‘Informed by science, driven by art.’ School alumnus Nicholas Cleverton returns as new Head of Healthcare and Performance Support

We are pleased to welcome back Royal Ballet School alumnus Nicholas Cleverton as our new Head of Healthcare and Performance Support. Nick previously worked as our Physical Health Lead and as a physiotherapist from 2018-2023, before transitioning to Lead Physiotherapist at University of Bath for two years. 

After training at the School from 1993 to 1996, Nick enjoyed a professional career at London City Ballet and Scottish Ballet. When a recurring knee injury brought his performing career to a close, Nick dedicated his life to physiotherapy in both dance and sport.  

He has worked with many sporting organisations, including Rugby Football Union, Southampton Football Club, and the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science. He has also worked with youth athletes in athletics, modern pentathlon, rugby, netball, football, gymnastics, contemporary dance and ballet, bringing a wealth of experience and perspectives to the role. 

Nick joined us for an interview over the summer break to share his goals and enthusiasm for the future of healthcare at the School. 

How does it feel to return to the School as Head of Healthcare? 

It’s great to be back and very much feels like coming home. I retired as a professional ballet dancer just over 20 years ago now. When I started working in high-level sport, it made me realise what was needed in the ballet world that wasn’t really there back then. I had this vision of how healthcare is now and how it’s developed over the years. 

This Head of Healthcare role was very much a goal that I set myself about 20 years ago, and since then, I really tried to focus my learning and studies towards this by working with youth athletes and in different sporting environments, both grassroots and elite. I’m really hoping I can bring all the different insights I’ve learned from people along the way into this role and this team. 

What are your goals for the future of healthcare at the School? 

First of all, it’s about continuing the great work that’s already been done here. Some great studies have been conducted here, and people have dedicated a lot of time, effort and work into PhDs and into growth and maturation, which is a really key driver for me, certainly with my specialist interest in the youth athlete. 

I think it is important to continue the work that Niall McSweeney has done here. Similarly, when we look at some of the work that Jamie Harding has been doing with microdosing – how we can help get the optimal loading possible within our dance environment and really understand the dancers’ training loads. Coupled with that, all the work that Karen Sheriff did with REDs and RED-D, and the mental well-being of students. 

There are so many different things that need to be addressed to help develop the students as effectively as possible. It’s about continuing the work from that and further developing the link between art and science. It’s a very unique environment here in the respect that we’re dealing with very high-performance level athletes but also very high-level artists. I think it’s important that the two link together and we move forwards as one team, rather than the healthcare and artistic teams operating in silo. We are one team, and we work together to support our students as best as we possibly can.  

Ultimately, I see us as a centre of excellence in the pre-professional ballet world. We have the resources, we have the interest and people wanting to do the research, so let’s get it done. But then let’s educate the wider ballet world as to what we have found and what we think will work. So that is a passion of mine, trying to make sure that we can develop as one.  

Has your experience in various athletic disciplines informed your dance-specific healthcare practices? How does dance training differ from sports training? 

I’ve been involved in lots of different sports and dance. I think one of the things that I really appreciated between the two is that every sport will have its own unique biomechanics that you need to work with. There are different variables of how an athlete will function physically, mentally and emotionally, as well as different load variables, whether it be speed, power or strength. 

For example, most recently I was working in athletics, and I had a couple of athletes that progressed to British Athletics seniors. One was a female 100 metre sprinter, and one was a male 800 metre middle distance runner. Both runners, but both very different biomechanics that you have to understand and learn to be able to work with them help mitigate injuries and help them return from injuries. Within that one umbrella of athletics, you’ve got two athletes that are very different. 

Now, ballet is no different from that. It has very specific biomechanics you have to learn to enable you to work with a ballet dancer to help them come back from injury, and ideally to prevent injury in the first place. That’s been the same in many of the sports that I’ve worked in, and even in contemporary dance when I did some work with Trinity Laban and the Centre of Advance Training scheme.  

It’s interesting how there are these similarities but that sometimes there is thought to be a divide between the two. When it comes down to the physicality it’s very similar. It is all about understanding how your athlete moves. 

How will the increased focus on early specialisation research impact your physiotherapy practices with students? 

It’s a big change happening here, and it’s such an important area of child development. When we look at the evidence — and yes, much of the evidence is from sport, but you can extrapolate that evidence and apply it to a dance context — really, we’re looking at making sure we prioritise physical and mental well-being, not just while a student is developing with us through the stages of the School, but also as a professional dancer and beyond dance as well. That’s where a lot of the evidence is leading, and certainly a lot of the experiences I’ve had and witnessed as a professional dancer, as a student training to be a dancer, and then subsequently having to retrain and go through my dancer/athlete transition. It’s crucial that we get this right. 
 

I think what is hugely important is that we’re reshaping the narrative. But what’s equally as important, if not more, is that we are fully committed to educating not only the students but the parents as well about the benefits of this change. I think it’s important that we provide support and reassurance to the students and parents that this is the right way forward. 

What are you most looking forward to in your new role? 

One of the things I’m most looking forward to is working with a team of people that share my passion. I think what’s important about working in any environment is that you invest in that environment. Every sport will have historical ways of doing things, and as a practitioner, as somebody working in a healthcare team, it’s our responsibility to learn, invest and adapt to that to allow that passion to come out. I think that in itself is an art. 

I’m excited about working in an organisation that is pioneering and brave, and that truly puts the interests of the students at the heart of everything that it does, which aligns with who I am and what I’m about. It’s what I’ve dedicated my life to. 

The Royal Ballet School is an organisation and a team that is informed by science but ultimately driven by art, and I think it’s the combination of the two that’s going to have incredible results moving forward.