Ballet stars join The Royal Royal for biggest World Ballet Day ever!

Students of The Royal Ballet School on World Ballet Day (c) Royal Opera House, photo by Andre Uspenski

The Royal Ballet’s contribution to this year’s World Ballet Day, streamed across the world via Facebook Live, received the largest number of online views in the event’s five-year history, with 197,000 live views, up 56% on World Ballet Day 2017.

113.5m people engaged with #WorldBalletDay and thousands of people shared a photograph of themselves performing a pirouette on the day. The fifth World Ballet Day trended on Twitter in the UK throughout the day.

The annual celebration of dance, which took place on 2 October 2018, involved the largest number of ballet companies in its history, with 29 participating companies from 18 countries across the world, with The Australian Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Royal Ballet taking part in three consecutive live streams.

Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae rehearse Mayerling (c) Royal Opera House, photo by Andre Uspenski
Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae rehearse Mayerling (c) Royal Opera House, photo by Andre Uspenski
Members of The Royal Ballet rehearse The Unknown Soldier
Members of The Royal Ballet rehearse The Unknown Soldier

The day of live-streamed events provided viewers around the world with an exclusive look behind the scenes at what life is like at the world’s top ballet companies, giving audiences the chance to see the athleticism and dedication it takes to be a member of the world’s top ballet companies.

The Royal Ballet’s contribution to Word Ballet Day is now available to watch in full by following this link.

Joseph Sissens rehearses jojo (c) Royal Opera House, photo by Andre Uspenski
Joseph Sissens rehearses jojo (c) Royal Opera House, photo by Andre Uspenski
Yasmine Naghdi and Fumi Kaneko (c) Royal Opera House, photo by Andre Uspenski
Yasmine Naghdi and Fumi Kaneko (c) Royal Opera House, photo by Andre Uspenski
Matthew Ball and members of The Royal Ballet rehearse The Unknown Soldier
Matthew Ball and members of The Royal Ballet rehearse The Unknown Soldier