100 classes for 100 years – The Royal Ballet School x Royal Ballet and Opera
From 12-16 October, primary school halls and classrooms across the UK were transformed into dance spaces as the School delivered 100 free ballet classes to celebrate 100 years, in partnership with Royal Ballet and Opera.
Around 2,500 students in Years 3 and 4 took part in free one-hour creative ballet workshops to discover the joy and benefits of ballet, led by professional dance artists from both organisations.
58 schools across Blackpool, East Anglia, Devon, Manchester, Newcastle and Westminster participated in the project, with schools hosting one or two classes each.
The six regions were selected as they are areas where we currently operate our national Associate Programme and Primary Steps Legacy Programme, or where we intend to expand our presence in the future.
The School is committed to nurturing talent wherever it is found by bringing world-leading training and opportunities like this to young people in their own communities.
For many children, these workshops were their first ever experience of ballet, so the project aimed to introduce ballet in a fun, creative and stimulating way.
Based around The Royal Ballet’s production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the workshops used simple ballet-inspired movements and imaginative storytelling to encourage participation, creativity and confidence, regardless of previous experience.
The project also encouraged primary school teachers to embed ballet and dance into school life, with teachers signposted to free CPD led by Royal Ballet and Opera following the workshops.
Royal Ballet and Opera Schools Dance brings world‑class dance into schools through free teacher CPD, classroom resources and live dance lessons, with no prior dance experience needed. Primary and secondary teacher can access free, curriculum-led CPD, delivered nationwide by the award-winning Royal Ballet and Opera Schools team, to help bring ballet into their classroom with confidence.
100 classes workshop leader Michelle led several classes across the week and shared her positive experience with both students and teachers:
‘The children were absolutely enchanted and really enjoyed themselves. 100% engagement and very responsive students. The teachers were so appreciative of the classes and very engaged and supportive. One of the Year 3 groups spontaneously sang happy birthday for 100 years! One of the Year 4 teachers was also really impressed with his class’ participation. There was some miraculous injury healing from two boys, who were determined they would NOT participate in ballet, but once they had assessed the class for a while both wanted to join in. The teacher was also very keen to look up the RBO Schools Dance resources and continue the Alice lesson content to improve their fundamental skills. I had quite a handful of children that came up individually to say thank you and then one who was very keen to ask all about the music and composer, so I jotted down the details and he was over the moon and off to ask ‘Alexa’ to find it!’
©2024 The Royal Ballet School. Photographed by Henry Curtis.
Bridget Clark is the Marketing and Communications Manager at The Royal Ballet School and joined the School in 2024. She enjoys sharing the untold stories of the School and its students, and updating the wider arts community with news, events and announcements.
