As an exceptional centre of classical ballet training, The Royal Ballet School supports the dance industry with several efforts on top of its full-time course for dancers aged 11-19. Committed to raising the bar for dance training worldwide, the School offers quality recreational dance programmes and professional development for dancers and ballet teachers across the UK and internationally.
Like any organisation that is deeply passionate about its work, The Royal Ballet School has a core set of guiding principles that underpin its community and practices. In 2022, the School revisited and updated its organisational values to better reflect the scale of its work today and its plans for the future.
The Royal Ballet School’s Five Updated Organisational Values
The Royal Ballet School’s team includes professionals from several fields, including dance, academics, healthcare, marketing, digital services, and operations and development. Every day, these professionals unite to leverage their specialist expertise for the School, helping transform its educational offerings and reach new audiences.
When updating its organisational values, the School sought feedback from every member of its extensive team. This way, the School could ensure the values accurately represent the diverse roles and views of every individual involved in the organisation.
In a school-wide workshop, the team divided into 14 cross-department groups. Each group reviewed the School’s existing values, and team members shared their thoughts on how these values could evolve.
A core working group then reviewed the feedback from the 14 cross-department groups to identify common themes, merge ideas, and refine the information into five organisational values:
- Striving for excellence.
- Nurturing individuals.
- Actively widening access.
- Our heritage nourishes our future.
- Always innovating.
1. Striving For Excellence
A common thread that unites everyone at The Royal Ballet School is the desire to set and meet high expectations: Academic and Pastoral Principal David Gajadharsingh shares that, every year, the School community is “delighted and amazed” by what they have achieved.
The School works to continuously deliver its renowned high standards. Everyone who interacts with the organisation can expect a unique and outstanding experience, from students to teachers, industry professionals, and online supporters. As such, the School’s first organisational value is “striving for excellence.”
This value highlights the School community’s efforts to always bring the greatest possible dedication, integrity, and passion to everything they do. The School prepares students for careers at the highest level, and dancers and companies who rely on the organisation implicitly trust that its classical ballet training is world-class.
The School brings together leaders in the fields of classical ballet, academic education, pastoral and emotional care, healthcare, outreach programmes, and digital content to ensure the School remains at the forefront of ballet training. This way, the School sets a high standard for other dance organisations, inspiring excellence across the dance training sector.
2. Nurturing Individuals
The Royal Ballet School’s second value, “nurturing individuals,” recognises that the organisation takes a people-first approach to all practices.
The School helps each dancer maximise their unique potential by providing holistic support and equipping dancers with the physical, mental, and emotional skills they need to progress in their education and future careers.
Committed to equity, the School respects everyone and celebrates differences, acknowledging the distinctive traits, strengths, passions, and experiences individuals can bring to a team. Both at the School and throughout its wider network, The Royal Ballet School cultivates supportive environments built on respect, kindness, and open communication.
The School’s Chief Operating Officer Pippa Adamson believes in the importance of nurturing a diverse team where individuals feel encouraged to contribute in their own ways. She adds that ensuring the team feels cared for will allow them to deliver their best for the School.
3. Actively Widening Access
The Royal Ballet School’s Head of Training and Access Mark Annear emphasises that “ballet as an art form is for everybody.” The School raises awareness of the benefits of dance and creative dance education and creates opportunities for people around the world to engage with ballet. In particular, the School seeks to improve pathways to ballet in places with little access to arts education.
The School realises its third organisational value — “actively widening access” — through several approaches, such as:
- Ensuring ballet training at the School is open to everyone. The only criteria for admission to the School, student progression, and casting decisions are talent and potential in classical ballet.
- Supporting families of all incomes to meet the financial demands of ballet training. On average, 87% of the School’s students receive financial support to attend.
- Offering global access to the School’s expertise through in-person and digital services.
- Sharing content through digital channels in an inclusive and accessible way, such as using different languages.
- Celebrating diverse role models (including current students, team members, and alumni) and working to identify and amplify a range of voices.
The Royal Ballet School always looks to reflect the diversity of its organisation and the wider ballet industry, acknowledging that there is still progress to make to ensure both are fully inclusive. The School seeks to advance this progress by listening to its network of communities and learning from their experiences.
4. Our Heritage Nourishes Our Future
Established in 1926, The Royal Ballet School has a rich heritage and is committed to preserving and promoting its history of nearly 100 years. The School’s Artistic Director and CEO Christopher Powney emphasises that this unique history must continue, handed down from the School’s current teams to future generations.
At the same time, for the School to guide the future of ballet globally, the organisation must be “willing to evolve,” staying curious about how to improve and build on tradition. The School’s fourth value — “our heritage nourishes our future” — encapsulates the organisation’s approach to honouring tradition and driving innovation.
The School respects and honours the past by:
- Championing ballet excellence throughout the decades.
- Viewing the School’s history as a rich source of learning, allowing the organisation to acknowledge and grow from its past.
- Celebrating the achievements and impact of the School’s alumni, both in and outside the world of dance.
- Listening and responding to the experiences of alumni and the families of students past and present.
The School’s rich history provides a deep foundation from which the organisation can continue to evolve and extend its reach to the dance sector and wider society.
5. Always Innovating
For ballet schools to keep in step with the rapid change of pace in their sector and the wider world, they must find ways of transforming their perspectives and practices. The Royal Ballet School’s fifth value — “always innovating” — cements the School as a bold, forward-looking organisation with a commitment to continuous evolution.
The School continuously innovates by:
- Acknowledging its role as a centre of excellence at the heart of a global community, leading the way and setting the agenda for classical ballet everywhere.
- Identifying opportunities to partner with individuals and organisations, sharing knowledge and building on research in the ballet sector and further afield.
- Using data to guide operations.
- Harnessing the latest technology and current and future trends to remain at the cutting edge of ballet training.
- Engaging with new and existing audiences through ever-expanding digital capabilities.
- Embedding its training programmes and practices with future-proofing skills and tools that will enable individuals and artists to adapt and thrive in the modern world.
The Royal Ballet School’s Commercial Director Carol Dray is currently leading the organisation’s digital transformation, a strategy seeking to optimise the School’s engagement with online audiences. Dray shares that the School’s continuous drive for innovation gives her “permission to be bold and creative” when putting forward new ideas and solving challenges.
About The Royal Ballet School
The Royal Ballet School nurtures exceptional young dancers in preparation for futures with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and other top dance companies in the UK and overseas. The School’s larger mission is to continuously raise and set the highest standard of classical ballet training across the globe.
Through The Royal Ballet School’s outstanding outreach programmes, dancers and dance teachers everywhere can benefit from the knowledge of the School’s elite instructors and almost a century of classical ballet expertise.
Famous alumni of the School include Darcey Bussell, Margot Fonteyn, Kenneth MacMillan, Christopher Wheeldon, and Lauren Cuthbertson.
