The Royal Ballet School offers a range of teacher training programmes to help new and established teachers develop their practices.
As of March 2022, The Royal Ballet School will welcome applications for its brand-new Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme. The School has developed this Programme to extend its training to recreational dance teachers, not only across the UK but around the world too. Teachers who complete the training will become Affiliate Teachers of The Royal Ballet School.
The Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme is the latest addition to The Royal Ballet School’s selection of teacher training programmes. Here, we’ll explore these programmes and introduce the training on offer for those who already teach or are interested in teaching ballet.
The Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme
The Royal Ballet School has crafted the Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme to update dance training in all areas, including recreational dance. The Programme comprises six training levels: three for primary school students and three for secondary school students. The School has tailored each level for a recommended age group, spanning from age 5 to 18.
Mark Annear, Head of Training and Access, and Karen Berry, Senior Teacher Training Manager, oversaw the development of the Programme with the support of Christopher Powney, the School’s Artistic Director. They designed the holistic Programme with students and their experiences in mind. As a result, trainee teachers will learn how to provide students with all the tools they need to enjoy and appreciate the art form of ballet in context and from a wider perspective. The teachers will also learn how to help students enjoy ballet as an outlet for creative expression while developing their technical prowess.
The Programme is set to:
· Raise the standard of recreational dance training.
· Provide an alternative to the model of examination study offered by recreational dance organisations.
· Keep pace with developments in educational and pedagogy theory.
· Ensure that the art form continues to thrive.
Benefits for Affiliate Teachers
As a world leader in ballet education, The Royal Ballet School has developed the teacher training curriculum with a flexible, inclusive structure that will improve access to classical ballet teacher training, especially for those who have different learning needs and styles.
The Programme will also empower recreational dance teachers by giving them the independence to teach curriculums with internal assessments and associated learning outcomes (instead of a set syllabus with external examinations). Teachers will have flexibility over their teaching; they’ll be able to adapt to their students’ needs as they practise ballet technique, repertoire, choreography, and appreciation. Affiliate Teachers will conduct their own assessments, and Royal Ballet School staff will monitor and moderate these.
What’s more, not only will teachers enjoy greater creative and career satisfaction as they take an autonomous approach to their teaching, but they will also have access to ongoing professional development from Royal Ballet School staff.
Launching the Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme
Training for the Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme will commence online and in person in July 2022. The Royal Ballet School will deliver the Programme via a combination of in-person training, webinars, and rich video content on the School’s Video on Demand platform. The School has advanced its digital capabilities over the past year to enable global reach and make its content available to audiences across different time zones.
Learn more about the Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme.
Diploma of Dance Teaching
Aside from the new Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme, The Royal Ballet School has now collected all applications for its 2022 Diploma of Dance Teaching Programme. The School will welcome its new cohort in September.
The Diploma of Dance Teaching Programme is suitable for current and ex-professional dancers and teachers. The part-time, two-year course provides trainee teachers with the foundations to teach technical and creative approaches to ballet. Those who take the course have the opportunity to specialise in teaching in vocational and pre-vocational settings.
The Diploma covers classical ballet technique, education practice, teacher practice, reflective practice, the makings of a healthy dancer, workplace context, and psychology and child development. Royal Ballet School staff and specialist visiting lecturers deliver the course at the School’s studios in Covent Garden (London) and White Lodge (Richmond).
Learn more about the Diploma of Dance Teaching Programme.
Inspire Seminars
The Royal Ballet School also offers Inspire seminars, which provide fresh ideas for established dance teachers who are looking to boost their approaches to classical ballet training. The seminars are non-syllabus based and include both practical and theoretical elements. The School hosts these seminars both in the UK and internationally so that teachers of all backgrounds and levels can access the sessions.
The Inspire Programme features two series: Inspire and Inspire to be. Inspire comprises six one-day seminars that cover practical and pedagogical study. Meanwhile, Inspire to be is a follow-up series that comprises four one-day seminars covering observation and practical study.
The Inspire seminars aim to provide teachers with:
· A rich understanding of the foundations that inform classical ballet technique.
· A grounding in relevant education practice.
· The tools to improve their teacher-learning process.
· The ability to apply technical, artistic, and pedagogical knowledge to their practices.
Bookings for the spring seminars open on 8th February. The seminars will take place on 3-8 April 2022 in London.
Learn more about the Inspire seminars.
Enlighten Webinars
Established dance teachers can update their teaching skills by attending The Royal Ballet School’s one-hour Enlighten webinars. The School has crafted these webinars to offer invaluable insights and information on all aspects of ballet training and education, such as pedagogy, business modelling and management, and the technical and creative aspects of dance training. Those who attend the webinars can pick up advice and gain support from the School’s specialist staff. The Enlighten webinars also make great additions to teachers’ continuing professional development portfolios and are particularly effective when paired with the Inspire seminars.
Royal Ballet School staff deliver the webinars using Zoom and PowerPoint at various times to suit attendees all over the world. Teachers can select the webinars they would like to attend to build their own programmes. Each webinar concludes with a Q&A session, and the School caps each group at 20 participants to uphold quality of service and integrity.
Booking for the spring webinars is now open. Webinars will focus on mindset and empowering students to achieve, effective posture, and sustaining positivity in the studio.
Learn more about the Enlighten webinars.
About The Royal Ballet School
As a leader in classical ballet education, The Royal Ballet School has trained generations of acclaimed dancers and choreographers, from performers like Darcey Bussell, Margot Fonteyn, and Kenneth MacMillan to younger performers like Lauren Cuthbertson, Francesca Hayward, and Edward Watson. The Royal Ballet School’s teachers and instructors shape these dancers into performers of international acclaim, and the School prides itself on offering the highest quality training so its dance teachers can help students excel.
