Royal Opera House Begins New Season of Chance To Dance For 2023-2024

The Royal Opera House has begun a new season of Chance to Dance for the 2023/2024 season. Created to ensure greater accessibility and diversity within The Royal Ballet Company and beyond, this new season will see the Chance to Dance programme operating in 23 schools with over 1,500 children participating. 

Chance to Dance will kick off with bespoke interactive performances from dancers of The Royal Ballet hosted across the country in the West Midlands, Doncaster, North East and Bradford. These events will be followed by an exciting programme of activity in partnership with associate dance schools in each area. Weekly ballet workshops will give children the opportunity to engage creatively with ballet, learn new skills and become choreographers. An end of programme celebration and performance will be held in each participating city in 2024, where the children will perform alongside Principals of The Royal Ballet and Chance to Dance alumni. This new season will also be the beginning of the Royal Opera House legacy activity, with the very first national cohort of Chance to Dance schools in Essex.

With an aim to continue creating opportunities for children to access the arts across the United Kingdom, the Royal Opera House is delighted to launch Chance to Dance in Bradford as the start of the theatre's contribution to Bradford City of Culture. The Royal Opera House is currently building partnerships across Bradford with the goal of inspiring creativity through ballet and diversity, and working with key teachers, primary schools and dance schools to develop exciting Chance to Dance activities over the next 4 years.

The Royal Opera House is thrilled that new schools and students will be introduced to Chance to Dance this season. This flagship programme remains an important part of how the Royal Opera House can create more opportunities for diversity and access to ballet for children throughout the country.

Jillian Barker, Director of Learning and Participation at the Royal Opera House, said, ‘We are delighted to have launched a new season of Chance to Dance to help nurture the exceptional dancing talent of young people, and to ensure that ballet is an accessible, diverse and representative art form for all. We are also thrilled to extend our work further across the nation through launching in Bradford. Now working in five centres, Chance to Dance gives young people the chance to explore their creativity through ballet, using skills and imagination.'