Beginner Ballet Retreat with Allison Nichol
The effortless ease of movements and beautiful long lines of a ballerina inspires people to take ballet classes, regardless of age or gender. Regular weekly classes are a great way to start off, and more often than not, you’ll want to learn and progress faster as your love of ballet increases.
Intensives are a wonderful way to do this in a short amount of time, mastering technique, increasing musicality, improving fitness, flexibility, strength, and endurance. They are amazing and intense, as the name suggests, but they can sometimes be too advanced for recreational dancers and those at the beginning of their dance journey.
This summer, Joy of Dance is offering an innovative ballet program – without all the intensity – in the form of an urban retreat! It’s geared to people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds looking to get in a balance of dance, creativity, technique, fitness, yoga, and fun!
The retreat begins the evening of Friday August 23 with a ballet class focused on technique to get you in the ballet mood, followed by an optional dinner to get to know your fellow dancers.
The next two days will be a balance of different dance-related activities. Sleep in a bit or grab your morning coffee before your 10am ballet technique class. The rest of the day, enjoy a Barre Fitness class, improve your wow-factor with a workshop on Jumps and Turns, and a Yoga class (if the weather is nice it might take place in the Riverdale park, a few steps away from Joy of Dance!).
One highlight of the retreat is the Collaborative Choreography workshop. Ballet dancers are usually given strict instructions on what movements to do, with no opportunity to put in their personal mark on their dances. In this workshop, you’ll get to discover, explore, and collaboratively create a dance with the group. You’ll end the day at 4pm so you have lots of time to rest, relax, and enjoy the city with friends or even better, your new dance friends!
This exciting Ballet Retreat will be led by Allison Nicol, who has more than 20 years of training in classical ballet, contemporary, and modern dance, and nearly a decade of teaching dance. She is an honours graduate of the dance program from Concordia University. Outside of our walls, she works as a choreographer, and a rehearsal director.
Allison believes that creative imagery and a sense of fun and discovery is at the heart of dance training. She infuses all of her classes with a sense of playfulness. So if you’re looking for some dance, exercise, and laughter, join us for this one-of-a kind intensive for beginners on August 23-25.
Space is limited and the registration deadline is August 9, so sign up to reserve your spot to pointe your toes, plié, pirouette, and jeté!
-Deborah Lim