News
TRH attend a Royal Ballet Gala at White Lodge in Richmond Park
12th May 2009
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall thie evening attended a Royal Gala performace and dinner at the Royal Ballet School’s White Lodge in Richmond Park.
The Prince of Wales has been President of The Royal Ballet since 2003, and Patron of The Royal Ballet School White Lodge Restoration and Development Project since 2004.
The Duchess of Cornwall takes a keen interest in the arts and is Patron of the Elmhurst School for Dance, the oldest vocational dance school in the United Kingdom.
Upon arrival, Their Royal Highnesses were greeted by young dancers and The Duchess was presented with a posy of flowers.
White Lodge in Richmond Park has been the home of The Royal Ballet Lower School (11-16 year olds) since the School's Royal Charter was granted over 50 years ago.
The £22million White Lodge Redevelopment Appeal was launched in 2005 in order to repair and restore White Lodge – a 17th Century Royal Hunting Lodge – to its former magnificence and to extend its life.
From 1955, its constant and rigorous use as a ballet school had left it in urgent need of repair and upgrade to meet new statutory standards for Health and Safety and Child Protection.
The new facilities enable the School to deliver a dynamic and harmonious fusion of academic and social education, with the achievement of excellence in dance as its primary focus.
£2million is still to be raised by 2010 to meet the costs of the final few works on the buildings and gardens.
When finished, White Lodge will deliver a truly exceptional teaching environment, with outstanding facilities, befitting one of the world's top ballet schools.
As part of the redevelopment, further provision will be made for public access to White Lodge and there is a new outreach programme particularly targeting black, minority and ethnic communities to join the School's current exciting inner-city Partnership and Access programme.
The Royal Gala featured performances, choreography and reminiscences drawing on the past, present and future of The Royal Ballet School.
The School’s former graduates, current students and future stars contributed to the event.
They included Sir Anthony Dowell, Dame Antoinette Sibley, Darcey Bussell CBE, Lauren Cuthbertson, Sergei Polunin and Ashley Page.
The evening culminated in a spectacular ‘grand défilé’, specially choreographed by former Royal Ballet School student Liam Scarlett.
This historic grand finale featured all the participants on the stage of the Margot Fonteyn Studio Theatre, White Lodge.