On Point: Royal Academy of Dance at 100

Charming exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum to mark the centenary of the Royal Academy of Dance.

The show looked at the origins of the organisation which developed from the Dancers’ Circle Dinners of the 1920s and had a fascinating section on its five founders who had had careers in the principal schools of ballet, French, Italian and Russian, using costumes and playbills.

The middle section looked at the dance classes run by the organisation with some fun photographs and a lovely pamphlet “Grooming for Ballet” from 1964. Maybe if I’d had a copy when I was doing classes in the late 1960s I might have stayed the course and not given up because classes clashed with Crackerjack.

Finally there were sections on the international dance competition which they organise and plans for a new headquarters. There was a good blend between the past, present and future.

Closes 29 August 2022

 

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