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The Royal Ballet School is the only dance school to have trained 4 of the 13 Prima ballerina assoluta recipients, the highest honor a ballerina can attain: Margot Fonteyn, Eva Evdokimova, Phyllis Spira, and Alessandra Ferri. The Royal Ballet School assures its students receive rigorous dance training alongside quality academic preparation, as the school also contains art studios, computer labs, a physiotherapy treatment space, and more. Located in London, England, this school for 11-19 year old dancers has a tradition of sending its students to some of the most prestigious dance companies across the globe, particularly the Royal Ballet in London and the Birmingham Royal Ballet. The Royal Ballet School boasts an incredibly illustrious band of notable alumni: Dame Margot Fonteyn, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, and Kevin O’Hare, the current director of The Royal Ballet, just to name a few. The school currently operates under the directorship of Elisabeth Platel, who won a prestigious Benois de la Danse ballerina award in 1999 and has choreographed for the likes of George Balanchine, John Neumeier, and Rudolf Nureyev. The Paris Opera Ballet School boasts alumni that have transformed the landscape of ballet: from Sylvie Guillem to a rising star in the Paris Opera, Katherine Higgins. Of all the dancers in the Paris Opera company, around 95% graduated from the Paris Opera Ballet School. This 300-year-old institution allows students to immerse themselves in one of the most prestigious dance companies in the world through its proximity to the Paris Opera. Located in the Nanterre suburb of Paris, France, this school is a component of the Paris Opera, the oldest national dance company globally. This school boasts an incredibly accomplished base of alumni, including three of the most influential ballet dancers of all time, Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Anna Pavlova. Others find their way to companies worldwide, such as the Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre. Upon graduation, the Mariinsky Ballet company may offer positions to certain graduating students.
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However, classes for international students are held annually for students aged 16-20. This 275-year-old school only allows those judged to be the absolute top dancers in their class to graduate, as each successive year of schooling leads to smaller and smaller class sizes.Īs such, of the 3,000 children who apply to the school at around the age of 10, only 25 will graduate, around the age of 19. The Vaganova Ballet Academy is considered by many to be the source of modern ballet. Petersburg, RU) Public domain photo via Wikimedia Commons
JUILLIARD SCHOOL NOTABLE ALUMNI PROFESSIONAL
Some of these institutions are Bachelor’s degree-granting institutions, while others are training schools for future professional dancers.Īlthough some of these institutions specialize in training younger, pre-college students, a variety of short-term classes, summer programs, and professional development courses for older students tend to be offered by these institutions yearly.įrom Moscow to Oklahoma City, this list represents the best in dance education worldwide. The following list breaks down these details and more, highlighting key information dancers might consider when applying to the world’s foremost dance programs. In fact, Rudolf Nureyev, Sylvie Guillem, and Anna Pavlova are all alumni of the following institutions on this list.īut what each individual dancer needs to best hone their craft is a unique thing.Īs such, dancers must carefully consider the specializations of the dance institutions they seek to study within, the faculty which could become future mentors, the kinds of notable alumni these institutions have produced historically, and the culture of the dance scene within the cities that house these institutions.Īll of these factors are crucial if they are to make the most of their time during advanced study. This fact is no accident: few things can transform novice dancers into disciplined experts like the resources available to students at the following Dance institutions. When looking at some of the world’s premier dancers, from Rudolf Nureyev, to Sylvie Guillem, to the legendary Anna Pavlova, one finds that the rigorous training and professional development afforded by schools dedicated to developing burgeoning dancers served as key stepping stones in their careers.
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