To mark International Dance Day, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall has recorded a video conversation with Dame Darcey Bussell DBE, President of the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and Angela Rippon CBE, Ambassador for the organisation’s Silver Swans initiative. Today the RAD have also announced Her Royal Highness as their new Vice-Patron. Her Majesty The Queen has been Patron of the Academy since 1953.
In the video, Her Royal Highness discusses the importance of active ageing and her own experience participating in Silver Swans, an initiative created specially for older learners using ballet to improve mobility, posture, coordination and energy levels. During the current crisis, the Royal Academy of Dance have launched a free online series of Silver Swans classes, with a new video available every Wednesday via their website and social media channels.
The Duchess of Cornwall previously visited the RAD’s headquarters in Battersea in February 2018, where she met a group of Silver Swans students and watched performances by participants from the organisations other programmes. These included Project B, an initiative to encourage boys into ballet, and a teacher training demonstration.
During Their Royal Highnesses’ tour to New Zealand in 2019, The Duchess visited a Silver Swans class at a Salvation Army Centre in Christchurch.
