The Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme
Be part of the movement
Train to be an Affiliate Teacher
The Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme is The Royal Ballet School’s programme for private and recreational dance training. Dance teachers train directly with The Royal Ballet School and are then accredited to deliver the programme to students in their own dance schools as Affiliate Teachers. They conduct their own assessments, which are then moderated by The Royal Ballet School.
The innovative programme gives young dance students a high-quality, holistic learning experience. It is an alternative to other recreational training models based on learning a syllabus for examination.
Affiliate Teachers support students to learn ‘how’ to learn and to enjoy and value the process. They have the autonomy to guide and assess their own students’ journeys. This gives continuous professional development and greater creative and career satisfaction.
Alongside classical ballet vocabulary and performance skills, students learn repertoire, choreography and appreciation.
Event: 2025 Q&A dates announced
Find out everything you need to know about the programme and have your questions answered in real time by attending a free online Q&A session.
Thursday 13 February 2025
10.00 GMT, zoom session
Thursday 27 March 2025
15.00 GMT, zoom session
Why become an Affiliate Teacher?
Benefits for teachers
Bespoke Video on Demand platform
Receive exclusive access to a digital library of over 150 videos at your fingertips including ballet vocabulary training, body awareness and conditioning, creative practice examples, and session notes on choreographic exploration and development. Plus, supporting documents for lesson planning and marketing resources.
View sample content
Three professional development sessions per year
We will support you in progressing your teaching practice through relevant pedagogy, guidance on programme content and delivery, assessment, and business advice.
Supportive online community
Affiliate Teachers are invited to join our exclusive Facebook group to connect across cohorts, and to be listed on the Affiliate Teachers Directory.
Enrichment activities and events
Take part in online and in-person workshops and Q&A sessions, and redeem special offers on seminars, webinars and other educational programmes.
Frederick Ashton repertoire
Ensure legacy lives on in future generations with the exclusive opportunity to learn and study repertoire provided by the Frederick Ashton Foundation, which continues to be on high rotation in company repertoire today. Frederick Ashton is Founder Choreographer of The Royal Ballet.
Programme information
The programme has six training levels. Each level has an associated recommended age band, covering ages five and upwards.
Programme content is based on The Royal Ballet School’s Model for Optimal Dance Training. Each level contains both movement and contextual studies.
Movement studies include foundation movement skills, generic movement skills, qualitative movement skills and ballet technique and vocabulary. Contextual studies include the study of repertoire, choreography, creative tasks, and art form appreciation.
Students are assessed by their teacher against criteria set by The Royal Ballet School. Teachers create and teach assessment material appropriate to each level once students have completed the minimum training hours.
Affiliate Teachers conduct assessments when they choose and video record them. They then submit them via a secure platform to The Royal Ballet School for moderation.
The School gives teachers ongoing guidance with monitoring and moderation of their students’ assessment results.
Discover the future of ballet education
Experience a typical Affiliate class led by our expert staff and a presentation of the Affiliate Programme ethos and methodology at one of our Insight workshops, happening around the UK in 2024/25.
These workshops are designed for young dancers, their parents/carers and recreational or private dance teachers.
Course dates 2025
UK
Applications are now open
Applications close 14 April 2025
Monday 11 to Friday 15 August 2025: Intensive course (in-person) for Levels 1-3
October to November 2025: Trial implementation period to include 2 online training sessions
December 2025: Teaching evaluation
February to June 2026: 4 online training sessions
Location of training
UK
The Royal Ballet School
46 Floral Street
London
WC2E 9DA
Hong Kong
Applications are now open
Applications close 14 April 2025
Monday 25 to Friday 29 August 2025: Intensive course (in-person) for Levels 1-3
October to November 2025: Trial implementation period to include 2 online training sessions
December 2025: Teaching evaluation
February to June 2026: 4 online training sessions
Location of training
Hong Kong
Hong Kong Ballet studios
6/F, S22, 22 Heung Yip Road,
Wong Chuk Hang,
Hong Kong
Australia
The Royal Ballet School is considering running the Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme in Australia in 2025. If this is something that you would be interested in applying for, we would love to hear from you. Please register your interest below for updates.
Don’t see your country listed or want to know more?
We’re particularly keen to hear from you if you’re not based in the UK and may be interested in a future Intensive Training week held in your area. If you’re interested in becoming one of our Affiliate Teachers, register below to receive news and updates about the programme.
‘Charli has come out of class excited to come home and research and learn. It’s been a really positive experience allowing every child to be independent, creative, expressive individuals’. Parent of an ATAP student
‘The ATAP method has revolutionised my work. I feel much richer in stimuli, ideas, ways to go. Students are very involved, creative… And they improve faster!’ Giulia, Affiliate Teacher
‘Teaching using the ATAP philosophy has honestly transformed the way I teach. It has given me new creative ideas, more confidence and more than anything else the dancers love the structure of the classes… It really works!’ Linda, Affiliate Teacher
Programme ambassadors
News about the programme
Enrichment workshops with Sarah Wildor and Liz Foster for our Affiliate Programme Over the past month, we’ve held two Enrichment Programme events for our Affiliate teachers and their students. The Affiliate Enrichment Programme is a part of the benefits available to Affiliate teachers. It includes creative and repertoire workshops, as well as Ambassador-led workshops. The […]
Cultivating creativity in ballet education with ATAP Our Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme (ATAP) is a programme created to cultivate an appreciation for the journey of learning ballet, prioritising the process over the outcome. One of our ATAP teachers, Emma Manes, spoke to us about a contextual study she recently implemented for her students. Contextual […]
New partnership with the Frederick Ashton Foundation for the School’s Affiliate programme In a first for The Royal Ballet School and the Frederick Ashton Foundation, private and recreational dance students training in the Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme (ATAP) methodology will now have the unique opportunity to learn and study Ashton repertoire. This pioneering partnership […]