On Thursday 7th March, Year Six enjoyed a visit to London to experience ballet being performed at the Royal Opera House. The children had to be patient as the coach journey took longer than we had hoped but eventually we arrived in Covent Garden. We enjoyed our packed lunch inside the Royal Opera House before taking our seats for the performance. We saw three different ballets, Apollo, 24 Preludes and Aeternum. Each of the performances had different elements and all of the pupils had a favourite. During one of the intervals we went out onto the balcony area and found a fantastic view of Covent Garden.
We were joined by Martin Fosten, former Academic Principal of the Royal Ballet School and were delighted when he was able to give us a tour of the school. We saw pupils practising in the studios as well as walking across the Bridge of Aspiration. This was built to connect the Royal Ballet School with the Royal Opera House and is a very impressive piece of architecture.
After the tour, we walked to The Strand where we had a delicious meal at Bella Italia. The pupils were wonderfully behaved throughout the whole trip and returned back to school ready to share their impressions of a new type of performance.
We were delighted to have been successful in the ballot for tickets this year and hope to take other classes in the future. We were also very grateful to the Taylor Foundation who have provided a travel grant which reduced the cost of the trip.