Unique Educational project culminates at The Royal Ballet Upper School

A unique five-month project between The Royal Ballet School and the Trinity Laban Centre for Advanced Training culminated at the Upper School on Friday, 3 February with a performance by 58 students from these key British dance institutions.

The Royal Ballet School and Trinity Laban are both supported by the Department for Education’s Music and Dance Scheme. This project is part of The Royal Ballet School’s annual aDvANCE programme, also supported by the DfE, and a key element of The Royal Ballet School’s BTEC in Dance curriculum for the 1st Year students.

Since the project was launched, students have been taking part in weekly rehearsals, sharing skills and learning from their respective training under the leadership of Toby Norman-Wright.

At Friday’s performance, students from The Royal Ballet School performed excerpts from classical ballet repertoire including ‘Swan Lake’, ‘La Bayadere' and Ninette de Valois’ ‘Checkmate’. Two pieces entitled ‘One Multiplied by Me’ and ‘Game Of (2 Fees)’ were performed by Trinity Laban students.

The evening culminated with a collaborative piece danced by all 58 students entitled ‘Signature-Variations of the theme of Fred Step’. Choreographed by the dancers with Toby Norman-Wright, this imaginative and original piece explored the unique choreographic ‘signature’ of Frederick Ashton, commonly known as ‘Fred Step’.

Pictured: Trinity Laban Centre for Advanced Training students perform an original variation inspired by ‘Fred Step’

Photo: Brian Slater