Farewell to our Chairman

It is with a heavy heart that we say farewell to our Chairman, the Duchess of Wellington after a remarkable and successful 10 years of leading the governing body at The Royal Ballet School.

On Tuesday 10 December, the whole school assembled at White Lodge to celebrate the Chairman’s incredible work over the past decade. During her time at the School, the Chairman has championed the School’s pioneering Healthy Dancer Programme, campaigned to raise incredible sums to support our work and raised academic standards and options, including our impressive and exciting new Degree Programme.

The performance included a range of pieces from across the School, from the first glimpse of Anita Young’s new piece, Moods of Blue, performed by Year 7, 8 and 9 students to Ashley Page’s Larina Waltz performed by our 3rd Year students.

Head Girl, Tara Morris, spoke about the Chairman and her time at the School and said ‘We appreciate all the time and effort you have put into making the School as outstanding as it is today. We will continue to uphold and strengthen the legacy that you have left’ and Archie Sherman, 3rd Year student said ‘I appreciate how the Chairman’s selflessness, hard-work, dedication and leadership has benefited both me and hundreds of other students in many different ways.’

There was also a message from the School’s President, HRH The Prince of Wales, thanking the Duchess for the extraordinary work she had done for the School.

Artistic Director, Christopher Powney, finished by saying ‘You have guided us with the utmost skill and integrity and we have enjoyed some amazing achievements. Chairman you will be greatly missed.’

We have appointed Christopher Rodrigues CBE to be our new Chairman from January 2020.