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.
The first Retreat: Ballet into the 21st Century was the largest ever gathering of Ballet Directors from around the globe and a second retreat took place in January 2005.
A third Retreat: The 21st Century Dancer: Nurturing Talent, a partnership with the Prix de Lausanne, brought together the Directors of professional schools and companies from around the globe.
DanceEast's 4th Retreat took place in January 2008 when, 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, with guest speakers that 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 have gone on to take part in placements shadowing artistic leaders in dance organisations around the globe.
In January 2010, DanceEast hosted a mini Rural Retreat for these seven individuals and their host artistic directors at the new Jerwood DanceHouse in Ipswich. These 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). Marc Brew was unfortunately not able to make it at the last minute as his travel plans were thwarted by the freezing weather conditions. Placement hosts, Eddie Nixon (The Place) and Jeanetta Laurence (The Royal Ballet) also joined the Retreat.
DanceEast Rural Retreat 2010: Dance Leaders Start the New Year inspired
January 2010
DanceEast's 5th Rural Retreat took place in January 2010 despite the big freeze which was gripping the country. Aspiring leaders from around the globe came together at the Jerwood DanceHouse with host mentors to share the experiences of their international placements and to discuss the realities of leadership and the role of placements in the development of future leaders.
Writer and broadcaster and now social philosopher Charles Handy stepped in at the last minute to talk about time management, values, and self reflection through a very frank and open discussion.
Participants in this intensive think tank included Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Tamara Rojo and dancer Ernst Meisner; freelance choreographer André Gingras who has just been appointed Artistic Director of Dance works Rotterdam; Polish dancer-choreographer and director of the Centre for Choreographer in Warsaw, Karol Urbanski, and Director of Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation in Toronto, Michael Trent. They were joined by placement hosts, The Royal Ballet's Jeanetta Laurence and Place Theatre Director Eddie Nixon. With funding support from the Cultural Leadership Programme, these individuals have completed placements shadowing artistic leaders in dance organisations around the globe.
DanceEast conceived the now internationally recognised Rural Retreats - international think tanks looking at the future of ballet and dance in 2003. These facilitated sessions have brought guest speakers from the worlds of business, sport and the arts to interface with existing and future dance leaders to share experiences and allow opportunities to think 'out of the box' about the place of dance in today's society and the development of dance leadership. Guest speakers have included ex England football manager Graham Taylor, writer Charles Handy, Random House's Gail Rebuck, and artistic directors David Lan (Young Vic), Nick Hytner (Royal National Theatre), to name but a few.
Battersea Arts Centre Co-Artistic Director David Micklem spoke about New Models for Artistic Leadership and Partnership based on his own experiences as a respected Producer and his work at Battersea with David Jubb. TV chef and cookery writer Valentina Harris led the participants through a four hour preparation of a gourmet Italian meal and fed back on leadership styles in the kitchen. The Retreat was facilitated by Siân Prime.
Since setting up the first Rural Retreat in 2003, DanceEast Artistic Director and Chief Executive Assis Carreiro, has brought together leading directors from major ballet and dance companies and schools from all over the world and the Rural Retreat think tanks have become internationally recognised as an invaluable forum for sharing ideas and discussing the future of dance in the 21st century and developing dance leaders for the future.
Assis Carreiro said: '
The Rural Retreats have allowed DanceEast to reach out internationally and fill a much needed gap in professional development at the highest levels of dance and provided existing and future leaders an opportunity to come together and opening and honestly share experiences. This Retreat has brought together a small group of highly motivated and intelligent individuals who shared their experiences on placement and more importantly had an intensive period of self-reflection. If dance is in their hands, we have a bright and robust future.'
If you would like to view a report from a Rural Retreat, please select a link below: