Residential Performance Company 2025
“NYB is such a supportive and kind environment where I feel safe to grow and explore, the teachers and rehearsal directors and all the staff are all so helpful and kind and the performance opportunities are fabulous.” 2024 Participant
INSPIRE - MOVE - CREATE
NYB is a leading national performance company for young dancers aged between nine and eighteen.
Our mission is to bring young people together through creative, joyful and inclusive ballet activities that nurture confidence, skills and positive values.
Our vision is that young people are empowered to thrive, shaping the future of ballet and the world around them.
Audition applications are now open for NYB’s Residential Performance Company 2025.
Ready, And… Amy Groves, Choreographer Beyond Ballet® ©Lachlan Monaghan
Residential Opportunities
Sunday 10 August 2025 – Saturday 16 August 2025 inclusive
NYB’s Residential Performance Company 2025 will be held at Elmhurst Ballet School for 7-days (6 nights).
This unique programme will provide an immersive opportunity for young dancers aged between nine and eighteen to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a company dancer. Throughout the week they will develop their creative, collaborative and performance skills by working as a company and experiencing the creative processes of a variety of highly esteemed choreographers and repetiteurs.
The 2025 residency culminates in a sharing of work for an invited audience of friends, family and industry professionals in the Elmhurst Studio Theatre.
Young people will have the opportunity to:
- Enjoy an audition that is curated to support and educate young people
- Understand how it feels to be part of an inclusive ballet company
- Build confidence and resilience through NYB’s Moving Minds sessions
- Take part in daily company classes with an inspiring range of teachers
- Learn and perform two pieces of new work or NYB repertoire
- Gain insight into the creative processes of esteemed professional choreographers, as well as working with up-and-coming artists through NYB’s Beyond Ballet® scheme
- Develop valuable performance skills by participating in a performance for friends, family, and a range of industry professionals
- Gain valuable industry insights with Q+A’s and workshops with well known guests
- Explore their own choreographic voice by participating in our in-house Frank Freeman choreographic challenge, which will be in the presence of special guests from the ballet industry. The competition has previously been adjudicated by artists including David Bintley, Tyrone Singleton and Vidya Patel
- Become part of the NYB family and build lifelong connections with other like minded dancers
©Lachlan Monaghan, Residential Performance Company 2024
New for 2025
Dancers aged nine to twelve will work within their age group, but will now have the additional opportunity to work on two pieces, which will include one new work and one piece of repertoire. The programme for dancers aged thirteen to eighteen will remain as above.
Auditions
NYB will hold seven auditions from January to March 2025 in London (two locations), Bath, Newcastle, Birmingham, Leeds, and online (Zoom). Acceptance onto NYB’s Residential Performance Company 2025 will be assessed with a one stage audition process.
As in 2024, there will be no second audition, therefore dancers will not be required to travel across the country to participate in an audition together. We hope that by continuing to remove this requirement to travel for a second audition the audition process will be more manageable for families.
About Auditions
Auditions last between 2 to 2.5 hours depending on what age group you are in. We understand that auditions can sometimes be an intimidating process for young dancers, but they are also a key part of life as a professional dancer!
To enhance dancers’ skills, our team will provide a short workshop to start the audition to enable each participant to perform to their full potential. These confidence-building skills will be useful for all future audition experiences.
Ballet class:
Dancers will participate in a 60-75 minute ballet class with a professional teacher.
Contemporary phrase/task:
Dancers will have the opportunity to learn and perform a short piece of contemporary work at the end of the audition.
Online (Zoom) audition:
In addition to the above, we require those who audition via zoom to upload a self tape recording of three sections of the audition (instructions and help will be provided prior to the audition). This can be recorded on a phone or similar device and does not need to be professionally recorded.
The reason for this is that we are recording exactly the same sections of the classes at each audition and will be used for internal purposes only.
Join us!
Whether you have taken part in NYB before or not, if you are passionate about ballet and want to be part of a creative, inclusive and supportive community, we’d love to meet you!
Please note that all auditions will be filmed/photographed for internal use only. If you have any questions about this please email admin@nationalyouthballet.org
©Lachlan Monaghan, Residential Performance Company 2023
Key Dates
Residential: Sunday 10 August 2025 – Saturday 16 August 2025
You can choose from the following audition dates:
Please note: places are booked on a first come first served basis and are capped at 25 places per audition.
# Accessible venue
* In the event that the audition for your age group is sold out, but you are available to attend another venue, please book into the audition for your age group at the alternative venue. In the case that another venue is not possible, please book into the closest age group to yours and contact admin@nationalyouthballet.org
** For those taking part in London Children’s Ballet Main Company, who also wish to audition for NYB, Sunday 23 February 2025 has been mutually agreed by both organisations to avoid any potential rehearsal clashes, therefore we kindly ask you to please attend the NYB audition on Sunday 23 February 2025.
Please see our Frequently Asked Questions for more information.
Fees and bursaries
Audition fees:
Non-refundable audition fee: £40
Course fees:
Residential Performance Company: £846
Residential Performance Company (Non-residential): £660
Bursaries:
NYB aims to support a diverse range of applications by removing financial barriers. In 2025, thanks to the generosity of those who supported our Relevé Appeal, we are delighted to offer our first Relevé Bursary as part of our bursaries available for applicants from different socio-economic backgrounds that meet our eligibility criteria. New to 2025 we continue to seek ways to provide financial assistance to families and will pilot travel grants for RPC participants from different geographic areas that meet our eligibility criteria.
To be considered for a 2025 Residential Performance Company bursary please complete this form by Friday 21 March 2025. Successful bursary applicants will be notified as soon as the audition outcomes are communicated. For more information on Bursaries click here. If you need support with the form please contact us at admin@nationalyouthballet.org.
©Lachlan Monaghan, Residential Performance Company 2024
Why become a Part of NYB?
For over 30 years, NYB alumni have gone on to dance in major British ballet companies including The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet, Scottish Ballet and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, and many more have gone on to work in dance, choreography and related industries worldwide. In addition, alumni state that the skills they developed as part of NYB prepared them well for diverse and varied careers beyond the dance profession.
Easy read and access support
Access Support:
An easy read copy of this page can be found here in PDF format and here in Word Document format.
A video description can also be found here.
An easy read copy of our Residential Performance Company FAQs can be found here in PDF format and here in Word Document format.
If you need any support with completing an application form please contact us at admin@nationalyouthballet.org. Please note: there is also a space for you to share your additional access needs within our form, and we welcome any access riders via the email address above.
©Lachlan Monaghan, Residential Performance Company 2024
Further Information
NYB is a registered charity and not-for-profit organisation and has always had to find charitable funding to subsidise fees charged to participants, which do not cover our costs. NYB works hard to make activity accessible and to keep fees as low as possible. As in 2024, this includes new audition locations and eliminating the second audition, to save travel costs for families.
All fees are worked out to cover basic residential tuition, board and lodging. NYB subsidises all other costs to provide this unique opportunity, which also includes the chance to meet some of our world-famous patrons and to be part of a lifelong community of artists and industry professionals. The NYB team is firmly committed to delivering impactful activity, so we can secure charitable funding to subsidise opportunities for everyone who takes part. We are committed to covering this subsidy in 2025, and to continuing to offer bursary places. In 2025 for the whole year we must raise £186,000 from donations and grants to reach our fundraising target, to ensure we can cover the costs of the activity, as well as management and administration provided by our small team.
If you have any questions please contact us at admin@nationalyouthballet.org.uk. We look forward to meeting you!