World Ballet Day – Save The Date – 29 October 2020!

Fumi Kaneko and Joseph Aumeer of The Royal Ballet rehearsing The Sleeping Beauty during World Ballet Day 2019 c 2019 ROH. Photograph by Gavin Smart

World Ballet Day returns on 29 October 2020 for an exciting global celebration, bringing the dance community together as it faces the challenges of the covid pandemic.

Save the date and discover the best creative teams, dancers and artistic communities across the world, bringing companies together to celebrate past, present and future.

Fumi Kaneko of The Royal Ballet rehearsing The Sleeping Beauty during World Ballet Day 2019 c 2019 ROH. Photograph by Gavin Smart
Fumi Kaneko of The Royal Ballet rehearsing The Sleeping Beauty during World Ballet Day 2019 (c) 2019 ROH. Photograph by Gavin Smart

World Ballet Day showcases the best of global dance and gives an opportunity for audiences to go behind the scenes of the world’s top ballet companies including The Australian Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet and The Royal Ballet. The full roster of participating companies will be announced as we get closer to the day.

Each company will be streaming live rehearsals and insights in accordance with their respective local covid guidance via their Facebook and YouTube pages as well as via Tencent video in China.

Last year’s World Ballet Day was the most successful year yet, with the event reaching 315 million social media users around the world.

Darcey Bussell and The Royal Ballet rehearsing The Sleeping Beauty during World Ballet Day 2019 c 2019 ROH. Photograph by Gavin Smart
Darcey Bussell and The Royal Ballet rehearsing The Sleeping Beauty during World Ballet Day 2019 (c) 2019 ROH. Photograph by Gavin Smart

As we know, the covid pandemic has had a huge impact on the global dance community with dancers unable to rehearse or perform for many months. As new Covid-19 guidelines come into place, the dance world is thankfully slowly beginning to return to the stage.

This year’s World Ballet Day will provide an exclusive insight into how dance companies are responding to these new ways of rehearsing, working and performing.

World Ballet Day 2020 invites audiences to experience morning class, which in the UK, will take place on the iconic Royal Opera House stage.

Yasmine Naghdi of The Royal Ballet in class during World Ballet Day 2019 c 2019 ROH. Photograph by Gavin Smart
Yasmine Naghdi of The Royal Ballet in class during World Ballet Day 2019 (c) 2019 ROH. Photograph by Gavin Smart

There will be exclusive interviews and access to backstage rehearsals for The Royal Ballet: Live, showcasing the first series of live performances for The Royal Ballet in seven months.

The Australian Ballet will kick off the livestream (2am GMT) before passing the baton to the Bolshoi Ballet (7am GMT) and on to The Royal Ballet (11am to 3pm GMT).

A full schedule from these global dance companies will be available via worldballetday.com

The Royal Ballet rehearsing The Sleeping Beauty during World Ballet Day 2019 c 2019 ROH. Photograph by Gavin Smart
The Royal Ballet rehearsing The Sleeping Beauty during World Ballet Day 2019 (c) 2019 ROH. Photograph by Gavin Smart