Why Dance Matters

Barbara Peters, a life-enhancing RAD teacher from Yorkshire, has been teaching for over 60 years. She has travelled the world as an RAD examiner, and continued teaching throughout the pandemic over Z…

The American mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato has won deserved acclaim in the world’s great opera houses – in Rossini, Handel and brand new works – and she’s a passionate communicator. Growing up in Kans…

Carlos Acosta has an electric connection to audiences – a combination of elegance, fire and rare charisma. Starting life in one of Havana’s poorest neighbourhoods, the Cuban dancer became a favourite…

This week we meet portrait artist Ralph Heimans as the RAD prepares to celebrate a landmark in its 100 year history - a move to a new purpose built headquarters - with a brand new portrait competitio…

At just 19, Hannah Martin has already achieved remarkable things. In September 2021, the young ballet dancer won a medal in the RAD's flagship event, The Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competiti…

Australian ballerina Leanne Benjamin is a self-declared perfectionist - difficult in ballet, where the perfect performance is a tantalising impossibility. Her career took her from rural Queensland to…

Libby Clegg loved dance and ballet when she was little, but became a multi-medal-winning Paralympic athlete. She won five medals games, capping her amazing career in Tokyo with a silver medal for Tea…

Gerard Charles arrived at the Royal Academy of Dance as its new Artistic Director in 2018, having been in leadership positions at some of America's liveliest ballet companies. As the RAD prepares to …

The hip-hop choreographer, dancer and teacher Yami Löfvenberg is also known as 'Rowdy'. As that name suggests, hers is a wonderfully confident, engaged presence - but growing up in Sweden, she was ra…

James Whiteside is not only a principal at American Ballet Theatre, dancing all iconic classical princes as well as ambitious contemporary work, but also has two alter egos: musician JB Dubs and the …

This one-off special episode of Why Dance Matters marks the final of The Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition, the RAD’s flagship event. Talented young dancers from across the world test t…

Even for non-dancers, dance gets to the heart of things which matter to them the most.

This week, for the final instalment of series 1 of Why Dance Matters, we go into the RAD itself and meet Chief E…

Céline Gittens first made her name as a teenager, winning both a gold medal and the Audience Choice Award at Sadler’s Wells in London, in the RAD’s Genée International Ballet Competition (now named T…

Dance touches lives beyond performers, so the guests on Why Dance Matters aren’t only professional dancers. Guddi Singh is a paediatrician and BBC broadcaster, and eloquent on the important part the …

Phil Chan is a dancer, arts advocate and activist born in Hong Kong and now based in New York. With Georgina Pazcogin of New York City Ballet, he co-founded Final Bow For Yellowface in 2017. Provoked…

Dance, and especially ballet, can sometimes seem remote from people’s lives. How do you bolt it into the heart of a community?

The answer often lies with an RAD Teacher. In this case, Victoria Treviño…

The choreographer Cathy Marston has a rare gift for telling stories in dance. Now a major player in leading ballet companies (including The Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre…

Gurinder Chadha doesn’t make dance films or musicals – but with the slightest nudge, films like Bend It Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice and Blinded by the Light could easily become full-blown song-…

Xander Parish tells a story of snatching triumph from the jaws of frustration. After a great start – winning a silver medal in the RAD’s Genée International Ballet Competition (now named The Fonteyn)…