris without visiting Repetto’s flagship store!

[Tdc34]

Thank you so much @Activeswi, I’m delighted to hear that your dd’s enjoyed it enough to go back again! I’m so pleased you have said it is geared around international students too, we had been told (through the grapevine!) that everything was taught in French, so that’s a huge relief she will understand what’s going on a bit more! The show on the Saturday sounds beautiful, that will be a lovely memory for us all to cherish. Thank you so much for your advise re La Defense, I will look that up later today. My dd is not actually boarding, my husband is going to take her as she will only just have turned 10 and boarding places were incredibly limited this year due to restrictions so we didn’t want it to impact on an offer of a place for her, so that’s great to know they could potentially stay in La Defense and walk in each day. 
 

@Marconcinithat’s brilliant advice re snacks, thank you so much. We will make sure she takes lots as I’m sure they will burn off so much energy! I didn’t know about the trip either, that sounds like a lovely excursion for them all😀 I will have to look up Repetto, I feel like that and the large availability of Degas will bankrupt me!!! 
 

I really appreciate you both posting, and you’ve been so helpful. Thank you so much x
 

 

[Activeswi]

If she is 10 it may be in the younger age group there is a higher % which are French speaking students and the initial instructions are in French and then repeated in English (important your dd mentions clearly she doesn't understand French so they know). Certainly for the older ages the majority of the students are from overseas. For the end of course show the introductory explanations are given by Elisabeth Platel in both languages.  10 minutes is from the centre of La Defense (Grande Arche) via the walkway to the Arena and turning left at the end. Depending on where you stay in the area it could be an extra 5 mins or so. I'm not sure if the Sunday trip is open or not to the younger students doing the 1 week course (worth asking), but it can be replicated easily as the public can also visit inside the Opera and after that they go to the Eiffel Tower.  If your husband is there the week, then it is possible to buy a ticket to watch classes one day (they normally sell then online from April), but maybe they will make changes this year due to COVID. 

 

[Tdc34]

@Activeswi ok that’s great to know, thank you so much. We’ve found 4 other girls going from England but they are all 1 or 2 levels higher. I’m hoping they may be able to see each other for lunch though. That’s great to know re the trips. They have definitely planned to go to the Eiffel Tower to get some artistic tutu pics at dusk one evening! Depending on what travel restrictions are like by then, I am hoping to meet them out there for the last 2 days so will definitely try and book an observers ticket for the Friday, then at least my hubby can use it even if I can’t! X

[Lifeafterballet]

Just had a thought !

Some EU countries are starting to announce their entry requirements this summer, as in Cyprus want a person to have had both Covid vaccines for entry and to avoid a quarantine period following arrival. I get a strong feeling that France and others will follow suit. So the child might be able to travel unvaccinated but not the parent escorting them. And then there are the rules regarding returning to the U.K. if the travel corridors don’t restart. I don’t think that I would be parting with a thousand pound etc unless it was a sure thing 🤔 

[Tdc34]

@cotes du rhone !yes that’s certainly a big consideration. They have delayed the deposit deadline and have said they won’t even be sending us payment details until mid April by which time we might know more. My dd would be able to go and isolate on return for 10 days if required, but not if they’d have to isolate in France on arrival too. We are lucky in that they are probably staying with friends for a few nights and we aren’t booking travel yet so we have a while until we need to decide whether to part with any cash.