The Royal Ballet School is this week launching an exclusive programme of creative lectures and workshops with a roster of internationally renowned creative, cultural and commercial figures.

The new programme, called The Creative Artist, is aimed at providing additional influences that will support a more rounded education for students, so the School can continue to produce not only dancers of the highest technical capability, but also ones who are versatile, creative and have the ability to portray emotion, drama and feeling on stage.

The School will invite professionals from diverse creative industries into the School to work with the students, share their creative journeys to attaining excellence in their field and encourage dialogue between them.

At the first lecture, on Thursday 1 October, the students will be privileged to spend time with world-renowned British sculptor, Sir Antony Gormley OBE – perhaps most famous for his Angel of the North in Gateshead.

Other confirmed speakers include Darcey Bussell CBE, broadcaster Fiona Bruce and renowned cellist Matthew Barley. Guest teachers on the programme will include Patrick Armand, former international principal dancer and Associate Director of San Francisco Ballet School and Monique Loudières, former principal dancer with Paris Opera Ballet and international teacher.

Extracts and interviews from the events in the programme will be made available on The Royal Ballet School website.

The programme will comprise several elements, including:

Stagecraft workshops – teaching the students how to develop a role and express themselves clearly on stage

Guest teachers – an expansion of the already successful guest-teachers’ programme. The students benefit immeasurably from being exposed to a range of different teaching and performance styles.

Guest speakers – a series of talks and workshops by a wide range of interesting, challenging and inspirational speakers from diverse creative industries: opera, theatre, mime, puppetry, lighting, set design, artists, sculptors, authors, journalists, business entrepreneurs etc

Alumni – former students speaking about their careers, sharing the highs and lows of a dancer’s life, the pitfalls and how to avoid them. Also alumni who have gone on to pursue careers outside the dance world

Outings – to galleries, museums, theatres, concerts

Artistic Director, Christopher Powney said:

‘We are thrilled to be kickstarting this exciting new programme with such an inspirational speaker. Antony Gormley has, to date, based much of his work around static human forms so it will be fascinating for students to get an insight into his creative approach and see how it can inspire new perspectives in their own work with the human form in motion.

‘I know that our students will also be incredibly interested in his journey, what inspired him, why he became so passionate about this art form and his motivation to achieve what he has achieved.’