The School begin two-year partnership with Mindflick to elevate performance through mindset and modern science
We are pleased to announce that the School has partnered with Mindflick to bring their mindset-led psychometric platform and tools into the world of elite ballet training – sharpening communication, strengthening team connection, and supporting the people behind the scenes of world-class performance.
Over the next two years, the partnership will help our Performance Team – formed by the Artistic and multidisciplinary Healthcare teams – to build a shared language around pressure, connection, decision-making and support, ensuring that all students have the best possible platform to thrive.
The collaboration began on 8 September with a full-day Ignite session at Upper School in Covent Garden, where over 40 staff came together to explore how mindset influences clarity, care, and collaboration.
Using Mindflick’s platform, staff will gain practical insight into how they work under pressure, how to get the best from each other, and how to communicate more precisely when it matters most. Because when support teams work well together, everything sharpens – recovery gets quicker, feedback lands better, and injury risk starts to drop.
This partnership sits at the intersection of art and science. The Royal Ballet School has long been committed to blending classical excellence with innovation, and this next step continues that vision – embedding tools from performance psychology into our elite training environment.
Iain Mackay, Artistic Director of The Royal Ballet School said:
‘At The Royal Ballet School, the way we train our young dancers is built on trust, precision, and care. This partnership helps extend those values into how we lead, communicate, and work together across every part of the School, always with our students’ well-being at the forefront of every decision we make.’
Mindflick’s tools and approach are designed to fuel both individual and team development by strengthening connection and understanding. By building trust, Mindflick creates the conditions for open, performance conversations – the true currency of high performance. These conversations help multidisciplinary teams harness different perspectives and turn them into shared wisdom, sharper practice, and new ideas.
Dr. Tim Pitt, Director & Head of Product at Mindflick said:
‘This is a powerful opportunity to show how trust and diverse perspectives fuel performance in an environment that pushes both classical boundaries and modern expectations. At Mindflick, we believe trust and conversation sit at the heart of exceptional teamwork and this collaboration brings that to life.’
Sir Andrew Strauss, Chairman of Mindflick added:
‘We’re proud to support a world-class institution like The Royal Ballet School – not just in chasing excellence, but in evolving how it’s achieved.’
The Mindflick team will be documenting the partnership journey from inside the School, to discover what changes are made when high-performing teams are given the space, tools, and language to improve how they think, speak, and work together.
We caught up with members of our Artistic and Healthcare teams to hear how they found the first session earlier this month and their instant reaction was that it was ‘inspiring, informative, positive’ and they felt ‘excited for the future and working together as a team.’
Erica Gethen-Smith, Physical Health Lead:
‘The Mindflick session was fun, insightful and overwhelmingly positive. It stimulated great conversations regarding how we work individually and approach 1:1 interactions and team sessions. I feel it is already having a positive impact on communication and relationships within the Performance Team this week. The Mindflick app provides great opportunities for self-reflection and ‘nudges’ to stimulate positive working practices.’
Belinda Hatley, Artistic Manager of the Development Programme:
‘It was a fascinating day. The Mindflick team were very down to earth and light-hearted; they created a relaxed atmosphere in which colleagues could share openly. As a Manager, I found it gave me a lot of helpful tools going forward into the new term and The app is very easy to use.’
Emma Porter, Training and Access Healthcare Lead:
‘The Healthcare team have had this kind of psych profiling before, but the difference with Mindflick is the tools they give you, via the app, to continue to work on our connections within our team. The app is very clever and I have used it already to give some feedback to a team mate when I saw them using one of their behavioural strengths during a meeting.’
Learn more about Mindflick here
Cover image: Mindflick’s Dr Tim Pitt (left) and Dr Sam Porter (right) with Royal Ballet School Artistic Director Iain Mackay (middle) © 2025 The Royal Ballet School.
