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World Ballet School Day: Training a new generation of dance artists

We are delighted to announce that The Royal Ballet School is participating in the inaugural World Ballet School Day, streamed online on Tuesday 7 July 2020 from 12 noon BST.

World Ballet School Day (WBSD) connects the next generation of young professional dance artists with young people from around the world. Created by students for students, this event is a platform for young artists in training to share a message of solidarity through the language of dance and ballet.

Students from participating schools have joined together in a round table to provide insights into the world of vocational ballet and dance training especially during lockdown, and introduce segments from each school featuring behind the scenes and performance footage filmed both before and during lockdown.

New choreographic work

The event also features the world premiere of a new dance work, A Screen Apart. Six international ballet schools worked with choreographer Didy Veldman to explore the theme of physical restriction in this project led by The Royal Ballet School and announced here in May.

The School invited San Francisco Ballet School, Canada’s National Ballet School, Paris Opera Ballet School, The Royal Danish Ballet School and the Dutch National Ballet Academy to join a creative choreographic challenge for ballet students in lockdown. The dancers worked in six groups and created and rehearsed with Veldman over Zoom. The students then filmed their individual performances, and Veldman and BalletBoyz have created the film A Screen Apart showcasing their work.

International collaboration

The founding of WBSD is a collaboration between Boston Ballet School, Canada’s National Ballet School, English National Ballet School, New Zealand School of Dance, Palucca University of Dance Dresden, and the Prix de Lausanne. The idea was originally conceived by former Royal Ballet star Viviana Durante.

12 schools/institutions from three continents are participating in this inaugural year:

  • The Australian Ballet School
  • Boston Ballet School
  • Dutch National Ballet Academy
  • English National Ballet School
  • Canada’s National Ballet School
  • New Zealand School of Dance
  • Palucca University of Dance Dresden
  • Paris Opera Ballet School
  • Prix de Lausanne
  • The Royal Ballet School
  • Royal Danish Ballet School
  • San Francisco Ballet School

Christopher Powney, Artistic Director of The Royal Ballet School, said:

‘I am delighted that The Royal Ballet School is taking part in the inaugural World Ballet School Day at a time when celebrating our young dancers feels more important than ever. Forced to train in isolation and in often very challenging spaces, they have continued to find the energy, motivation and focus they need to keep going. I am inspired daily by the passion and commitment our young dance community has shown in the face of such unprecedented and difficult circumstances.’

World Ballet School Day streams on Tuesday 7 July from 12 noon BST on www.worldballetschoolday.com and is available for catch-up for one month.

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