An Avant Academy

Filling the stages of the world’s best ballets is no easy task, but the Royal Ballet School does it with grace and ease.

Dame Ninette de Valois set out in 1926 to found a comprehensive educational program for young ballet dancers, and began by founding the Academy of Choreographic Arts, the predecessor to today’s Royal Ballet School. It would be more than 20 years though until her dream of having the highest caliber vocational ballet training combined with general academics would be realized. Although this combination of academics and dance began in 1947, the school did not receive its Royal Charter until October 1956, at which time the school was renamed the Royal Ballet School and formally merged with the Royal Ballet Company.

Today, the school is split into upper and lower schools, with the upper school being attached to the Royal Opera House via the Bridge of Aspiration. The full program requires 8 years to complete, and draws on various traditional methods of learning from different schools of ballet, all while embracing and challenging the demands of modern ballet companies. The ultimate goal is to place students in the Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, or other world-renowned ballet companies across the globe. So far the school’s track record is remarkable, having turned out Dame Margot Fonteyn, Alessandra Ferri, and Alicia Markova, three of the only nine ballerinas to ever be named Prima Ballerina Assoluta, the highest honour which can be awarded to a female ballet dancer.

Part of the school’s success relies on the fact that it does much more than just churn out champions one after another. While the curriculum focuses on classic techniques and styles, there is an emphasis on developing the students as artists, helping them express themselves and empowering them to take joy in what they do. Before they even leave the school, all students get an opportunity to perform on stage at the Royal Opera House.

There is also an effort to seek out the best talent and to make sure they have the ability to attend. The school hosts Super Sunday masterclasses, Audition Insight Days, and Junior Associate days to allow prospective students to get a taste for what the Royal Ballet School is all about, and being funded by the Music & Dance Scheme as national “centre of excellence,” means no student has to give up their dancing dreams because of finances – what an en pointe outlook on education.

-Graduates of The Royal Ballet School will be dancing various lead parts in this autumn’s Royal Opera Company productions of “Onegin” and “Sylvia”.

Tags: Alessandra Ferri, Alicia Markova, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Dame Ninette de Valois, Royal Ballet School

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