11 March 2022 09:49

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall formally opens new Royal Academy of Dance global headquarters

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall formally opened the new state-of-the-art Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) global headquarters today, followed by a tour of the building given by RAD Chief Executive, Luke Rittner, CBE, and President, Dame Darcey Bussell.

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall. Photo: David Tett.

Created as a new international home for dance, the new building in Battersea will enable the RAD to expand on its 100-year commitment to high-quality dance education and to bring the transformational power of dance to more people, regardless of age, ability, or location.

New facilities

The enhanced education and training facilities for students and teachers include seven large dance studios, a café and a shop. The new building is now also home to a long-wished-for 193-seat performance space to showcase the RAD’s dancing talent. On display for the first time will be a fully accessible archive showcasing the RAD’s extraordinary collection of 75,000 artefacts, books, programmes, letters, relics and costumes, which can be viewed by appointment with the archivist. The Duchess, Vice-Patron of the RAD since 2020, toured the new building and learnt about how the space is being used to expand on the Academy’s work in the local community through a network of outreach and wellbeing initiatives.

“As the very proud Vice-Patron of the RAD, I would like to congratulate everybody who has made this wonderful new building possible. Having had a very short tour of it, seeing its complete magnificence, it’s just doing so much for so many young people – and old people like me. As a Silver Swan myself, I was inspired by my first visit here to try it out and I have been doing it ever since.”
HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.

Follow this link to more photos and information about the opening