Intensive Courses FAQs

You can find out the opening and closing dates of the Intensives on the Intensive courses page.

Our courses are designed for students who already have a good base and strong foundation relevant to their age. Students should be regularly attending classes and studying either a recognised syllabus or their dance school’s method of training. The courses are named ‘intensives’ due to the structure of studying several dance classes each day, tailored to suit each specific age group.

The Spring Intensive at Upper School is for students who will be aged 12 to 15 years old on 31 August 2024.

The Spring Intensive in Hong Kong is for students who will be aged 9-18 years old on 31 August 2024.

The Summer Intensive at White Lodge is for students who will be aged 10 to 15 years old on 31 August 2024.

The Summer Intensive at Upper School is for students who will be aged 16 to 19 years old on 31 August 2024.

Yes – the intake for our Intensive Courses is based on academic years, so as long as your child will be 10 on 31 August 2024, they can attend the course.

At our Intensive Courses, classes will be taught by The Royal Ballet School’s Artistic staff, in some cases the Artistic Director, and guest teachers. Dancers from The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet often appear as guest teachers. All guest teachers are carefully selected for their expertise and experience and to deliver the exceptional standard of coaching the School is known for. All teaching staff are required to comply with our safeguarding policies.

Students are selected from the photographs and information they submit. We recommend seeking the guidance of the student’s dance teacher when taking photos to ensure the correct positions are achieved. Some places may have been awarded at competitions or other events at the discretion of our Artistic team.

Visit the Intensive Courses page and you will find a link to ‘apply now’ to each of the different courses. If a course is not yet open to applications you may be able to find an application opening date on this page. Please note we don’t accept students via in-person audition for our Intensive Courses. If you are auditioning for our full-time courses in-person, you must still apply separately for our Intensive Courses.

We don’t accept students via in-person audition for our Intensive Courses. If you are auditioning for our full-time courses in person, you must still apply separately for our Intensive Courses.

At White Lodge, dependent on your age, you can apply for a single one-week long course or a single two-week long course during the five-week Summer Intensive course period. For example, if applying for a one-week intensive course, the same student cannot apply for week 1 and week 3, but should choose week 1 or week 3.

At Upper School in Covent Garden, you can apply for a two-week, three-week or five-week long course.

For information on our photograph requirements, click here.

Please submit photographs following the guidelines for your child’s age as of 31 August 2023. A child born in August 2010 would be 13 years old on 31 August 2023 and would need to submit photos following the guidelines for students aged 13 years.

Once you have submitted your application we are unable to accept new photographs. If there are any issues when we come to view your photographs we will contact you.

No. New photographs must be submitted with every application to assess the student’s current ability.

We do not accept video applications for our Intensive Courses.

We aim to send the results by email four weeks after the application deadline. We can receive a high volume of applications close to the deadline and in some cases, results may be sent just after four weeks. We thank you for your patience.

The School is currently able to offer means-tested support to qualifying families for up to two consecutive weeks of Intensive Courses. For households with a gross income of £30,000 pa or under an award of 50% of the fees is available. Where the income is between £30,001 and £40,000 pa, an award of 30% of the fees is available. For households with a gross annual income of between £40,001 and £50,000 pa, an award of 15% of the fees is available. Find out more about our fees and financial assistance.

If you are unsure of your eligibility, it is best to complete the financial assistance form including the required proof of earnings so that our finance team can check for you. We understand there may be individual special circumstances which we will consider if appropriate to do so.

During our UK Intensive courses, we do not hold auditions for our full-time or Associate training programmes. If you wish to audition for the School, visit our Apply page.

All application fees are for administrative processing and are non-refundable.

We ask that at least one photo is taken without a mask if possible, for the purpose of identification. This could potentially be taken at home.

No, students are assessed on their photo submissions only. If you requested a bed space and we do not have one available, your child would become a ‘day student’ and you would need to arrange other accommodation should you wish them to take part. We do try to fulfil all residential requests and will give sufficient notice if this is not possible.

We will try where we can to accommodate boarding requests, however, this is not always possible dependent on room capacities. The Intensive Courses are an excellent opportunity for students to meet like-minded young dancers from all around the world and we would encourage dancers to be open-minded about getting to know new friends.

We have a fully qualified pastoral team looking after the students. They will contact you immediately if they have concerns about your child and you will also be able to contact them. We do recommend you allow time for your child to settle in and adjust to boarding life and we also recommend, if possible, that they have practice runs of sleeping away from home prior to the course beginning.

Should a place become available for your child on the course, we will contact you. We normally expect a few places to become available around six to eight weeks before the start of the course and to continue becoming available up until two weeks before the start of the course when we close the waiting list. Should you no longer wish for your child to remain on the waiting list, please let us know.

We do not disclose this information. Should a place become available for your child, we will contact you.

Yes. All students attending a UK Intensive must have a UK-based guardian who we can contact in case of an emergency or if a circumstance results in a child having to leave the School premises. If you do not have family or friends in the UK who would be able to collect or house your child, there are professional guardian agencies that provide this service. A student cannot attend the course without a suitable guardian in place.