Rural Retreats
In 2003, DanceEast conceived the now internationally recognised Rural Retreats - international think tanks looking at the future of ballet and dance. These facilitated sessions have brought guest speakers from the world of business, sport and the arts to interface with the dance leaders and to share experiences and allow opportunities to think 'out of the box' about the place of dance in today's society. Guest speakers have included Charles Handy, Gail Rebuck, David Lan, Nicholas Hytner, to name but a few.
DanceEast Rural Retreat 2003
Ballet into the 21st Century
The first Retreat saw the largest ever gathering of Ballet Directors from around the globe. A second retreat took place in January 2005.
DanceEast Rural Retreat 2006
The 21st Century Dancer - Nurturing Talent
In partnership with the Prix de Lausanne, this Retreat brought together the Directors of professional schools and companies from around the globe.
DanceEast Rural Retreat 2008
Future Leaders and Artistic Directors
From a list of 75 applicants, 26 aspiring leaders from around the globe were selected to participate in an intensive four-days of inspirational and provocative talks and discussions about the realities and challenges of the Artistic Director's job in the 21st century. Guest speakers included ex-England football manager Graham Taylor, Stuttgart Ballet's Reid Anderson and Scottish Leadership CEO, Zoe van Zwanenberg. With funding support from the Cultural Leadership Programme, seven of these individuals went on to take part in placements shadowing artistic leaders in dance organisations around the globe.
DanceEast Rural Retreat 2010
Dance Leaders Start the New Year inspired
In January 2010, DanceEast hosted a mini Rural Retreat for these seven individuals and their host artistic directors at the Jerwood DanceHouse, Ipswich. The individuals were Tamara Rojo (The Royal Ballet), Marc Brew (freelance choreographer), André Gingras (freelance choreographer/Holland), Ernst Meisner (The Royal Ballet, UK), Karol Urbanski (Contemporary Dance Foundation, Poland), Michael Trent (Dancemakers/Centre for Creation, Canada), Jeff Edwards (Wheeldon Co/Morphoses, USA). Placement hosts, Eddie Nixon (The Place) and Jeanetta Laurence (The Royal Ballet) also joined the Retreat.
DanceEast Rural Retreat 2012
Future Directors and Creative Producers for Ballet and Dance
In January 2012, 26 current, emerging and aspiring dance leaders from all over the world came together to focus on the role and challenges that face them as artistic directors and creative producers in ballet and dance. Amongst them were Christopher Hampson, the new Artistic Director of Scottish Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s principal dancer Robert Parker, whose appointment as the new artistic director of Elmhurst School for Dance was announced in September 2011.
DanceEast’s Rural Retreat 2012 was made possible through the support of
the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, Tezmae Trust, Best Western Ufford
Park Hotel, Golf and Spa, Harlequin Floors and Arts Council England.
If you would like to view a report from a Rural Retreat, please select a link below:
Supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.
Photo: Eammon Mccabe (Rural Retreat 2012)