Introducing Strength and Grace: Portraits of The Royal Ballet School

We are thrilled to announce the release of a landmark coffee-table book, Strength and Grace: Portraits of The Royal Ballet School, featuring portraits of more than 60 of the School’s influential alumni, photographed by Rick Guest and Olivia Pomp, and interviewed by Sarah Crompton.

Produced to mark the School’s centenary this year, this book celebrates prominent alumni who have emerged from the School over the last 100 years, and the diversity of their impact in ballet and beyond. 

Their achievements define the excellence for which the School is known, and their influence and impact is far-reaching across dance, choreography, film, fashion, artistic direction and the wider UK and international arts landscape. 

The book pairs striking, characterful imagery with first-person reflections, stories and insights on alumni’s School days, careers and creative life. 

The portraits and interviews were captured over the last three years by renowned photographer Rick Guest, stylist Olivia Pomp, and respected arts and culture writer Sarah Crompton. Our very own Dr Anna Meadmore, Manager of Special Collections, and Helen Swainger, Collections Archivist, were also heavily involved in bringing the book to life through detailed research, guidance and editing.

Featured former students include Darcey Bussell, Marianela Nuñez, Matthew Ball, Alessandra Ferri, Leanne Benjamin, Miyako Yoshida, Cathy Marston, Christopher Wheeldon, Deborah Bull, Brandon Lawrence, Brenda Garratt-Glassman, Christopher Hampson, Kate Coyne and Michael Clark, alongside the School’s graduating class of 2026 and next cohort of alumni. 

As the School celebrates its first century and looks ahead to the next, this visual record proves we are not simply training the finest performers, but nurturing the next generation of arts leaders who will shape the creative industries for decades to come. 

Darcey Bussell shares how the School shaped her: 

‘The School took all my energy in the right direction; it let me focus. Being very dyslexic and having a tough time in the classroom, ballet felt like my saviour. I could work my socks off and actually come up with results. It seemed to make sense.’ 

Beryl Grey vividly recalls joining the School in 1937: 

‘It was where I wanted to be. It was wonderful really.’ 

Grey also comments on how as the School has evolved it has preserved its ethos and traditions:

‘There is so much knowledge passed down from generation to generation. As time goes on, all schools only get left alive if they have found something special themselves.’ 

Iain Mackay, who was appointed Artistic Director of the School in 2024, is clear about his vision for the future: 

‘To create opportunities for every single person we have the privilege of teaching to thrive. Our responsibility is to cultivate an environment where students can become more than they imagined.’ 

2016 graduate and now a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, Joseph Sissens reflects on his experience of the School:

‘I loved dancing so much and I enjoyed the discipline of the School. I try to be better every day. That’s how my brain works. I want to be better in life, not just in dance, but life in general. Coming into this world of ballet lit that spark.’ 

He continues, sharing that when he first arrived at White Lodge, he felt intimidated:

‘It’s this massive, pearly white box in the middle of the biggest park in one of the richest boroughs in London. I was completely taken aback. But I also rolled up my sleeves and thought, ‘OK, let’s go swimming in this stressful pool. You are really at The Royal Ballet School, and you had best get in there and do it.’’ 

Anthony Dowell, former director of The Royal Ballet, notes that students are now encouraged to speak up and play an active role in their training; by contrast, his generation was brought up to be unquestioningly obedient:

‘We didn’t say boo to a goose.’ 

Lauren Cuthbertson attended the School in the late 1990s and early 2000s, having first discovered ballet as a potential career after finding a book about Margot Fonteyn in a local bookshop while growing up: 

‘Those formative years between 11 and 16 are hard at any school. You go through so much. But my happiest, I couldn’t have been any happier.’ 

While continuing to dance, Lauren Cuthbertson also trained as a teacher: 

‘It’s being part of the School’s evolving future that’s exciting. To be asking what ballet is now, what is for our future dancers and how we can nurture that in the best way. We are inspired by what has gone before, but roles will be reinterpreted, and techniques will keep developing and classes will change.’ 

Having spent a brief period at the School in 1954, Doreen Wells, Marchioness of Londonderry offers her advice to today’s dancers: 

‘We make our own opportunities. Whatever you want to do, you have to focus and see yourself doing it.’ 

Strength and Grace: Portraits of The Royal Ballet School is now available for purchase directly via our online Shop for £55, and with free UK shipping for a limited time. 

Photo credit: ©2026 The Royal Ballet School. Strength and Grace: Portraits of The Royal Ballet School by Rick Guest, Olivia Pomp and Sarah Crompton.