Why Dance Matters

Ana Maria Campos is a Royal Academy of Dance teacher from Brazil. She has travelled widely and lived in several different countries – dance and dance teaching are wonderfully portable skills. As an RAD examiner, she also visits dance schools all over the world – how does she calm the nerves of young dancers and help them give their best? And as someone who has dedicated their career to dance and helping others dance, she will know better than most why dance matters.

Ana Maria Campos grew up in Brazil, training as a dancer with Ilara Lopes and Jorge Pena. She graduated as a teacher from the Royal Academy of Dance in London, receiving the Karsavina and Philipe Nind Awards, and also holds a degree from Durham University in Ballet Teaching and Contextual Studies. Now based in Brazil, she is now a Mentor, Tutor and Examiner for the RAD.

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

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Raphael Ng began his career in the ballet studio – only to leap effortlessly into high finance. Based in Singapore, Raphael threw himself into ballet, contemporary and Chinese dance, taking part in international shows and competitions – but when exploring how to manage his money as a student, he caught an excitement for the financial world. Now a fund manager, he discusses the invaluable transferrable skills of dance training – and why, having co-founded a school teaching RAD ballet in Singapore, dance retains a special place in his heart.

Raphael Ng is Fund Manager at Salzworth Global Currency Fund. Born in Hong Kong, he grew up in Singapore. His parents were both dancers; he studied RAD ballet, going on to perform and take part in competitions in Europe and Australia. At Singapore Management University (SMU) he studied information systems management; he took part in dance competitions and the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010. His finance career began at Credit Suisse, and he joined Salzworth in 2019. He co-founded Jeté Studios in Singapore, led by RAD Registered teachers.

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Follow the RAD on social media and join the conversation with host David Jays:

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we visit the Royal Academy of Dance’s global headquarters in London to meet its new chief executive – the ebullient Tim Arthur. Tim’s previous experience is dizzyingly varied – he arrives at the RAD via senior roles in theatre, publishing and finance, working with companies like Time Out and Virgin Money. Why did a dance organisation feel like the logical next step? We also explore Tim’s current training as a psychotherapist, not to mention his unexpected glory as an almost-award-winning burlesque performer. It’s a heady mix!

Tim Arthur became Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Dance in 2022. He started his career as a drama teacher, theatre director and playwright. He has been CEO/Artistic Director of Trinity Theatre in Tunbridge Wells, Derby Playhouse’s internationally renowned Community Theatre and Cardboard Citizens, a multi-award-winning charity creating theatre with and for the homeless. As Global CEO of Time Out, he transformed a beloved heritage print title into one of the world’s most innovative media brands, and as Creative Director of Virgin Money helped them to transform into a leading customer champion. 

Find out more about the work of the RAD

Follow the RAD on social media and join the conversation with host David Jays:

Instagram @royalacademyofdance

Facebook @RoyalAcademyofDance

Twitter @RADheadquarters

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David Jays @mrdavidjays

Sign up to our mailing list to keep in touch!

RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tiler Peck, one of the world’s great ballerinas, opens the new season of Why Dance Matters. The California-born dancer is a reigning star at New York City Ballet, where she has been a principal since 2009, and is also a director and choreographer in her own right. Feted for her innate musicality and formidable work ethic, audiences respond to her warmth and enthusiasm. She commissions her own programmes of dance, working with great choreographers like William Forsythe and Michelle Dorrance. Having lost valuable time to a career-threatening injury and to the pandemic, she is thrumming with energy. 

Tiler Peck is a principal dancer of New York City Ballet, and has danced on Broadway and on screen. She is also a director, curator, choreographer and designer, and continues to evolve as an artist and add to her extensive repertoire. She launched and starred in BalletNOW in Los Angeles and directed the inaugural Artists at the Center for New York City Center. She developed a daily ballet class, #TurnItOutWithTiler, initially aimed at helping people stay connected and moving during the pandemic. Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends is at Sadler’s Wells, London in March. 

Find out more about Tiler on her website or Instagram @tilerpeck

Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends is at Sadler’s Wells, London, on 9–11 March.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Benjamin Zephaniah

In the last episode of this series of Why Dance Matters, we meet a poet – the resonant, rousing, heart-stopping Benjamin Zephaniah. Benjamin’s specific dance connection is that he’s recorded the narration for Rambert’s acclaimed new stage production based on Peaky Blinders, the cult period crime drama. As a celebrated performance poet, he’s used to making language, voice and physicality fuse in the most memorable of ways. His writing for young people as well as adults has been transforming, inspiring generations of readers. He will explore words and bodies, and the way that creativity can change a life.

About Benjamin Zephaniah

Benjamin Zephaniah was a pioneer of the performance poetry scene in Britain. He has spent most of his life performing around the world in schools, universities, concert halls and other public spaces. He is also an actor, a TV and radio presenter, and a novelist, who has written over 20 books. He has his own band, The Revolutionary Minds, but he has also worked musically with Sinead O’Connor, Moby, and Bob Marley’s Wailers. He has his own poetry show on Sky Arts, called Life and Rhymes, and he was born and bred in Birmingham

Find out more about the work of the RAD.

Follow the RAD on social media, and join the conversation with host David Jays

Instagram @royalacademyofdance

Facebook @RoyalAcademyofDance

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or make a donation.

Benjamin’s website is https://benjaminzephaniah.com

Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby will tour during 2023 – visit https://peakyblindersdance.com/

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Why Dance Matters has benefited hugely from encouragement and inspiration from Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel in the Faculty of Education at the Royal Academy of Dance, so it’s high time she was a guest. Born in Malta, Kathrina has been with the Faculty since 2005, and her books include Princess Poutiatine and the Art of Ballet in Malta and co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet, a brilliant survey of choreographers shaping the art of ballet. Dance education isn’t just a job to Kathrina, it’s a passion: how did she discover that this was where she wanted to spend her working life?

Dr Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel is Head of Research and Lead Academic Integrity Officer at the RAD’s Faculty of Education. A graduate of the RAD, the Universities of Durham and Surrey and London Metropolitan University, she took up the position of Lecturer in Dance Studies at the Faculty of Education in 2005, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2014. She is editor of Focus on Education, has authored a book on the legacy of Princess Nathalie Poutiatine and co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Ballet. She also set up and managed the dance company, three-fortyone dances, from 2003–07, and coaches gifted and talented students in a local ballet school in Surrey.

Find out more about RAD’ Faculty of Education.

Explore the Faculty’s Guest Lecture Series.

Find out more about the RAD’s Dance for Lifelong Wellbeing project.

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or make a donation.

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Ballroom culture was celebrated in the tv drama Pose, set in New York during the 1980s and 90s. It originated in Harlem, where queer people of colour came together in act of self-expression and resistance, and is now international. A key figure in London’s scene is DJ, community activist and impresario, Jay Jay Revlon. Jay Jay has serious dance training, and found a home for his talents in ballroom – often with his mother on the door at his events! As father of the House of Revlon, Jay Jay looks after the people who work and perform with him. He’s the perfect guide to ballroom culture.

Born and raised in Peckham, South London, Jay Jay has many hats. His focus is curating events, DJing, Ballroom (voguing) and mentoring. Listed in Time Out’s ‘One to Watch’, he is a committed community activist, dedicated to creating safe spaces and conversations for QPOC and LGBTQ+. He does this through his own club night ‘Let’s Have a Kiki #theparty’ and as a volunteer peer to peer mentor at Stonewall Housing. A devoted influence on the London Ballroom scene, as Father of the ‘UK House of Revlon’, Jay Jay is a leading authority of Ballroom in the UK.

Find out more about the work of the RAD.

Follow the RAD on social media, and join the conversation with host David Jays

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or make a donation.

Jay Jay’s website is https://www.justjayjay.com/ and you can follow him on Instagram and Twitter @jayjayrevlon

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Unusually, Charlotte Edmonds began her career as a professional choreographer while still a teenager. The RAD spotted her talent for making dance when she was just 18: she was Commissioned Choreographer for the RAD’s Genée International Ballet Competition (now named The Fonteyn) in 2015, and also became The Royal Ballet’s inaugural young choreographer. She continues to navigate a varied freelance career, often making her own creative opportunities.

Charlotte Edmonds is a choreographer, dancer and filmmaker. In 2013 she received her first choreographic commission from the Yorke Dance Project and The Royal Ballet and has an impressive number of choreographies to her name. She studied at the Royal Ballet School and Rambert, and was The Royal Ballet’s Inaugural Young Choreographer. She has also worked with Dutch National Ballet Junior Company, Studio Wayne McGregor and Ballet Cymru, and was Commissioned Choreographer for the RAD’s Genée International Ballet Competition (now The Fonteyn). She founded Cameo, a series of dialogues with female and non-binary dance makers; and drawing on her own experience, co-founded Move Beyond Words, to amplify the voices of artists with dyslexia.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

Find out more about The Fonteyn competition

Follow the RAD on social media, and join the conversation with host David Jays

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or make a donation

Charlotte Edmond’s website: https://charlotteedmonds.com/

Move Beyond Words: https://www.movebeyondwords.co.uk/

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The Savannah Bananas is not what you might expect from a US baseball team; players break off to twerk, or do a TikTok challenge, and the Entertainment Director, Zack Frongillo, is a trained classical dancer.

We love seeing dance sneak into unexpected places. In this episode, we hear from Zack who tells us how the Savannah Bananas in Georgia are making a double play with dance and baseball, and bringing more fun to their fans in the process. If you thought the team might be a stranger to dance breaks and pirouettes, then think again. Let’s play ball…

Zack Frongillo, the Littleton, Colorado native, began his dance career at the age of 16 and continued his dance career at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. While in college, Zack took his studies overseas to the Korean National Sports University and trained with the Seoul National Ballet. Zack joined the Savannah Bananas after the spring series in 2021, and shortly thereafter joined full time during the 2021 CPL Season as the Director of Entertainment. Previously, Zack was a Stage Manager for the Vegas Golden Knights Entertainment Team before their Inaugural Season in 2017, until eventually moving to Savannah in 2021. Zack was also the Entertainment Director for UNLV Hockey and assisted in regional tournaments with organizations such as the Pac-12, Mountain West, and WAC.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

Follow the RAD on social media, and join the conversation with host David Jays

Instagram @royalacademyofdance

Facebook @RoyalAcademyofDance

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or make a donation

Find out more about the Savannah Bananas: https://thesavannahbananas.com

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May you live in interesting times may be an ancient curse, but Monica Mason has voyaged through some very interesting times and places. She spent most of her career at The Royal Ballet, eventually as its artistic director – but was born in South Africa, moving to London in the 1950s to ignite her astonishing career. She later toured through segregated America, behind the Iron Curtain, and to Cuba and China. As a Vice-President at the RAD she was a key figure in realising its dream of a new home, so is perfectly placed to discuss what it means to a dancer to feel at home and far away.

Dame Monica Mason is a Vice-President of the RAD. Born in Johannesburg, she came to England aged 14. She joined The Royal Ballet in 1958 and was promoted to Principal in 1968. She created the Chosen Maiden in Kenneth MacMillan’s The Rite of Spring and many other roles in her wide repertoire. She later became Assistant Director, Acting Director and then Director of The Royal Ballet, from 2002–12, leaving the Royal Opera House after 54 years. She was made a Dame Commander for her services to dance and received the Queen Elizabeth II Award from the RAD in 2011.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

Follow the RAD on social media, and join the conversation with host David Jays

Instagram @royalacademyofdance

Facebook @RoyalAcademyofDance

Twitter @RADheadquarters

YouTube / royalacademydance

David Jays @mrdavidjays

Sign up to our mailing list

RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or make a donation

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.