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‘Under 5ft 5in? Forget about being a prince!’ How the Royal Ballet school is kicking out the old rules

What will the ballet dancer of the future look like? We visit the hunting lodge where the next generation are being trained – and find huge changes are under wayIt’s an idyllic autumn day in leafy Richmond Park, London, where a grand Georgian hunting lodge houses the Royal Ballet school. Enter through the classical columns and it feels like a bubble away from the world. “I was on a video call with my son,” says the school’s artistic director, Iain Mackay. “He said, ‘Where are you? Hogwarts?!’” This is indeed a place of magic for children who come here, hoping to follow in the footsteps of generations of leading dancers. They touch the middle finger of Margot Fonteyn’s statue for luck as they pass, the bronze rubbed shiny by their superstition.Getting a place at the school, founded in 1926 by the formidable Ninette de Valois, is a huge achievement. Two years ago, 40 students were accepted from more than 1,000 applications (all on merit – 90% are supported by bursaries). Mackay, 45, a...


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