Central School of Ballet is a London-based classical ballet school founded in 1982 by the late Christopher Gable CBE and Ann Stannard. It was created to offer a different experience of ballet training in an education that particularly valued individual artistic expression in dance alongside the importance of technique. This approach has been sustained and extended over the last 35 years and now supports the School’s international reputation as an institution that produces versatile, professional and highly employable dancers at the forefront of every aspect of professional training. Central School of Ballet is unique in offering a BA (Hons) Degree in Professional Dance and Performance, validated by the University of Kent - the only ballet-focused degree course in England. In the last three years, 86% of BA graduates achieved a First Class or Upper Second Class Honours. On average a third of these are from low income families and many are the first in their family to access higher education. The School offers bursaries and scholarships to support these students enabling selection to be purely on the basis of talent and not financial means. In 2011 it also pioneered an MA in Choreography, with a specialism in ballet, ensuring the continued development of the art form in the future. Central School of Ballet's students are particularly valued and seen as employable by the industry as they have experienced life as a professional dancer through touring with Ballet Central - the School's nationwide touring company. Ballet Central provides students with a unique experience of every aspect of life as a dancer on the road, including the opportunity to work with renowned choreographers, and they go on to careers in classical ballet, contemporary dance, musical theatre and related professions; an extraordinary 84% are working within the industry within six months of graduating in Companies across the world. Since its founding, Central School of Ballet has been based at 10 Herbal Hill, London. However, the organisation has rapidly grown and has been in need of a new venue for many years, particularly given that the premises have never been exactly fit-for-purpose, with poor accessibility and little-to-no performance space. New premises are essential to its ability to attract and develop the most talented students and to the future success and sustainability of the organisation. The School has ambitious and exciting new plans, having secured a state of the art, purpose-built new home located within Paris Gardens, Southwark, close to the vibrant cultural cluster of the South Bank. It now needs to fit-out the concrete shell to meet the needs of a 21st century training facility. This new home will give the organisation space to grow, with three times the space it has now - somewhere to nurture creativity, cultivate dreams, propagate ideas and allow new talent to develop. Paris Gardens will also have state of the art technology to enhance teaching and learning, with the facility for dancers in the studio to work in real time with a choreographer and musicians anywhere in the world via digital screens as part of a ‘Virtual Conservatoire’ partnership project. This Catalyst funded project will enable Central School of Ballet to work specifically with LAMDA, RADA and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School from within the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, partnering with the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, on joint projects in real time thanks to the technology in the new building.

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