Royal Ballet School

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2001 5:27 am

Giant step for Royal Ballet boys

by Jeffery Taylor in The Evening Standard

Quote:

Ever since the Royal Ballet was founded 71 years ago, the dancing girls have traditionally outnumbered their male counterparts.

But in the first year of the new century, Britain's top ballet boys have finally shattered the tutu monopoly. In September, for the first time in its history, the number of students at the Royal Ballet schools will be split right down the middle of the sexual divide.

"Of the 200 students enrolled for the year 2001-2002, exactly half will be boys," says former dancer Mary Goodhew, principal at the Royal Ballet's White Lodge Junior School. "This is the century of equality in British ballet."

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[ 19 March 2003, 08:30 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]

Basheva · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2001 5:36 am

This is great news. Men have always been welcome in the ballet, and it looks as if they are now accepting the invitation.

trina · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2001 5:52 am

Wow ..that's pretty amazing. I've never heard numbers like that! Do we have "Billy Elliot" to thank for this? lolol?

nancy · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2001 10:36 am

I got goosebumps when I read this. It's very exciting. A happy event for Sir Anthony Dowell as he steps down, I'm sure. How long before this trend hits the United States?... I've got seven brave lads in a program of about 175. And we had to call their class Sports Movement to get them involved!

Joanne · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2001 12:18 pm

That is great news - Billy Eliot I'm sure had something to do with it - but I think there is a greater acceptance of boys in all art forms which will only encourage more to have a go at these things.

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2001 9:44 pm

MICHAEL IS BALLET'S NEW BILLYFrom the UK tabloid The Daily MirrorNot the Royal Ballet, but worth a quick look. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>A RUGBY-playing boy has won a scholarship to ballet school - just months after he was inspired to start lessons by the movie Billy Elliott. Michael Redfern, 16, who played rugby for his county, began ballet classes for the first time in October last year.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <A HREF="http://www.ic24.net:80/mgn/THE_MIRROR/NEWS/P24S3.html" TARGET=_blank>More...</A>

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Wed Mar 19, 2003 7:30 am

Partners in perfect step
Working relationship: Gailene Stock, director of the Royal Ballet School, and her PA, Rachel Hollings. By Deborah King for The Times.

As director of the Royal Ballet School, Gailene Stock splits her time between the upper school in Covent Garden, London, and the lower school in Richmond Park, Surrey.

They couldn’t be more different: the former is a new purpose-built base near the Royal Opera House, and the latter a white mansion in the heart of a royal park. It’s an attractive setting; the walls of Richmond’s reception area are covered with black and white photographs of famous dancers and choreographers, including Rudolf Nure-yev and Kenneth MacMillan, and there is a life-sized bronze statue of Margot Fonteyn.

After a 16-year dancing career, Stock, an Australian, was director of the Australian Ballet School for nine years before she came to the UK.

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Wed May 19, 2004 10:25 pm

Royal Ballet School Rceives a Royal Visitor
From Hello! Magazine

Prince Charles has been meeting some of the future stars of British dance during a visit to London's renowned Royal Ballet School. And he was delighted to hear that a recent movie in which the institution featured has made life a lot easier for the boys training there.

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Thu Jul 21, 2005 5:47 am

Royal Ballet School
By Debra Craine for The Times

THIS annual performance by the Royal Ballet School was a packed programme, its six offerings showcasing a lot of hard work and dedicated ambition. Usually I come away from the school’s matinee with one or two names to remember, dancers of promise and youthful distinction. This time the name to remember is a choreographer: Liam Scarlett.

The programme opened with a commission from the 19-year-old graduate student who created Allegro de Jeunesse for the children of the Lower School and set it rather grandly to Tchaikovsky’s Third Piano Concerto.

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Fri Jul 22, 2005 5:38 am

Royal Ballet School
By Gavin roebuck for The Stage

“We train the best,” proclaims an advertisement for the RBS, and it is hard to think of another vocational ballet school in Britain which could field such numbers of good performers as in this annual show. At least 85% of its graduates have already got contracts in ballet companies all over the world, with five joining the Royal Ballet.

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Sun Jul 24, 2005 4:13 am

Royal Ballet School
By Jann Parry for The Observer

The annual Royal Ballet School matinee last weekend concluded with a parade of young talent, mouths full of metal, grinning with pride.

The Lower School (up to age 15) was well displayed in Allegro de Jeunesse, by graduate student Liam Scarlett. He now joins the Royal Ballet, a choreographer to watch. He made accomplished use of large numbers, with cleverly recurring motifs for soloists of different ages.

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