David Gayle MBE is a former dancer with The Royal Ballet and founder of the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars and first co-ordinator of the Royal Ballet Summer School.
David Gayle was born and brought up in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, and trained under Mrs Margaret Allenby-Jaffé in Skipton, North Yorkshire. [1] He was a dancer with The Royal Ballet, performing alongside the likes of Rudolf Nureyev and Dame Margot Fonteyn. He was the first boy to be taken on to the teacher training course at the Royal Ballet School. [2]
Gayle founded the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars to give young people the chance to learn ballet without having to go to London. The first residential summer ballet course was officially opened at Ilkley College on 4 August 1975 by Dame Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School. The first master class was then taught by Dame Alicia Markova. [3] "Our reputation spread nd students came from all over the world," Gayle said in an interview in 2009. [2] "So many of the students went on to be professional dancers: in ballet companies, in musicals and in contemporary dance." The Yorkshire Ballet Seminars left Ilkley when the college closed in 1999 [2] and are now held at York St John University in York. [4]
Following the success of the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars, prima ballerina Merle Park invited Gayle to set up similar seminars in London as the Royal Ballet Summer School in 1987. [2]
Gayle retired from the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars in 2005, handing over the directorship to Marguerite Porter, a former senior principal ballerina and guest artist with the Royal Ballet. [3] Gayle was made an MBE in 1991. [5]
Dame Ninette de Valois was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, later establishing the Royal Ballet, one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century and one of the leading ballet companies in the world. She also established the Royal Ballet School and the touring company which became the Birmingham Royal Ballet. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of ballet and as the "godmother" of English and Irish ballet.
The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) is an international dance teaching and examination board based in London, England. The registered educational charity, which was established on 25 July 1904 as the Imperial Society of Dance Teachers, provides training and examinations in a range of dance styles and certified dance teacher courses. The ISTD is recognised by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Council for Dance Education and Training and is also a member of the British Dance Council. It hosts various competitions in many different formats including Modern Ballroom, Latin American, Classical Ballet and Tap Dance as well as contemporary styles like Disco Freestyle.
The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) is a UK-based examination board specialising in dance education and training, with an emphasis on classical ballet. The RAD was founded in London, England in 1920 as the Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing, and was granted a Royal Charter in 1935. Queen Camilla is patron of the RAD, and Darcey Bussell was elected to serve as president in 2012, succeeding Antoinette Sibley who served for 21 years.
Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, (born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle; is a retired English ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing.
Deborah Clare Bull, Baroness Bull,, is an English dancer, writer, and broadcaster and former creative director of the Royal Opera House. She joined King's College London as Director, Cultural Partnerships in 2012. In 2015 she was appointed as the university's Assistant Principal (London), in 2018 was named Vice President & Vice-Principal (London) and in 2021 named Vice Principal until her departure in July 2022.
Dame Alicia Markova DBE was a British ballerina and a choreographer, director and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted for her career with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and touring internationally, she was widely considered to be one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of the twentieth century. She was the first British dancer to become the principal dancer of a ballet company and, with Dame Margot Fonteyn, is one of only two English dancers to be recognised as a prima ballerina assoluta. Markova was a founder dancer of the Rambert Dance Company, The Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, and was co-founder and director of the English National Ballet.
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company.
The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially for the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Vera Volkova (Russian: Bepa Boлкoвa; was a Russian ballet dancer and expatriate dance teacher.
Rowena Othlie Jackson is a New Zealand former prima ballerina.
Dame Catherine Margaret Mary Scott, was a South African-born pioneering ballet dancer who found fame as a teacher, choreographer, and school administrator in Australia. As the first director of the Australian Ballet School, she is recognised as one of the founders of the strong ballet tradition of her adopted country.
Heather Watts is a former ballet dancer and teacher most known for her time with the New York City Ballet.
Dame Beryl Elizabeth Grey was a British ballet dancer.
Dame Merle Park, is a British ballet dancer and teacher, now retired. As a prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet during the 1960s and 1970s, she was known for "brilliance of execution and virtuoso technique" as well as for her ebullience and charm. Also admired for her dramatic abilities, she was praised as an actress who "textured her vivacity with emotional details."
David Blair was a British ballet dancer and a star of England's Royal Ballet during the 1950s and 1960s.
British ballet is most recognised for two leading methods, those of the Royal Ballet School and the Royal Academy of Dance. The identifying characteristic of British ballet is the focus on clean, precise technique and purity of line that is free of exaggeration and mannerisms. The training of dancers in Britain is noted for its slow progression, with a great deal of attention paid to basic technique. British ballet methods operate on the principle that establishing correct technique and strength slowly makes it much easier for the student to adapt to more difficult vocabulary and techniques later on.
John Field was an English ballet dancer, choreographer, director and teacher. He was a renowned member of the Vic-Wells Ballet and Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet and was also artistic director of the La Scala Theatre Ballet.
Marguerite Porter MBE is an English former principal ballet dancer, turned actress and choreographer.
Samantha Raine is a dance teacher and an English retired ballerina. She is the ballet mistress of the Royal Ballet, at the Royal Opera House, in London's Covent Garden, having previously been a soloist with the Company.