100 stories: Karen Paisey 

As part of our centenary year, we are featuring 100 stories that make up The Royal Ballet School’s past, present and future. Today, we share the story of alum Karen Paisey, former Principal of The Royal Ballet, who is closing a chapter on a remarkable 35 years of teaching with The Royal Ballet School’s Associate Programme. 

The early days 

I had some wonderful teachers when I was at White Lodge, especially Patricia Linton and Nancy Kilgore. White Lodge was incredibly disciplined, but it really suited me because I loved the discipline. I was brought up to be well-behaved, and it just suited my temperament. I had no idea what I was in for because I had never seen a classical ballet on stage. My trunk was packed, and off I went to The Royal Ballet School. I had no expectations whatsoever, and I just remember going into class and thinking, ‘This is what I should be doing.’ At age 10, that’s quite something to think. 

I remember we went to see a performance at the Royal Opera House in the first term that I was there. I saw Merle Park doing Firebird, and I thought, yeah, this is definitely what I want to be doing. Everything kind of fell in my lap a little bit. I was never really the best in the class, but I loved, as I said before, the discipline of getting yourself ready for class, enjoying every moment of it. It was never really an effort. It just felt natural. I think I was just extremely lucky throughout my whole dancing career. 

Being at The Royal Ballet School is a way of life. It’s not just a School; you’re part of the furniture. And Covent Garden was like my front room, I used to say. It was quite extraordinary because it was just your way of life. You wouldn’t really question it. You were in the flow, and you would go and do class and rehearsal. Your whole day was just being a dancer in an extraordinary environment. 

Left and top right: Lesley performing solo variation 7 in Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering at the School in 1978 (photographed by GBL Wilson)

Bottom right: Lesley in the titular role of Coppélia (photographed by Leslie E Spatt)

Joining The Royal Ballet 

I was working alongside The Royal Ballet as a student at 16, went on tour, came back and was offered a contract at 17. I’d been working with the Company for at least a year at that point, so it was a seamless transition. Again, I just loved it. I worked with amazing people: Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Natalia Makarova, Anthony Dowell – the list goes on, but they were all around in those days. And Dame Ninette de Valois of course, who was an extraordinary lady. You were very lucky to have them walking into your rehearsal room.  

I learned Aurora from The Sleeping Beauty in 1984 when I was a Soloist, around age 22, and I had Margot Fonteyn coaching me. I was just told to go along to the studio. I don’t think they even mentioned that she was going to be there. Margot said, ‘I’m going to coach you on Aurora today.’ That rehearsal really stands out in my memory. She was kind enough to sign a photograph of herself and handed it to me at the end of the rehearsal. I still have it. 

I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. I had amazing opportunities. I got to travel the world and dance in amazing theatres with other amazing dancers. 

Queen Elizabeth II (left) speaking to Karen (third from right) and Rudolf Nureyev (second from right) after a performance. 

Working with Sir Frederick Ashton 

I was very, very lucky to have so much time with Sir Frederick Ashton. His choreography just suited me: the fast footwork, the detail, all of it. I danced in many of his wonderful ballets. La Fille mal gardée, The Two Pigeons and Rhapsody were all choreographed when I was still in the Company. He understood the sort of dancer I was but really helped me at the same time.

Left to right: Karen in the titular role of Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée; as the Sugar Plum Fairy in Sir Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker; as Aurora in Marius Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty.

Transitioning into teaching 

When I was about to retire from The Royal Ballet, I really didn’t know what I was going to be doing next. I sort of fell into teaching. Dame Monica Mason, then Director of the Company, approached me and asked, ‘Would you be interested in teaching on the School’s Associate Programme?’ I’d recently been married and was moving back to Bath, which is my hometown, and she thought, well, it’s near Bristol, where the Associate Centre was located then. So I said, ‘Yes, I’m definitely interested.’ The local dance school, the Dorothy Coleborn School of Dancing, which is where I started when I was three, also approached me about teaching. Again, I was just very lucky. 

That’s how it started. I came to Bath, started teaching on the Associate Programme and have been with them for 35 years. Jocelyn Mather was Principal of the Junior Associate Programme then, and she took me under her wing. I thought, ‘Am I really cut out for teaching?’ But then, when I got my teeth into it, it was a matter of wanting to give other students an opportunity like I had. Anything that was going to help a student really have their dream, I was there. I just wanted to help as many students as I could. I have done the full circle: giving back to other students and seeing them go on and have wonderful careers as well. That, for me, is the icing on the cake. 

Lessons learned from teaching 

One thing I really learned quite early on, as I mentioned, was how strict it was sometimes at the School. It was quite regimented, which suited me, but I didn’t want to be the same. I learned early on to just be myself and to draw on my own experiences and try and make sense of ballet. I think certainly, when I was at the School, we were told what to do but not how to do it.  

So, for my whole teaching career, I suppose you could say I’ve tried to make sense of ballet for my students. And that’s what people say when they come to me for either a private or a lesson. They say. ‘Oh, it makes perfect sense now! Nobody’s explained it like that before.’ I think when you can draw on your experiences to make sense of it, you can pass it on.  

Another thing I learned was not to talk down to children but to be completely on their level and really listen to what they’ve got to say. They come out with extraordinary things. It is that two-way conversation with the student. You’ve got to really listen. We never really had that opportunity in those days to voice our opinion. I don’t think we were even asked for our opinion. We just did it. Again, it suited me and that was fine, but certainly as a teacher, I’ll go out of my way to really make students understand what I’m talking about. 

The next chapter 

I am still teaching, so it’s sort of a gentle shift from teaching professionally with the Associate Programme to teaching local children. It is still a joy, but now, I will have more time to myself, and my husband is desperate to have a bit more time with me. I promised him that we can go and do some nice things together, but I will also have a bit of breathing space just to reflect.  

Head of Associates and Primary Steps Legacy Victoria Collinson has been absolutely wonderful listening to me rabbit on about all sorts of things. She’s very happy for me to come along on the journey. And of course, I’ve got quite a lot of students that are Associates from my local school. So, I’m still looking for talent right here. 

We thank Karen for her incredible service to the School and wish her all the best for this next chapter.  

Catja Christensen is the Marketing and Communications Executive at The Royal Ballet School and joined the School in 2025. She enjoys interviewing students, staff and guest artists for news stories and crafting eye-catching newsletters.