A former Royal Ballet star is offering free lessons to make ballet more inclusive and turn its elitist reputation on its head
It is commonly thought of as one of the most elite forms of dance, using a dizzying mass of French vocabulary, and originally having been developed to be performed in the courts of European kings and queens.
But access to ballet training need not be only for children whose parents can afford it, according to the former Royal Ballet principal dancer, Martin Howland, who is giving a year’s worth of free lessons to primary school pupils in one of the poorest areas of Leeds.