A holistic approach to health during Wellbeing Week at The Royal Ballet School

This year Wellbeing Week at The Royal Ballet School took place remotely between 11 and 15 January and focused on the understanding of wellbeing as a whole-body experience. Staff and students were encouraged to reflect on the present moment and our Healthcare team emphasised the need to take care of both physical and emotional health especially during this time.

Our students engaged with the idea of utilising movement to improve their physical and emotional wellbeing outside of their experiences as dancers moving whilst training and rehearsing to perform. The Healthcare team shared personalised tips and resources with the students for their wellbeing journey including book recommendations, podcasts, music, short meditations and information regarding mental health charities.

A key part of the students’ learning was highlighting the ever-changing nature of wellbeing and helping the students to recognise and understand their emotions. Our White Lodge Counsellor Ellen Hage explains:

As the counsellor at White Lodge the most important message was that wellbeing encompasses an entire range of emotions, it is not about striving for constant happiness but about recognising the entire wheel of feelings and being able to work through them. As it is often the unaddressed emotions that cause the most obstacles for wellbeing rather than the (wrongly) labelled ‘bad’ emotions such as anger or sadness. We need those emotions to be able to recognise unhelpful relationships or unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Find out more about the Healthy Dancer Programme at The Royal Ballet School