Ballet summer school

[Vocal1]

Hi. Have any ballet-mum's heard of or have experience of The Cecchetti Summer School (Young Dancers), based at Tring Park at the start of the summer hols? Any info gratefully received as my 11 year old daughter is keen but it's residential ( arghhh) ... and quite expensive.

[Zodlebud]

I have experience of the school but not as a parent of a child there (I work with children in "the industry").

The boarding aspect is brilliant in my opinion. A mixture of small and large dorms - bright and airy yet very homely. Nice common room for congregating, really excellent food in the canteen and boarding staff who really know what they are doing. Apart from the cost then you should really not have any issues with the residential side.

The dance studios are beautiful - one in the main house which is a listed building and feels very "ballet shoes". The new Garden studios are stunning. The facilities are superb.

I do not have experiences of the actual summer courses though. The standard of teaching at the school and their Associates courses is extremely high. They are also sticklers for neat hair (no wispy bits) and uniforms which I quite like.

I think your only problem might be that she'll want to go there full time after spending some time there!!!!

[AlexanderHamilton]

My daughter is doing a summer school at Tring but one run by the school itself. The Cecchetti one is an external hire

[AlexanderHamilton]

It might be worth asking on the Doing Dance forum of balletcoforum

[GuestWW]

My daughter is going to the Tring one, her first dance week away so hope it is good!

[Vocal1]

Thank you all so much, I'll check out the balletcoforum. Best wishes.

[Vocal1]

Ooh could I ask- Is the Tring summer school dance based or performing arts?

[dodobookends]

The Tring summer schools are either dance or musical theatre, there might be a drama one as well, come to think of it, and it is the Tring staff teaching those.

The Cecchetti summer school is based at the school, but is independently run by the Cecchetti Society.

My dd has loved residential courses there, she says that staying in the mansion is like being at Hogwarts!

[CinderellasBroom]

Zodlebud A bit off topic, but do you know if there's some help for younger dancers getting the perfect hair on a residential? My dd is only 8, so its a few years away, but she's unable to do a neat pony tail let alone a ballet bun (it doesn't help that she hates and winces away from hair spray), and I can't imagine she'll be able to do it perfectly by age 10 or whenever she's old enough to do a residential.

[AlexanderHamilton]

The kids all help each other.

[AlexanderHamilton]

And my daughter's school bans hairspray - they use water & gel.

[taxi4ballet]

My dd was 10 the first time she did a residential course (at Tring coincidentally) and the girls all helped each other with their hair - she came home able to do a bun herself

[Zodlebud]

Agree with all the hair comments above. Starting with damp hair really helps and then gel spray. Get her to always stand in front of a mirror when she does it, and the combing the hair back is the key bit. Concentrate on just getting it into a low pony at the moment. She'll get there and the kids definitely help each other.

[CinderellasBroom]

Thanks!

Zodlebud What's gel spray? We've got both hairspray and gel, but I haven't heard of gel spray, is there a brand you'd recommend? You've also inspired me to to put a mirror in her room - she's too short to see herself in the bathroom mirror, which surely isn't helping.

[taxi4ballet]

If you go to the hairspray aisle in the supermarket or chemist, there will be quite a few that come in a pump-action or trigger spray rather than an aerosol. Something like that would be fine.

Several of the vocational schools don't allow any kind of aerosol as they tend to set off the fire alarms!

[Zodlebud]

A lot of the big brands do gel spray. Just head to Boots or Superdrug and they are usually with the moose and hair sprays. They come in the pump sprays so no aerosols (which many dance places ban because it can trigger asthma). There's loads out there but it's not the sort of thing you'd notice unless you are looking for it.

I just find it easier to manage than the old school pots and tubes of gel.

[AlexanderHamilton]

Dd uses the vo5 gel spray from boots.

[CinderellasBroom]

Thanks! The gel I used yesterday turned her hair rather white at the front, so we definitely need something different anyway...

[Minimusiciansmama]

We use the V05 gel spray too, the strongest hold one and start with damp hair (we use a garden spray bottle thing) xx