Smiles and joy as scheme brings ballet to schools

One of the best known prima ballerinas of her generation is leading a project to teach ballet to 900 schoolchildren in the most deprived areas of the West Midlands.

Rome-born Viviana Durante, a former principal dancer at The Royal Ballet, is leading the three-month programme with pupils in Birmingham, the Black Country and Coventry.

Next week, the children will perform in a full-scale production of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty at Birmingham Symphony Hall, alongside professionals from Birmingham Royal Ballet and a 50-piece orchestra.

Durante, 59, now a ballet educator, said: "It's our duty as professional dancers to inspire the younger generation."

The programme is being delivered by Birmingham-based Transformation Partnership, which works with schools to make elite-level arts education accessible to young people who would otherwise not have access to it.

The academy trusts involved are funding the project themselves, including Stanton Bridge Primary School, where a group of Year Five pupils are taking part.

Ten-year-old Vladut said he enjoyed "everything about it" and added he was "very excited" about performing at the Symphony Hall.

Rhyley, also 10, admitted she was "nervous but excited" about the performance, and she enjoyed "different poses and working with others".

Helen had been practising at home and said she had been learning how to do some of the specialist moves of ballet: "I like it so much because I get to learn new stuff and express myself."

Her mother, Elina, said she could never have afforded ballet tuition and she will cry when she sees her daughter on stage.

"It's going to be a dream come true. To see her progressing, I'll be happy," she added.

The school's deputy head teacher, Stacey Cooper, said they were incredibly proud of their pupils:

"Many of our children have never been to a theatre, or a concert hall, and neither have their families, so for them to have the opportunity to do those things for the first time, is amazing," she said.

Khadeem Duncan-Banerjee, chief executive of Transformation Partnership, said the aim of the project, and similar ones involving opera, dance and choral music, was to "reach those children who are furthest away from accessing this type of provision".

Doing so would expose them "to a sense of excellence and aspiration that they couldn't get elsewhere", he added.

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