GENERAL INFORMATION FOR
REGISTERED STUDENTS - 2003
Welcome to the
Granville Ferry Studio Summer Dance Programme. This information section will
give you an idea about the area and some of the specifics relating to the
course that we think you will need to know - like where it is and how to get
there. I encourage you to read it thoroughly.
The first class is
at 2:00 pm on the first Saturday of each course. Most dancers arrive the day
before - on Friday. Some students have driven in and arrived on the Saturday
but most fly to Halifax and come to Granville Ferry by bus. There is only one bus a day and it
arrives around 10:05 at night so if you are bussing Friday night is the time to
arrive. The Saturday class allows us to start the casting process. Please note
that all $$ values in this information section are in Canadian $$.
WHERE IS THIS
PLACE AND HOW DO I GET THERE
?
The course takes
place in an old church in the centre of the little town of Granville Ferry (pop
585) in the province of Nova
Scotia on Canada's East Coast.
Granville Ferry is two hours west of Halifax (the capital of Nova
Scotia) on the Bay of Fundy side of the province, and is across a small bay
from the town of Annapolis Royal (pop 680). They are both very old towns dating
back to the 1600's but the majority of the surviving buildings are from the mid
1800's - the Victorian era.
Most people who come
fly to Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, and then take a bus from there to
Annapolis Royal. If you don't want to fly you can also get to Halifax by bus or
train. Halifax is serviced by most major airlines. It is also an international
airport and there are some flights to it from Europe as well as regular ones
from New York and Boston.
One bus a day
departs Halifax for the Annapolis Valley at 6:30 PM from the bus terminal at
1161 Hollis Street. Its in the same building as the train Via Train Station.
Return Bus Fare for a student is $51.31 (Full fare is 68.48). Reservations for
the bus are not necessary but the toll free number is 1-800-567-5151. The bus
arrives in Annapolis Royal at 10:05 in the evening and we will come and pick
you up in Annapolis and take you to Granville Ferry ‹ about a 2-minute drive.
Buses return daily from Annapolis to Halifax departing at 11:15 AM and arriving
in Halifax at 3:05 PM. You will need to know this to book your return flight.
You should allow at least two hours to get from the airport to the bus and vice
versa. From the Halifax airport you can get a bus called the "Airbus"
(902-873-2091) that goes directly from the airport to the Halifax bus terminal
for about $12.00. When you go back out to the airport at the end of your stay
you can take an "Acadian Lines" bus for $6.00 from the terminal. Its odd that one fare is cheaper but
has something to do with bus monopolies.
It is possible to get to Halifax earlier for your return flight by
taking a special airport bus directly from Granville Ferry. This is more
expensive - $53 one way - but can get you to the airport by about 12:30. Their
number is 1-888-283-2222.
It¹s a bit more
interesting, but also more complicated to fly (bus or train) to St. John, New
Brunswick, then take a ferry (3 hours) from St. John to Digby, Nova Scotia.
Digby is about a half an hour from Granville Ferry and we will pick you up at
the ferry terminal if you choose to come this way. Fare on the ferry is between
$25 and $30 per person depending on the time of year. Ferry times are different
at different times of the year and they change each year from a winter to
summer schedule near the end of June so to get the right times you should give
them a call at 1-888-249-7245 (the ferry service number). You can also check
out their web site at http://www.nfl-bay.com. Allow at least 2 hours travel time from the
St. John airport to the ferry.
It is possible to
drive as well. CAA will provide you with maps if you are a member. If you
aren't a member get some good maps. From Central Canada and points west the
Trans Canada highway is the best route. Take the Trans Canada to Truro and then
head south on the 102 (towards Halifax). Cut across to the 101 on number 14 and
then follow the 101 to Bridgetown. Get off the 101 at Bridgetown and take the
number 1 to Granville Ferry - about 20 minutes. Taking the ferry from St. John
New Brunswick (if coming from
central Canada) cuts out 6 hours of driving but costs between $70 and $75 one
way for the car and about
$20 - $35 per person in the car depending on the time of the year. If want to
take the ferry with your car you must call ahead and make a reservation at the
above number. The ferry is quite large and comfortable.
We check all these
times and fares in January and it is possible that some might change between
then and when you come.
**** However you are coming please let us
know ****
Our phone number in Granville Ferry is
902-532-7196
WHAT¹S THE
ACCOMODATION LIKE?
The whole course
takes place in the church. You will stay in the large furnished apartment below
the studio. All that is in the church is the studio upstairs and the living
space downstairs. There is also a bell tower complete with bell but you
wouldn¹t want to live there. The living space has good natural light. The
accommodation is shared - 2 to a room - and we provide the beds, pillows and
bedding. Also there is no phone in the church. There is a pay phone at the
corner store, about a two minute walk or, if you prefer, you may use the phone
in our house which is about a mile up the road. Please give our number out as a
contact number should anyone need to reach you. Our Nova Scotia number is
902-532-7196. Remember this number is valid only from mid May to the end of
August. The number for the course for the rest of the year is our Toronto
number 416-920-7463.
The church has a
fully equipped kitchen and you are responsible for your own food while you are
there. Equipped means: fridge, stove, washing machine, coffee maker, blender,
dishes, glasses, pots, pans, cutlery, dish towels, toaster etc. Granville Ferry
has only a small rural general store in it ‹ with almost no groceries.
Groceries, and pretty well everything else, are to be had in Annapolis Royal
which is a 15 minute walk or a three minute bike ride. We will provide an
assortment of bicycles for your use while you are there. These aren't state of
the art bikes but the wheels are pretty round.
Annapolis has the
usual smattering of businesses: 2 banks (the Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank
of Nova Scotia) 2 grocery stores, a hardware store, a liquor store, a drug
store, a health centre, a theatre, 2 bars, a Legion, a volunteer fire
department, a good leather and book store, a laundromat, a health food store, a
"farmers' market" (on Saturday mornings) a decent second hand
clothing store a lot of antique and craft stores and some surprisingly good
restaurants and cafes. Annapolis also has a number of historic sites, homes and
museums, a large and remarkable historic garden, Canada's oldest cemetery and a
great 17th century fort - Fort Anne.
WHAT ARE THE
CLASSES AND SCHEDULE LIKE?
The course is made
up of a combination of private technique classes, group technique classes and
repertory classes. Each week you will have 2, two-hour private technique
classes tailored to your needs. These classes consist of a long slow modern
barre ‹ simple but very thorough and detailed. The material covered is valid
for any serious dancer - modern, ballet or jazz. The centre portion of the
class focuses on performance technique. Twice a week there will also be a group
technique class consisting of a barre designed to allow you to work on the
material from the privates and a conventional centre focussing on material from
the rep classes.
There will be at
least three repertoire classes a week where a variety of dances will be
learned. These dances will be performed at the end of the session. On the first
Saturday we will give an introductory group class in the afternoon starting at
2:00 PM. This is a rep assessment class - not an audition. The rep load is
pretty hefty and to get a good start on things we will do preliminary casting
for the repertoire after this class. Keep in mind that the rep is selected and
distributed so that everyone will get substantial parts to dance. This isn't a
course where the best dancers get all the best roles. It¹s a course where every
dancer gets good roles that challenge their artistry.
The classes run from
Sunday through Friday with Saturday off. Saturday is market day and a pretty
social day in rural areas and it¹s the best day to not be working. So the week
goes something like this:
Sunday ‹ 3 privates - students A, B, C
Monday
‹ 3 privates - students D,E, F
Tuesday
‹ Group technique class in the morning and rep class in the afternoon.
Wednesday
- Same as Sunday
Thursday
- Same as Monday - but with an evening rep class
Friday
- Same as Tuesday
Saturday
- Day Off
For those arriving
on Friday night we always make sure there is food in the church to cover an
evening snack and breakfast. If you have any unusual dietary concerns please
let us know. On the first Saturday morning, before the introductory class, we
will take you to the market to do some food shopping and simply get used to the
area. Saturday night we will host a dinner and a "get together" at
our house, which is about a mile up the road from the church. The private technique
classes start Sunday morning.
WHAT TO DO WITH
LEISURE TIME?
The nature of the
private classes affords a good deal of leisure time and not surprisingly a few
people have asked me what there is to do in the area. My first bit of advice is
to rest and enjoy the leisure time - it doesn't show up that often in dance.
However, more than a bit of the leisure time gets eaten up with homework from
both the rep classes and the privates. We've always found it odd that most
dancers rarely do technique homework. Its been our experience that doing
"technique" homework dramatically accelerates change and progress.
The rep homework is substantial. The 6 of you will learn a whole show in 4
weeks. The church has VCRs to aid in learning rep and you have unlimited access
to the studio when its not being used for classes. You can use the space for
technical homework, rep homework or to work on stuff of your own.
We assume that
anyone who registers for a course like this has some idea what small town life
is like or is at least interested in trying it out. If you really crave the
action and diversity of a big city then you might have a hard time here. The
pace is slower and the variety of activities just isn¹t the same. That said the
area is exquisitely beautiful - all of it - Granville Ferry, Annapolis Royal,
the surrounding area and the Bay of Fundy coast which is not too far away. We
don't mean to imply its boring in any way. The Maritimes is a very social place
and all dancers who have come have found tons to do and none have been at all
bored. There is a big (for the
Maritimes) theme park nearby, a wildlife park and lots of other people your age
who return from university to work for the summer. There are bars and
restaurants and parties and a great ice cream parlour just a short walk up the
road.
History is big in
this area. This is where Champlain first landed in North America in 1605 ‹
fifteen years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. The area is loaded with museums and historical sights and
old houses and remarkable gardens
NIGHT LIFE
Compared to city
living you might say its thin ‹ at least on the surface. There is a theatre in
town which plays "fairly" current movies weekly. It also presents the
occasional live performance. My own dance company has performed there three times,
the Danny Grossman company twice and Toronto Dance Theatre once ‹ though never
in the summer. In the summer the theatre presents local theatre productions and
some music concerts. Because the area is a tourist destination there are a
number of good restaurants both in Granville Ferry and Annapolis. From time to
time there are dances at the Legion or the Fire Hall (both in Annapolis). These
are rural, ragged, often fun, "fasten your seatbelt" kind of events.
Annapolis also has a few bars, both of which, on a good night, can be pretty
entertaining. On the outskirts of Granville Ferry is a dance hall called
Grizzlies that has afforded more than a few entertaining nights for past
dancers. The drinking age in Nova Scotia is 19.
Mostly the social
stuff depends on whom you meet and people in Nova Scotia are easy to meet and
friendly and generous almost to a fault. Every Saturday morning there is a
Farmers' Market in Annapolis and its both fun and a good place to socialize and
find out what¹s going on. Pam and I will do what we can to get you rolling in
terms of meeting local people but its really not that hard.
WHAT¹S THE
WEATHER LIKE?
The AnnapolisValley
has a unique micro-climate. Normally its perfect ‹ warm, clear days and cool
nights. However it is the Maritimes and because of the ocean influence anything
can happen. Early June can be wet and cool and by the middle of August evenings
can also be cool. Bring some kind of rain gear and something warm.
WHAT DO I BRING ?
We provide bedding,
including pillows, so you don't need to bring any of that.
The apartment has a
sound system that plays cd's and tapes.
For class bring
unitards, or leotards and tights (something tight fitting) as well as some warm
sweat clothes.
Make sure you bring
running shoes and knee pads.
Also bring a towel,
sun screen, insect repellant, swim wear, bicycle helmet (if you intend to use
the bicycles helmets are mandatory in NS), raincoat or waterproof jacket, and a
few warm clothes
Hopefully this
covers most of the bases. Should you want to know anything else please feel
free to call either Pam or I at 416-920-7463 up until mid May and then at
902-532-7196 from then on. Call collect if you need to.
Randy Glynn
March 7th, 2003