London, 12 May 2010

The Royal Ballet School’s well-established Outreach Programme is to make a rare visit to Scotland when the School’s renowned Associates Programme arrives at The Gleneagles® Hotel for a special weekend of ballet training on 12 and 13 June 2010.

Up to 75 young dancers aged 8-16 from throughout Scotland will descend on one of the world’ s most famous hotels for a weekend of ballet classes, workshops and discussions under the title of The Royal Ballet School Associate Experience.

The training weekend will feature a range of separate classes for boys and girls together with some special sessions for teachers. Each carefully designed class will employ the same principles of The Royal Ballet School’s unique system of training that has given us some of the world’s most famous dancers including Dame Margot Fonteyn DBE, Dame Antoinette Sibley DBE, Darcey Bussell CBE, Sir Anthony Dowell CBE, and Wayne Sleep OBE.

Participants will benefit from the experience of being taught by The Royal Ballet School’s Assistant Director, Jay Jolley and Principal – Outreach Programme, Kathryn Wade, both of whom have had illustrious careers both as dancers with The Royal Ballet and as teachers with The Royal Ballet School and other international training centres. They will be accompanied by Outreach Coordinator Sylvia Hubbard, herself a teacher of the Associate Programme at The Royal Ballet Upper School in London’s Covent Garden.

For teachers, there will be a dedicated training session as well as a special Discussion Forum.

Principal of The Royal Ballet School’s Outreach Programme, Kathryn Wade comments:

‘We are delighted to be able to engage so closely with the young dancers of Scotland and offer them, their parents and teachers this rare opportunity of experiencing The Royal Ballet School’s system of training. It has been many years since we were last able to do this and we thank Gleneagles for making the visit possible.’

Fees for The Royal Ballet School Associate Experience range between £20-£50 per session and more information is available by contacting tlink@royalballetschool.co.uk.

The closing date for applications is Friday 21 May 2010.

For further press information, images or to arrange interviews please contact Jim Fletcher, Development Manager, The Royal Ballet School on
020 7845 7074 or email jimf@royalballetschool.co.uk

For further information on Gleneagles, please contact Simon Brown, PR Manager, on 01764 694182 or email simon.brown@gleneagles.com



Notes for Editors

The Royal Ballet School
The Royal Ballet School, established in 1926 by Dame Ninette de Valois, is one of the world’s great centres of excellence in dance training. The Lower School for 11-16 year olds is based at White Lodge, Richmond Park, South West London and the Upper School (16-19 year olds) is adjacent to The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. With its centres in six locations throughout the UK, the Outreach Programme enables The Royal Ballet School to achieve the key objective of identifying and nurturing exceptional talent wherever those individuals live and whatever their circumstances. Admission to The Royal Ballet School is based purely on talent and potential with more than 95% of its 210 students receiving financial support from the Government’s Music and Dance Scheme or from other sources. In any one year, the Outreach Programme engages with more than 3,500 aspiring, young dancers with about 1,000 of these auditioning for a place at the School. The Royal Ballet School admits 24 students into year 7 each year.

The Gleneagles Hotel
The Gleneagles® Hotel is just one hour's drive from both Glasgow and Edinburgh and set within an 850-acre estate in Perthshire. It is renowned for its three championship golf courses, including the PGA Centenary Course – the venue for the Ryder Cup 2014. As well as golf, there are many other sporting opportunities at Gleneagles. The shooting and fishing schools offer clay target shooting and trout fishing on three lochs within the resort’s estate. The equestrian school provides coaching in all disciplines. There is all weather tennis, swimming, croquet, cycling, off-road driving and the opportunity for guests to fly Harris hawks at the falconry school. A visit to the state of the art Spa by ESPA is the ultimate rejuvenating experience, with its wide selection of indulgent and highly effective ESPA treatments in tranquil elegant surroundings. The hotel is also home to Scotland’s only Two Michelin Star Restaurant Andrew Fairlie. The world renowned AA Five Red Star hotel has received many accolades, including most recently being voted UK Hotel of the Year 2010 by Meetings and Incentive Travel magazine, Hotel of the Year, Scotland at the AA Hospitality Awards 2009/2010 and Condé Nast Traveller's Gold List 2009/10 - Best Hotel for Facilities.