Info: Dance Camp in Finland (2003)

[psavola]

I don't know if anybody is interested, but I thought I might post the info all the same.

 

My dance school will be again arranging a dance camp for adults and recreational track teens next year. (The professional track teens, obviously, have their own camps.)

 

The place is Sammatti, Finland. The dates are 26.7. - 3.8. 2003.

 

Päivi

[Guest Anders]

Hi Päivi, summer camp in Finland sounds fun. As I recall from last year all instruction is in Finnish right? If so, will i have time to learn Finnish before the summer?

[Jaana Heino]

Actually, last summer the ballet teacher at the camp (or one of the the teachers, I don't know if there were several) was Jane Spackman, who I think teaches in English. I don't know if the teachers for 2003 have been announced yet; Päivi might know more.

 

Learning Finnish before summer might prove a hard task, but I should think most teachers here should be able to give corrections in either English or Swedish, and ballet terminology is more or less international. So you might manage without the language, in any case.

[psavola]

The arrangements aren't clear yet. I believe Jane Spackman will be there also next year, and she teaches in a mixture of English and bad Finnish (she is British herself) depending on the language skills of the class attendees.

 

However, I took some classes last summer in Athens and found that I got along with the class fairly well without knowing a single word of greek. So learning Finnish should not be necessary, at least if you're advanced enough to attend only the ballet classes. There is always some other dance form in addition to ballet, with the camp attendees taking ballet either in the morning or in the afternoon depending on their levels, but some people just do both ballets and skip the other dance form altogether.

 

I cannot tell just how advanced the more advanced group is (I just do not know enough about ballet yet), but I know it takes about 4 years of daily classes to get there depending on your talent and previous experience with ballet. I know they look pretty advanced to me. They do concecutive pirouette series and turn-in-the-air jumps and such stuff.

 

I think they are considering of taking Irish Dance as the other dance form. If they do, I know that the teacher must be fluent in English (she would not have been able to study dance in New York otherwise) and may well know Swedish too.

 

I know the camp will be fairly similar to previous years as far as the practical arrangements go: lodging in two-person rooms, three meals etc. The arrangers take class with me, so that is how I know about the camp beforehand. If you are really interested I can write more when I learn more.

 

(I'm editing this to add that they did have another ballet teacher besides Ms Spackman too, but I have no idea about her language skills or wheter she will be teaching in the next year's camp.)

 

Päivi

[Tracey]

Paivi,

 

I was just reading Xena's sticky about the dance camps, and did some quick sums to see what the total cost would be for Finland, and your dance camp might be viable for me - certainly a LOT cheaper than Richmond!

 

Could you just let me know how the best way to get to Sammatti from Helsinki would be? I would be on a budget so train or bus would be best - taxi would be a definite no!

 

Then I'll see if I can persuade 'him indoors' to let me go - might have to bribe him with a long weekend in Helsinki first ;) !!

 

Tracey

[Mr Robin]

Hi Tracey

 

What rough costings did you come up with for both Richmond and Finland, if I might ask?

 

Robin

[Tracey]

Hi Mr Robin,

 

The cost of the week is 275€ including tuition, board and meals, which is roughly £180, and direct flights from Heathrow to Helsinki with BA were £136 rtn on expedia.co.uk, so total cost works out at around £320 plus transfers to and from Sammatti - which I think is pretty good!

 

Richmond - well the cost of the camp is more than that, then you've got flights to the US (plus 6 hours flying) and hotel cost on top again - some of those from the US (if my memory serves me well) said that it can cost up to about $2000.

 

Anyone else from the UK think they might be able to stretch to Finland?

 

Tracey

[Mr Robin]

Well - £320 sounds a lot more affordable than $2000! A definite possibility... An even more affordable option might be to organise a UK intensive, though, as I've suggested in a new thread.

[svemaus]

I would be interested in this summer camp as well. In which levels will the participants be divided? I'm really far from being advanced!

 

Svenia:)

[psavola]

Tracey, if one is budget-concious I feel the bus is better than train - there is a certain bus leaving from Helsinki at a certain time which holds about half of the camp attendees. The price for train and bus is about the same, and you are certain to not get lost.

 

Svemaus, I do not know what the class level divisions will be this year, but one does not have to be terribly advanced - I'm not and I think I did fine.

 

Since people do seem interested, I'll ask the arrangers wheter they have more info about the next year's camp, especially about the class levels.

 

Päivi

[Guest Lolly]

I am interested too - there is only a bit of sea between here and there! Any more information would be welcome.

 

(Am also attracted by the fact that Helsinki is so close to St Petersburg... White Nights!;))

[Mel Johnson]

Yes, Finland should be wonderful for those who really like long summer days!

[psavola]

I asked the arrangers, and the camp will be organized pretty much the same way as last year. This time they will not change the other dance form, because irish dance proved so popular and many said in feedback forms that it complemented ballet rather well. The flyers with more exact info will be published around Easter.

 

So I'm giving you the facts from last year.

 

There were 3 hours of ballet (2 hour technique class and 1 hour of repertoire for the end performance) In addition there was 1,5 hours of irish dance (0,5 hours repertoire/rehearsal for the end performance) and 1-1,5 hour stretching class. There were some extra rehearsals for some additional pieces.

I did about 1 hour extra ballet each day after the irish dance because I was only at the Beginner 2 level then and was a bit scared that I would not be good enough by the end performance. (Not everybody was allowed to do ballet in the end performance - some of the other Beginner 2s could not learn it, but I did. )

 

The ballet teacher is Jane Spackman who was trained in the Royal Ballet School in England and has had a long career in several ballet companies. The Irish dance teacher is Ann-Sofi Kyrklund (I'm not sure of her qualifications - she has some but I do not know what they are) and the stretching teacher is Susanna Calcagano who I think is in a school to become a dance/ballet teacher and something like physical therapist (I'm not sure of the term, physical therapist isn't right, but I don't know how else to express it)

 

In 2003 there will probably be three levels of ballet instead of the previous 2. The lowest will be probably taught by Susanna Calcagano, and the two others by Jane Spackman.

 

The camp levels will probably be Beginner 1, Beginner 2 & Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2-3. (There are no advanced classes for adults, because there aren't any advanced enough adults )

 

Our school has 6 level structure: 2 beginner levels, 3 intermediate levels and advanced, and the camp levels correspond to the levels in school. The levels were originally designed so that a child with average talent and daily classes can advance one level in a year, but this has been adjusted for the non-professional and adult sections of the school.

 

I'll try to describe the levels, but it's going to be terribly difficult.

 

Beginner 1 level is basic ballet - this is plie, this is battement tendu and here is how one makes combinations out of them and so on. Basic issues of alignment and how to turn out.

 

Beginner 2 level contains new movements and variations of the old movements, and more complex and longer combinations at a bit faster tempos. Double fondus, fouettes, start of beats and pirouettes, demi-pointe barre work. I remember the classes of this year being really tough in the sense of building strength.

 

Intermediate 1 contains yet more movements, and much longer and more complex combinations. Latter part of the barre is always on demi pointe, and center often contains some utterly demoralizing balances en demi pointe. Grand allegro and beginning pointe work and probably more stuff which I haven't experienced yet as I'm currently on this level.

 

I'm fuzzy about the upper two levels, since our school discourages taking classes at levels above your own. They look terribly advanced to me, with half-count tendus, jumps that turn in the air and multiple grandes pirouettes. I saw one Intermediate 2 class end with 8 en dehors pirouettes to the right in one count each, pose for 6 counts, preparation and repeat to the left. :eek:

 

(And as I said, only the professional track people have advanced classes at all in my school, and I have very little idea about what they might contain except that they must be awfully difficult)

 

Päivi