Ballet and sport – a winning partnership

The Royal Ballet School continued its support of developments within the professional sports world today, by welcoming guests from Liverpool Football Club Academy to its Upper School headquarters in Covent Garden. This follows on from last Friday’s visit by the English Cricket Board who were joined by a delegation from UK Sport – the body responsible for investing around £100 million of public money in high performance sport.

Indeed, during the past two years, other sports bodies have also sought advice from The School including representatives from Chelsea Football Club, Aston Villa Football Club and the RFU – the governing body of Rugby Union in England.

In the main, the advice these respected bodies wanted was focused on the establishment of elite academies and training programmes for young athletes. Each was particularly keen to learn about the School’s recruitment methods and procedures, the balance between dance training and academic pursuit as well as boarding and pastoral support. There was much excitement about the School’s impressive six-year record of every graduating student obtaining a full-time contract.

The Royal Ballet School’s close connection with the sports world doesn’t end there! Dancing excerpts from The Nutcracker, 16 Royal Ballet School students make a guest appearance in an episode of SKY TV’s Sports Comedy hit A League of Their Own at 10pm on 14 December. The same 1.5 million people will also witness James Corden attempts at ballet with a few surprises for viewers from comedian Jack Whitehall in the costume department.

Pictured: Students of The Royal Ballet School backstage at Pinewood Studios with Jack Whitehall.

Photo: Jim Fletcher