English National Ballet School turns 25 during the 2013–14 academic year. The school will celebrate this anniversary with a series of events, starting with a live broadcast on November 28.
Presented by ArtStreaming TV, the broadcast will be a 90-minute live stream from the school, giving audiences a unique insight into the students’ daily life. It will include an interview with Tamara Rojo, artistic director of English National Ballet (ENB), and the chance to chat to the school via facebook and Twitter.
The school was founded in 1988 by Peter Schaufuss, who aimed to create a feeder school for ENB. It began with just 12 students, and grew rapidly in the first five years. It then moved to its own premises in Hortensia Road, Chelsea, where the school is still based. Diana, Princess of Wales opened the new English National Ballet School in December 1995, when it had a student body of 35 dancers. Since then, the student intake has doubled.
Today, a third of ENB’s dancers are graduates of its school, from corps de ballet up to principal level. Dancers from the school perform in the “My first…” series of ballets for children. More than 100,000 children and their families have seen the first two productions.
“After 25 years, English National Ballet School continues to provide exemplary training, producing world class dancers that go on to perform with ballet companies globally,” said Samira Saidi, the school’s director of dance. “Our renewed vision will ensure that we have an exciting future ahead of us, and I feel very proud to be part of such a great team.”
The live broadcast will start at 5pm on Thursday, November 28 at www.artstreamingtv.com. The event is free to watch.
