THE Academy of Northern Ballet is hosting open days on Sunday, February 1, and Sunday, February 15, at its home in Leeds city centre for young people interested in pursuing their passion for ballet with professional training.

The free open days will run from 9.30am to 4pm on February 1 and 9.30am to12.30pm on February 15, and include sessions for budding dancers aged nine and 12 and 13 and 15, as well as dedicated boys-only sessions.

The open days are the chance for prospective students from Yorkshire and beyond to meet the staff, tour the academy’s state-of-the-art facilities and find out more about the training programmes on offer.

The Academy of Northern Ballet is the official school of Leeds-based Northern Ballet, one of the UK’s foremost professional ballet companies, and specialises in offering a holistic approach to teaching, nurturing and inspiring the professional dancers of the future. As the only recognised Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) in the UK specialising in classical ballet, the Academy of Northern Ballet is hosting its open days in Leeds to encourage young dancers to audition for its professional CAT training programme, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2014. All graduates from Northern Ballet’s CAT programme wishing to pursue their training further, have gone on to full-time training at top vocational schools including the Royal Ballet Upper School, English National Ballet School, Canada’s National Ballet School and Central School of Ballet.

Yasmin Delves, CAT manager at the Academy of Northern Ballet said: “The Academy of Northern Ballet is one of the leading classical ballet training schools in the UK. Our focus is on recognising talent and nurturing our students to give them the technical training and mentoring they need to develop as dancers.

“We are holding our open days so that young dancers can find out first-hand about the world-class ballet training available to them in Leeds. The open days will provide the opportunity for prospective students to meet staff and talk to the teachers, find out more about the training programmes and technique, and take part in a taster class. They will also be able to tour our state-of-the-art facility which we share with Northern Ballet’s professional company.”

To register for an open day or to find out further information call 0113 220 8000 or email academy@northernballet.com