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World Ballet School Day 2021 recently took place on Saturday 13 November, and is now available to view on catch up. The second edition of the day began at 7am GMT, and over the course of the day students from seven schools of the organising committee shared interviews, discussions, rehearsal and performance footage to offer a unique insight into the world of professional ballet and dance training.

With an overarching theme of shaping the future, this year the students focused on the following topics:

Adaptability – how the dance world must evolve to meet today’s societal conditions. This showcased how students and their schools have adapted to COVID.

Identity – Students focused on how they see themselves on the stage and identify as artists discovering themselves, as well as showcasing the ideas around celebrating and embracing diversity.

Pathways – As COVID continues to challenge how students will enter the profession, this topic featured a variety of ways dancers are becoming professionals.

Submissions from ballet and dance schools across the world also featured in this celebration of the global dance community. Organisations participated from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Hungary, the Netherlands, Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States. Audiences also had the opportunity to watch the students perform in a range of works including Andrew McNicol’s Of Space & Time performed by students from English National Ballet School.

World Ballet School Day connects the next generation of young professional dance artists with young people from around the world. Created by students for students, this event is a platform for young artists in training to share a message of solidarity through the language of dance and ballet.

The seven educational institutions in the organising committee include: The Ailey School, Boston Ballet School, Canada’s National Ballet School, English National Ballet School, New Zealand School of Dance, Palucca University of Dance Dresden, and the Prix de Lausanne.