Royal Ballet School

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Royal Ballet School
Motto	Strength and Grace
Established	1931 (1931)
Type	Independent
Director	Gailene Stock AM, ARAD, Grad Dip Ed
Asstistant Director	Jay Jolley BA (Hons), Dip RBS
Founder	Dame Ninette de Valois
Specialism	Classical Ballet
Location	London United Kingdom
LEA	Richmond upon Thames
Ofsted number	102947
Students	202
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11 to 19
Website	Official Website

The Royal Ballet School is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world^[1][2][3] and is the associate school of The Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in London. The school comprises a lower school (11-16yrs) based at White Lodge, Richmond Park, and an upper school (from 16yrs) based in purpose built studios on Floral Street in Covent Garden, which also have direct access to the Royal Opera House. The school exists exclusively to provide specialist co-educational training in classical ballet, with graduates achieving employment with professional ballet companies worldwide. The Royal Ballet School is most noted for training some of the most celebrated ballet dancers and choreographers of the 20th century, including Dame Margot Fonteyn, Dame Beryl Grey, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Darcey Bussell and Alessandra Ferri. The Royal Ballet School also trained Dame Monica Mason, a former ballerina of the Royal Ballet, who is now the companies' Artistic Director. Graduates of the school have also achieved employment in musical theatre, contemporary and jazz dance, television and film.

Contents 1 History 2 Lower School 3 Upper School 4 Performances 5 Notable alumni 6 Current staff 6.1 Gailene Stock, Director 6.2 Jay Jolley, Assistant Director 6.3 Diane van Schoor, Ballet Principal (Lower School) 6.4 Ballet staff 7 References

[edit] History

In 1926, the Irish born dancer Ninette de Valois founded the Academy of Choreographic Art,^[4] a dance school for girls and the predecessor of today's Royal Ballet School. Her intention was to form a repertory ballet company and school, leading her to collaborate with the English theatrical producer and theatre owner Lilian Baylis.

Baylis owned the Old Vic theatre and acquired Sadler's Wells theatre in 1925. In 1928, she engaged de Valois to stage dance performances at both theatres and she re-opened Sadler's Wells theatre in 1931, with de Valois' school moving into studios on the site. The school became the Vic-Wells Ballet School teaching both boys and girls and at the same time, the Vic-Wells Ballet Company was formed using students of the school and other notable dancers of the era. Both the school and the ballet company developed quickly, becoming established at Sadler's Wells theatre as the Sadler's Wells Ballet School and Company. In 1946, the company moved to become the resident ballet company at the newly re-opened Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and as a result, in 1947 the school moved from Sadler’s Wells Theatre to premises in Barons Court, with academic education being introduced for younger students.

Following rapid expansion, in 1955 the school secured the premises at White Lodge in Richmond Park, London. This was established as the Royal Ballet Lower School, a residential boarding school for children aged 11-16, combining general education and vocational ballet training. The Royal Ballet Upper School was established at the schools existing premises in Barons Court, with students studying ballet on a full time basis between the ages of 16-19.

In October 1956, a Royal Charter was granted officially linking the ballet company and school and they became the Royal Ballet School and Royal Ballet Company. A second smaller company still performed at Sadler's Wells and toured around the UK and this became the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. In 1990, the Sadler's Wells company moved to become the resident ballet company at the Birmingham Hippodrome, in Birmingham, where it was renamed Birmingham Royal Ballet, forming a new association with the Elmhurst School for Dance in 2002.

In January 2003, the Royal Ballet Upper School moved to a newly constructed studio complex in Floral Street, adjacent to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, where the Royal Ballet remains the resident ballet company. A bridge was constructed between the school and the Opera House, linking the school with the theatre and the Royal Ballet Companies own studios. The designer of the bridge received an architectural award^[5] and it is known as the Bridge of Aspiration.

[edit] Lower School

Since 1955, the Royal Ballet Lower School has been based at White Lodge, Richmond Park in London, England. The Georgian building is a former royal residence and hunting lodge built during the reign of King George II. The building is the lower school's permanent premises and there has been extensive redevelopment of the site to provide state of the art dance and academic facilities and accommodation for students.

The Lower School is where most Royal Ballet School students begin their training. Children attend the school between the ages of 11-16 and entry to the school is by audition only. The school receives hundreds of applications every year and holds auditions in a number of major UK cities including London, Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham. Having an International reputation in ballet, the school also receives applications from a number of countries around the world, including America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and South Africa, plus many countries in Europe. As the school is a residential boarding school, the majority of students live in accommodation on site, although there are a number of day-students who travel to the school on a daily basis.

Students at the Lower School undertake both dance and academic training. In dance, students study classical ballet, character dance, contemporary, gymnastics, Irish, Morris and Scottish dancing. Later in their training, students study ballet repertoire, solos and pas de deux and boys undertake upper body conditioning. The school offers academic study at the level of a typical secondary school, both at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, with all students sitting GCSE examinations.

[edit] Upper School

Since January 2003 The Royal Ballet Upper School has been located in new premises in Floral Street, Covent Garden. The complex is a four-storey building with 6 state of the art dance studios, including a studio theatre with retractable raked seating for an audience of 200. The building also houses changing rooms and showers for male and female students, a gym and fitness room, a pilates studio, physiotherapy suite and students common room. Facilities for academic education include four classrooms, a library with computer equipment, an art studio and audiovisual suite. All the dance studios are linked to the audiovisual suite so that classes and rehearsals can be filmed as a training tool, enabling the dancers to analyse themselves.

The primary aim of the Upper Schools is for students to gain a place in the Royal Ballet or other leading UK ballet companies, such as Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Ballet. Whilst many dancers achieve employment with leading companies in the UK, many of students of the school find work with various ballet, contemporary and dancer companies worldwide. Alongside a timetable of intensive ballet training, students also study Pas de deux, Solos, Repertoire, Character, Contemporary, Stagecraft, and make-up, with male students doing body conditioning and weight training. 3rd year students compete for work experience placements with the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and a touring group.

[edit] Performances

Each year the Royal Ballet School presents its end-of-year performances, featuring students from all age groups in a wide variety of classical and contemporary works. The highlight of the School's dance year is the annual matinee, which showcases graduate students before they embark on their professional careers as well as featuring students from all years at the Upper and Lower School. The programme includes new works and heritage pieces from The Royal Ballet repertory and culminates in a grand défilé, in which every student of the School appears on stage in a choreographed curtain call.

[edit] Notable alumni

Helen Anker Gary Avis Hetty Baynes Leanne Benjamin David Bintley, CBE Deborah Bull, CBE Darcey Bussell, CBE Michael Clark Simone Clarke Alina Cojocaru Lesley Collier, CBE Adam Cooper Jonathan Cope, CBE Lauren Cuthbertson Daniel DeBourg

Sir Anthony Dowell, CBE Viviana Durante Wayne Eagling Jennifer Ellison Alessandra Ferri Dame Margot Fonteyn, DBE Clare Francis, MBE Christopher Gable Beryl Goldwyn Mary Goodhew Christopher Hampson Marcia Haydee Vanessa Hooper Isaac James Stephen Jefferies

Lesley Judd Jiří Kilián Diane Kruger Rosalyn Landor Sir Kenneth MacMillan Debbie McGee Monica Mason, OBE Liam Mower Ayako Nakano John Neumeier Marianela Nunez Kevin O’Hare Michael O'Hare Dame Merle Park, DBE John Partridge

Sergei Polunin Ivan Putrov Louise Robey Peter Royston Emma Samms Tom Sapsford Lynn Seymour Dame Antoinette Sibley, DBE Wayne Sleep, OBE Marion Tait David Wall Sarah Wildor Christopher Wheeldon Sir Peter Wright, CBE Miyako Yoshida

[edit] Current staff

[edit] Gailene Stock, Director

Gailene Stock, AM, ARAD, is an Australian born former Principal Ballerina. She trained in Australia and at the Royal Ballet School. She was a Principal Ballerina with the Australian Ballet, National Ballet of Canada and Royal Winnipeg Ballet. After retiring from professional ballet, she became Director of the National Theatre Ballet School in St. Kilda, then the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne, becoming Director of the Royal Ballet School in 1999. She holds a Graduate Diploma of Education in Visual and Performing Arts and is also an Advanced member of the Royal Academy of Dance (ARAD). ^[6][7]

[edit] Jay Jolley, Assistant Director

• Jay Jolley, Assistant Director, former Principal Dancer with The Royal Ballet. Holds BA Hons Degree, Royal Ballet School Diploma (Dip RBS) and the Professional Dancers Teaching Certificate (PDTC) from the Royal Academy of Dance

[edit] Diane van Schoor, Ballet Principal (Lower School)

• Diane van Schoor, Ballet Principal (Lower School), former dancer with CAPAB Ballet in Cape Town, South Africa. Fellow and examiner of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (FISTD), Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and former Chairman and Artistic Director of the Cecchetti Society of Southern Africa

[edit] Ballet staff

• Kathryn Wade, trained at the Royal Ballet School and danced professionally with The Royal Ballet. Began teaching at the Royal Ballet School, later becoming Director of the English National Ballet School. Returned to the Royal Ballet School where she is Principal of the Outreach Programme. Advanced member of the Royal Academy of Dance (ARAD), Trustee of the Royal Academy of Dance and former Chairman of the Dance Teachers' Benevolent Fund
• Katya Zvelebiloba, trained at the Prague State Conservatoire and the Royal Ballet School, before dancing professionally with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Received the Professional Dancers Teaching Diploma from the National Ballet School of Canada and was Ballet Mistress for the Ballet British Columbia prior to joining the staff of the Royal Ballet School. Advanced member of the Royal Academy of Dance (ARAD) and Licentiate of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (LISTD).
• Petal Miller-Ashmole, Australian born, trained in Australia before dancing professionally with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, PACT Ballet in South Africa and Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. Formerly Assistant Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet and also an international guest choreographer. Holds a Graduate Diploma of Education in Visual and Performing Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Wife of former Royal Ballet principal dancer, David Ashmole
• Anita Young, trained as an RAD scholar for two years, later joining the Royal Ballet School. Was accepted into The Royal Ballet at the age of seventeen, dancing professionally with the company for fourteen years. Fellow of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (FISTD) and former member of the Society's Checchetti ballet committe, Advanced member of the Royal Academy of Dance (ARAD)
• David Peden, trained at the Royal Ballet School. Danced professionally with The Royal Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Pacific Northwest Ballet, English National Ballet and British Ballet Columbia. Received the Professional Dancers Teaching Certificate (PDTC) with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Dance. Taught at The Hammond School, Elmhurst School for Dance and as an international guest teacher, later working as Ballet Master for Singapore Dance Theatre and Ankara State Ballet before joining the staff of the Royal Ballet School
• Meelis Pakri, born in Tallinn, Estonia and graduate of the Vaganova Ballet Academy. Danced professionally with the Colorado Ballet, Estonian National Ballet and as a guest dancer with National Theater of Macedonia, Martha Graham Dance Company and at the International Ballet Festival in Cuba. Formely pas de deux teacher at the Tallinn Ballet School and Ballet Master of Colorado Ballet before joining the staff of the Royal Ballet School
• Gary Norman, trained at the Australian Ballet School graduating with honours. Danced professionally as a Principal Dancer with The Australian Ballet, National Ballet of Canada and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and as a guest artist with the Hong Kong Ballet and Philippines Ballet. Was a senior lecturer at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, then Ballet Master of the Australian Ballet and international guest teacher before becoming the senior classical teacher at the Royal Ballet School
• Amanda Maxwell
• Leanne King
• Jane Burn
• Kate Flatt
• Jennifer Jackson

[edit] References

v • d • e Ballet General information History of ballet · Ballet timeline · Glossary of ballet · List of ballets · Ballet music · Ballet company · Ballet Portal Ballet by genre Classical ballet · Contemporary ballet · Neoclassical ballet Ballet by region French ballet · Russian ballet · British ballet Ballet technique Balanchine method · Cecchetti method · Vaganova method · En pointe

v • d • e Schools of Professional Ballet Europe Ballet School of the Royal Danish Theatre · Elmhurst School for Dance · English National Ballet School · La Scala Theatre Ballet School · Moscow State Academy of Choreography · Royal Ballet School · Royal Swedish Ballet School · Vaganova Ballet Academy · Americas Cuban National Ballet School · National Ballet School of Canada · Pacific Northwest Ballet School · Royal Winnipeg Ballet School · San Francisco Ballet School · School of American Ballet · Other Australian Ballet School · Beijing Dance Academy · Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts · The Music and Ballet School of Baghdad ·

v • d • e Performing Arts Schools in the United Kingdom   Secondary Arts Educational Schools, London · The Hammond School · Sylvia Young Theatre School · Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts · Tring Park School for the Performing Arts · BRIT School ·   Dance Bird College · Central School of Ballet · Elmhurst School for Dance · English National Ballet School · The Hammond School · Laine Theatre Arts · Laban · London Contemporary Dance School · London Studio Centre · Northern Ballet School · Northern School of Contemporary Dance · Performers College · Royal Ballet School · Scottish School of Contemporary Dance · Tring Park School for the Performing Arts ·   Acting Academy of Live and Recorded Arts · Arts Educational Schools, London · Birmingham School of Acting · Bristol Old Vic Theatre School · Central School of Speech and Drama · Drama Centre London · Drama Studio London · East 15 Acting School · Guildford School of Acting · Guildhall School of Music & Drama · Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts · Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts · London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art · Manchester School of Theatre · Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts · Oxford School of Drama · Rose Bruford College · Royal Academy of Dramatic Art · Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama · Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama ·   Musical Theatre Arts Educational Schools, London · Bird College · Cambridge Performing Arts · GSA Conservatoire · Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts · Laine Theatre Arts · Leicester Performing Arts · Liverpool Theatre School and College · Masters Performing Arts College · Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts · Performers College · Stella Mann College · SLP College · The Urdang Academy ·   Notable former schools Bush Davies School of Theatre Arts ·