New Year’s Rhinecliff Retreat
Please join STH January 1-3 for our 2nd annual
NEW YEAR’S “RENEWAL” RETREAT
in RHINECLIFF, NY
START YOUR NEW YEAR OFF RIGHT. LAUGH, PLAY, SWEAT, STRETCH, EAT, READ, NAP, DANCE, RELAX & ENJOY THE BEAUTY OF NATURE WITH OLD FRIENDS AND NEW, ON THE BANKS OF THE MAGNIFICENT HUDSON RIVER, IN THE HEART OF WINTER, IN HISTORIC RHINECLIFF, NEW YORK.
(1 1/2 Hr train ride from NYC Penn Station, Lodging options and menus below)
Full Weekend Rate: $500
- Friday & Saturday night lodging at the beautiful Rhinecliff Hotel (while rooms last – reserve now!);
- 10 Classes;
- Friday & Saturday bag lunches; breakfasts at the hotel
- Friday Night Pizza Party & Saturday Night Dinner, Dance Lesson & Birthday Cake;
- Sunday Brunch Buffet
A la Carte Rates:
Reserve SINGLE CLASSES/MEALS Now!
- $20 Single Drop-in Classes
- $40 Saturday Night Dinner, Dance Lesson & Capricorn’s birthday cake – must reserve by Dec. 15
- $15 Bag Lunch – must reserve by Dec. 28
- $20 Sunday Buffet Brunch
Schedule of Events*
*Schedule and instructors subject to change without notice; call in advance to confirm.
Friday January 1
10:00 am – Noon Yoga & Meditation For The New Year with Sarah Shellow
Noon – 2:00 pm Lunch / Rest / Read / Explore Time
2:00 pm – 3:45 pm Creative Writing with Sarah Shellow
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CardioDance, Pump & Stretch with Elise Long
5:00 pm – 6:15 pm Restorative Yoga with Dalienne Majors
6:15 pm – 7:30 pm Rest / Read / Explore Time
7:30 pm Pizza Party & Board Games
Saturday January 2
10:00 am – 11:00 am Zumba with Bethina Sayegh Flores
11:15 am – 12:30 pm Good Morning Yoga with Sarah Shellow
12:30 pm – 2:30 pm Lunch / Rest / Read / Explore Time
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm Healthy Back / Feldenkrais with Debra Wanner
4:00 pm – 6:30 pm Rest / Read / Explore Time
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm Dinner Party
8:00 pm – 9:30 pm Cash Bar plus Salsa & Mambo Lesson with Bethina Sayegh Flores
9:30 pm -? Open Dancing and Birthday Cake
Sunday January 3
11:00 am – Noon Shake it Up & Shake it Out with Lori Jorgensen
Noon – 1:00 pm Restorative Yoga with Dalienne Majors
1:00 pm -2:00 pm New Year’s Brunch
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GETTING THERE:
Transportation to Rhinecliff on Amtrak starts at $28 one way, depending on the time and day you choose — it is a magnificent 1.5 hour train ride from Penn Station – with wifi – along the Hudson. A relaxing way to begin and end your weekend, and a treat in and of itself! You can walk to all classes, the Rhinecliff Hotel, and Saturday dinner party directly from the train station, or take a taxi wherever you need to go.
RIDE SHARING:
If you are driving up to Rhinecliff from Brooklyn, want some company, or have a seat or two to share, let Spoke know so we can hook you up with friends who need a ride.
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RHINECLIFF NEW YEAR’S RETREAT LODGING OPTIONS
The Rhinecliff Hotel
Our classes will be held at this gorgeous hotel, as will our Saturday Dinner/Dance Party and Sunday morning brunch. It is right next door to the train station, on the river, and a very short walk to the morning classes, so you do not need a car – or if you do, you can snag a taxi easily at the train station and go wherever your heart desires!
Rooms at the Rhinecliff Hotel are limited (9 only), so book through STH NOW for special discount!
- Friday Night Only: $160 includes breakfast
- Saturday Night Only: $ 200 includes breakfast
- Both Friday and Saturday nights: $305 includes breakfasts
(Let us know if you would like to share a room with someone — we will try to help find you a roommate if you need one.)
The Beekman Inn
This very old, very historic landmark Inn is 3 miles away, in the town of Rhinebeck proper. They actually have a number of lodging options, include the Inn, so this might be your 2nd best bet. You would need a car or car service to get into Rhinecliff, although you can also walk it if you are feeling hardy and the weather is on your side!
The Ancram Opera House
This delightful, revived Opera House, renovated and run by our old friend, yoga and Alexander teacher, Joan Arnold, now has a gorgeous, brand new, luxurious rental suite downstairs that could host one couple or two if you didn’t mind sharing the apartment. The Opera House is about a 15 minute drive away from Rhinecliff so you will need a car. $190 a night for one couple, $250 for two couples.
Harry’s House
Harry’s House is across the street from the Ancram Opera House and has three sweet little bedrooms (2 rooms have double beds and one bedroom has two single beds). A group could rent the whole house for the weekend for $440. Again, you will need a car to get to and from Rhinecliff. Email or call (510) 414-2099 for booking.
Other Area Hotels:
There are a number of other hotels down Rt. 9 in Hyde Park and Poughkeepsie, but we have had more luck in Kingston, again about 15 minutes driving time from Rhinecliff, and you need to cross the river to get there and back. The cheapest hotel we found was the Super 8 Hotel, but if you want a pool and other big hotel amenities (like a restaurant, bar, video games, etc), we have had fun at the Garden Plaza too, across from Super 8. It is a lot more pricey, but it also take dogs.
AirBnBs and Local Bed & Breakfasts:
There are many of these in the area as well, but we have no experience with them, so let us know what you find out!
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MENUS:
FRIDAY EVENING 7:30 pm Pizza Party
SATURDAY EVENING DINNER & DANCING
6:30 pm – 8:00pm A Casual Elegant Dinner, menu TBD
~ WINES AND BEERS INCLUDED WITH DINNER ~
Poured at the Tables French Press Coffee, Tea, Herbals
SUNDAY – BRUNCH
Standard format brunch buffet: French Toast, Fruit, Cream Cheese Bagels etc. OJ and coffee included.
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Our Teachers
Sarah Shellow
SARAH SHELLOW writes fiction, memoir, and poetry. Her short stories and reviews have appeared in The Pitkin Review and The Atticus Review, and she was the featured Saturday Poetry Series poet on the site, As it Ought to Be. Presently, she serves as a fiction editor for Clockhouse Review. Sarah holds a master’s degree in education from Bank Street College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. She teaches literacy to children and adults, and mentors new public school teachers in the art and science of teaching writing in elementary and secondary classrooms. Her
cross-genre work can be found at www.sarahshellow.blogspot.com.
Dalienne Majors
Dalienne attended the dance departments of the Juilliard School and University of Iowa/Iowa City and continued graduate studies at the NYU Steinhardt School of Education. Her current studies include the PD Dance/Mark Morris Dance Center, Ernesta Corvino/Ballet, Annie Rebel-Coyne/QiGong and Integrative Yoga Therapy/Laura Staton. She has an extensive career as a dancer, choreographer and dance educator and currently inspires students of all ages at Spoke the Hub, Berkeley Carroll School, Brooklyn senior centers and New York Methodist Hospital/Parkinson’s Dance. She also choreographs and performs with Parents Who Dance.
Elise Long
Elise Long is the Founder/Director of Spoke the Hub Dancing and Gowanus Arts. Born in Coalinga, CA and raised in SF Bay Area, Long attended Middlebury College in Vermont on scholarship where she graduated Phi Beta Cappa, Magna Cum Laude, with Highest Honors in Dance and Studio Art. She is a Certified Laban Movement Analyst and has done graduate work in Dance, Physiology, Anatomy and Kinesiology at Columbia Teachers College, NYU, LIU and Queens College. She has created over 100 original dance/theater works performed in the States, Canada and abroad indoors and out-of-doors since 1979, and has been teaching dance and related art forms to both children and adults for over 40 years.
Bethina Sayegh
Bethina is a professional dancer, who had her start at the famed STEPS of New York City. It was there that she had her first taste of Jazz and Ballet. Later on she joined the “Eddie Torres Latin Dance Company”. After perfecting her Mambo and Cha Cha Cha , she went on to tour with Tito Puente for 10 years. Trained in Afro-Caribbean, Flamenco, Jazz, Waltz, Hip Hop, Belly Dancing and a bit of Ballet. Bethina is been teaching Zumba for a year and a half and she just LOVES IT!!! Every bit of it!!! In her Zumba classes she uses all her dance knowledge to bring you an exciting, creative and high energy routines that will leave you feeling great.
Lori Jorgensen
Lori Jorgensen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Dance and Choreography from SUNY Brockport. She has toured North America, Europe, Africa and Asia with Maude Baum and Company, Kaleidoscope, and All Nations Dance Company. She has over 30 years experience teaching dance and fitness to children and adults, is the proud mother of 2 teenage boys and has been a Park Slope resident for 16 years.
Debra Wanner
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