Join The Royal Opera House For World Book Day

Join the Royal Opera House on Thursday 3 March 2022 for the 25th annual World Book Day, and learn about Create and Dance - one of our national schools' Create and Learn programmes. Throughout the day, enjoy content across ROH social media platforms and an exclusive video showcasing our recent, sector-leading work that reaches students country-wide.

Last month, Royal Opera House programmes worked with a number of schools in Doncaster, Coventry and Thurrock. On Monday 7 February 2022, 33 schools from across the country joined the very first Everybody Dance! Digital workshop, organised in partnership with the National Literary Trust and held during Doncaster Storytelling Festival: A Wonderland of Stories. The event involved 70 classes, and invited students - no matter their age, experience, or ability - to become honorary members of The Royal Ballet's corps de ballet for the day, learning choreography inspired by Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Almost 3000 school children took part.

The following week, 28 teachers in Coventry took part in Create and Dance training, exploring how to teach high quality creative dance in the classroom and improve literacy through movement. And, on Thursday 24 February 2022, 39 schools travelled to Covent Garden to see the fourth Schools' Matinee of the Season: a performance of Kenneth MacMillan's masterful adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Each of these events and activities are closely aligned with the national curriculum, and help teachers inspire students, encourage creativity, and highlight the many links between literacy and the performing arts. A short film centering on Everybody Dance! will receive its premiere on World Book Day, and will be available to watch on ROH social channels. Any school can access our programmes through the Learning Platform, and those interested in taking part in future events should visit our website for resources, training opportunities, and more information.

The first World Book Day in the UK and Ireland took place in 1997. The event, designed to promote reading for pleasure, is now marked in over 100 countries around the globe, and has helped children from all backgrounds develop life-long habits of reading for pleasure. In 2021, 54,000 books donated by publishers were distributed via the National Literacy Trust to children least likely to have books, and 1 in 5 children receiving free school meals said the book they 'bought' with their WBD book token was the first book they had of their own.

Amy McGann, Head of National Programmes, said:

'Our national schools' Create and Learn programmes are at the very core of our commitment to widening access to our art forms and inspiring creativity in the next generation. Create & Dance and Everybody Dance! are two of the best examples of this, supporting cross-curricular work, and encouraging children to see the many ways literature informs ballet, and ballet can be used to build and improve literacy. It's a real pleasure to be able to work with schools right the way across the country, offering new, engaging, ways into texts that have been taught for years.'

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