The Royal Ballet School has announced plans to establish a new Associate Centre in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne from September 2011. The new Associate Centre will be based at the Sage Academy of the Performing Arts which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. A Junior Associate Programme will be available, offering talented, young dancers aged 8 -10 a year-long programme of ballet training.

This will bring the total to eight national centres where selected young people can undertake training based on The Royal Ballet School’s unique system of training led by the School’s high calibre teaching staff. The other Associate Centres are based in Birmingham, Bristol, Eastleigh, Leeds, London, Manchester and Totnes.

Auditions for the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Centre are scheduled to take place at the Sage Academy of the Performing Arts on 8 June and applications to audition are invited by no later than 9 May.

Mark Annear, The Royal Ballet School’s Head of Outreach and Teacher Training, comments:

‘The establishment of the Associate Centre in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne is an exciting development of The Royal Ballet School’s key aspiration to create access for as many talented, young people as possible. There has been a great deal of interest among local dance teachers and parents for The Royal Ballet School to have a presence in the region and the new Centre heralds the start of an exciting new relationship with England’s north east.’

Since as long ago as 1931, The Royal Ballet School has run a Junior Associate programme for 8 -10 year olds, its aims being to identify and develop the talent of young people in the wider community. An Outreach Programme was formally launched in 1948 and by 1972 a more comprehensive programme of training was developed. During the 1980s this was further developed with the establishment of national centres which will now number eight. The Royal Ballet School’s Outreach Programme engages with more than 3,500 young people annually with some 450 of them actively involved in training as Junior, Mid or Senior Associates.


For further information about auditions please contact:
Liz Thorrington, Auditions Coordinator
Tel: +44 (0)20 7836 8899
Email: lizt@royalballetschool.co.uk


For further press information, photographs or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Jim Fletcher, Development Manager
Tel +44(0)20 7845 7074
Email: jimf@royalballetschool.co.uk


For job opportunities at The Royal Ballet School, please visit: http://www.royalballetschool.co.uk/employment