The Royal Ballet Will Host WORLD BALLET DAY 2026 Livestream

World Ballet Day will return on Thursday 29 October with filmed content from ballet companies around the world available to watch online. The Royal Ballet will host a three-hour livestream, taking audiences inside the rehearsal room to explore the stories of how teaching and coaching bring ballet to life.

Through rehearsal and conversation, the livestream will explore the transmission of knowledge through training and coaching, and how choreography is coached and passed on to new generations, revealing the central role that teachers and ballet répétiteurs play in preserving the art form.

Drawing on their personal experiences of working with choreographers past and present, coaches play an essential role in the rehearsal journey, not only in staging ballets but also in guiding artists and helping to ensure works are performed as originally intended. By aligning steps, technique and artistry with knowledge and memories that often span decades, they continue the vital tradition of sharing and passing on ballet to the next generation.

Audiences will be invited to join distinguished figures from The Royal Ballet, including former dancers and coaches, as they lead and reflect on the art of rehearsal. Through personal recollections of performance and coaching, they will reveal how the experience of artists who have danced these roles themselves continues to shape the interpretations of today's dancers.

The focus on teachers and the passing on of knowledge is a special fit with this year's centenary celebration for The Royal Ballet School. Students of the School will feature as part of the day, as well as dancers from Birmingham Royal Ballet appearing in the livestream from Covent Garden.

The stream begins at 11.30am with a live broadcast of The Royal Ballet's daily Company Class, a much-loved highlight of World Ballet Day that offers unique access to the Company in morning practice as dancers prepare for the day's rehearsals. Presented by Royal Ballet Principal Character Artist Kristen McNally and filmed live from the Royal Opera House, the programme offers an inspiring insight into the world of ballet and the living tradition of multi-generational coaching, shared artistry and storytelling.

World Ballet Day, first held over a decade ago in collaboration with other companies including The Royal Ballet, The Australian Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada and San Francisco Ballet, is a global celebration of ballet, bringing companies, dancers and audiences together through livestreamed and digital content from around the world.

The stream is supported with BSL and an Audio description service.