By Grace Hatchell, 2nd Act Couriers
I opened my satchel this morning expecting the usual. A flyer, a ticket offer, possibly a slightly crumpled cast sheet that had travelled further than I have this week.
Instead… a university.
Not the building obviously. That would require a much bigger bag and frankly stronger shoulders. But tucked between my envelopes was news that Birmingham Royal Ballet have gone and made things official with the University of Birmingham. And not just a polite handshake either. A proper partnership.
Now I know what you’re thinking.
Grace, that sounds suspiciously like paperwork.
Stay with me, because this is actually quite a big deal for audiences.
For years ballet has looked effortless from the stalls. People glide, spin and leap as if gravity signed a temporary ceasefire. But behind the curtain the dancers are athletes. Real ones. The kind that train daily, monitor diet, look after bone health and somehow still smile at the end of Act III.
This partnership means scientists are now involved in the magic.
Researchers at the university are working with the company’s specialist dance injury centre to study wellbeing, nutrition, mental resilience and safeguarding. In simple terms: they’re figuring out how dancers can stay stronger, healthier and on stage longer.
Which matters to you, even if you never wear a tutu in your life.
Because when dancers are healthier, productions are stronger. Touring is more reliable. Cast changes happen less often. The performance you booked is much more likely to be the performance you get.
There’s also something rather lovely happening. Students are being brought into the world of ballet too. Placements, research projects and new career paths are opening up, meaning the next generation of lighting designers, marketers and creatives may discover theatre through dance.
And here’s my favourite part.
The university is even using ballet to teach marketing students about audience behaviour. Imagine explaining ticket-buying habits through pirouettes. I’d have paid far more attention at school if algebra had involved costumes.
What this really shows is that ballet isn’t a distant art form reserved for velvet-seat evenings. It’s becoming something studied, understood and built around the people watching it.
Birmingham Royal Ballet already tours widely across the UK, often bringing live ballet to towns that otherwise wouldn’t see it at all.
This partnership feels like a promise they intend to keep doing exactly that, just with a little more science and a lot more future planning behind the curtain.
So if a ballet poster appears in your local theatre soon, don’t assume it’s “not for you.” Somewhere in Birmingham, dancers, doctors and students are quietly working together to make sure the evening makes sense to everyone.
Here’s some useful information for you, The University of Birmingham is a global institution proudly rooted in one of the UK’s most dynamic and diverse cities ( I hear the ‘uhhhh’). In 2025, the university pledged its continued commitment to Birmingham as part of its 125th anniversary. The University also has strategic partnerships with Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Birmingham City Football Club, creating new opportunities in research, education and health. In plain English, it means the city’s brains and its ballerinas are finally working side by side. The university brings the research, the ballet brings the magic, and Birmingham gets to be the sort of place where big ideas and big pirouettes grow together.
I’ll keep an eye on it for you.
After all, it’s my job to deliver the important things.
Grace x At the University Of Birmingham A leading global university – University of Birmingham
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