The Royal Ballet School announces new Head of Artistic Programmes and Production

The Royal Ballet School is delighted to announce the appointment of José Carayol to the role of Head of Artistic Programmes and Production.  

Initially joining The Royal Ballet School in 2021 as the Artistic Manager of the Foundation Programme, José will now oversee the delivery of artistic programmes across White Lodge and Upper School. The position was established to enhance the School’s holistic approach toward training and educating young dancers while ensuring our training programmes are tailored to the future needs of the art form.

José will support the Artistic Director in shaping, delivering and progressing our training programmes. He will be responsible for managing the various performance opportunities throughout the year, including the upcoming performances at the Next Generation Festival, Opera Holland Park and the Royal Opera House.

We spoke to José about his new role:

I am honoured to be appointed as Head of Artistic Programmes and Production, working closely alongside Christopher Powney at a strategic level on how to evolve the School’s programmes in the upcoming years.

At the moment, there is a lot of movement and change happening in the industry of ballet and its education, which is very exciting as I see it as an opportunity to evolve.

My main goal is to work with Christopher Powney to formulate a plan and a vision for the School to continue to be a leading School in the world, while also maintaining our standards in not only training dancers, but in everything we do.

Artistic Director & CEO, Christopher Powney said:

I greatly look forward to working closely with José to further enhance our artistic training programmes and the School’s holistic approach to nurturing and educating exceptional young dancers. José, alongside the support of the wider Artistic teaching staff, will be pivotal in further advancing the artistic vision and future success of the School.

Before joining The Royal Ballet School, José enjoyed an extensive career as a dancer with several companies and teacher with The Joffrey Ballet (Chicago), Los Angeles Ballet Academy and American Ballet Theatre. José’s immense knowledge and passion for education will undoubtedly drive the School’s continued success and growth.

We also extend our congratulations to Liane McRae, who will now assume the position of Artistic Manager of the School’s Foundation Programme at White Lodge. Liane trained at The Royal Ballet School and has worked with London City Ballet, English National Ballet, Scottish Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Liane’s teaching career has spanned several years, working with Northern Ballet School as part of the Scottish Ballet Associate Programme, before joining the faculty at the Royal Academy of Dance. Liane worked as a freelance teacher and was a faculty member of Performers College, the Centre of Advanced Training Scheme and The Dance School of Scotland. Prior to joining the School at White Lodge as a full-time ballet teacher in 2021, Leanne was a full-time teacher at The English National Ballet School.