In October 2013 the Royal Ballet School first year students began a collaborative project with students from The Brit School. In keeping with the aims of aDvANCE, this project enabled students of The Royal Ballet Upper School and The BRIT School to share skills and learn from the differences in their respective dance training. Both institutions share an ethos of developing young people with remarkable talent. The final performances formed part of an exciting new performance platform, Advancing Creativity, at The Royal Ballet School Covent Garden in February 2014.

This year our aDvANCE 2 project reached new heights. We worked in partnership with two schools, two Music Services and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Young dancers from The Royal Ballet Lower School, Feltham Community College and Richmond Park Academy worked collaboratively over 12 weeks while musicians from Richmond Music Trust, Hounslow Music Service and the Philharmonia Orchestra did the same. The final piece of choreography was accompanied by the live orchestra and performed at White Lodge in May 2014. Furthermore, a documentary and film of the project was made and screened at The Royal Festival hall earlier this year.

In 2014, our aDvANCE National project engaged five schools from across the country who creatively explored heritage repertoire, The Dream, by Royal Ballet choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton. Royal Ballet Students worked with the same theme in their weekly choreography sessions and collaborated with a composer who created an original score for their work. In March 2014 all five schools and Royal Ballet School students performed their dance pieces created through this exciting collaborative project at The Royal Ballet School, Covent Garden.