Royal Conservatoire Dance The Hague

Programme

Royal Conservatoire Dance was established to train students of what was formerly the Academy of Dance. The programme started in 1956 under the leadership of Sonia Gaskell (1905-1974), who was at that time the artistic director of the Nederlands Ballet, which was partially absorbed into the Dutch National Ballet in 1961. The teaching methods were initially based on the British ballet syllabus. Valerie Adams, a prominent dance teacher at Britain’s Sadler’s Wells School, was appointed as principal teacher. In 1973, René Vincent, a Dutch ballet teacher and former soloist with the Dutch National Ballet, became director of the Dance department. Ten years later he was succeeded by Marian Sarstädt.