As we ponder the ups and downs of our sporting record this summer, it might be worth noting our unquestioned prowess when it comes to the demands of classically based dancing. The Royal Ballet is consistently more than a match for any comparable company in the world, and its chief feeder, the Royal Ballet School, currently celebrating its centenary, is similarly and solidly rated as one of the two or three best of its kind anywhere.

Both these institutions are deeply beholden to tradition, and the RBS might well be the most unabashedly elitist educational establishment in the country. It receives globally more than 2,500 applications a year. All these will lead to an audition, the number finally whittled down to 30-odd offers of a full-time place. For a nice change, merit and potential are strictly the only criteria in a rigorous selection process (entirely misrepresented in the film and musical Billy Elliot). About half the 200-odd students, entering between the ages of 11 and 18, are British citizens. The great majority receive substantial scholarships, financed via the government and private donors.

The Royal Ballet School is not a place for cissies: nobody there is going to be mollycoddled

The Royal Ballet School is not a place for cissies: nobody there is going to be mollycoddled

The RBS is divided between a junior section housed in White Lodge in Richmond Park and a senior section next to the Royal Opera House; recent inspection reports are highly favourable, both academically and pastorally – ‘all the relevant standards are met’ – and it undoubtedly comes up with the goods, inasmuch as virtually all its final-year graduates end up with a professional placement.

The RBS is, however, extremely defensive of its reputation and cagey about granting outsiders access. In the recent past there have been accusations that the draconian drill and repetition necessary to instil balletic technique can degenerate into thoughtless cruelty. The stress and competition certainly gets dangerously intense, particularly for children who aren’t maturing physically in the right way and for their own good need to be periodically ‘assessed out’ – in other words, required to leave. Close watch is kept for eating disorders, always prevalent among teenage girls, but especially so among aspiring ballerinas. Given the amount of close contact........

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