Sweden’s Vocational Secondary School

with an Elite Education in Dance

A Secondary School

The Swedish National Ballet School is a “regular” secondary school ranging from the years 4-9 (ages 9/10-15/16) incorporated with Sweden’s vocational dance education all under one roof!

The students study compulsory school academic subjects such as mathematics, Swedish and English in small classes in keeping with the Swedish school system. The students do not have subjects such as art, crafts or sports but instead study a number of dance subjects.

After their final year (year 9), all students have the skills to apply to all national programs at the upper secondary school level, just like students from other Swedish secondary schools.

The Swedish Ballet School has a strong focus on digitalization. All students receive their own MacBook and many of our teaching materials are digital.

A Focus on Dance

In addition to their compulsory academic subjects, all students have classical ballet, modern contemporary dance, pilates, strength training, acrobatics, character dance, commercial and street dance as well as drama and dance theory on their schedule.

The students’ common interests increase the sense of community and contributes to the school’s family feeling.

The purpose of the ballet school’s education is for our students to acquire the required technical skills and artistic expressiveness to become a professional dancer by the age of 17.

Read more about our dance subjects here (Swedish)

A School for the Whole Region

The Swedish National Ballet School in Gothenburg has a national intake, so regardless of which municipality you live in, you can attend. Already in year 4, (age 9/10) students from the entire region travel every day to our unique secondary school in Gothenburg.

Our experience is that after just a few weeks, all students who start in year 4 soon learn to feel safe commuting to school. It is usually the parents who may have a harder time getting used to the idea. At the Swedish National Ballet School, we have a strong focus on the student’s personal responsibility, which can be seen early on in their development.

Feel free to watch our video about what it can be like to start commuting to school and please get in touch with us if you have any questions or concerns. Remember that when your child eventually begins at our school, they will be six months older than they were when you submitted the application.

Performances

We work together with professional dancers and choreographers to provide the students with the artistic and technical skills which prepare them to dance on stage and meet an audience.

All students participate in various performances at the Gothenburg Opera, Lorensbergsteatern and various other stages, and also tour around the region.

Read more about our artistic education and our performances here (Swedish)

Field Trips

All our students get continuous opportunities to see and experience performances from the dance and theatre world.

From year 6, we travel to other dance schools and opera houses in Europe to meet other students who attend the same level of dance education and see fantastic performances given by the best dance companies.

International schools also come to us every year and dance with our students here in Gothenburg.

Individual Training

The Swedish National Ballet School is an elite initiative whose main purpose is to give each individual student the best opportunity to develop their skills to their full potential.

All students develop differently and need different amounts of time to be able to develop in the progression of dance. The school’s goal is to give each individual the best conditions possible to get in-depth dance training where the details of dance technique are crucial.

All students have their own Student Progress Report and also a dance mentor who helps the student keep their development on track, but also to set up and develop their individual goals. All students are divided into groups according to their needs and the older students have individual coaching with one of their dance teachers.

Student Health

The school has an expanded student health team that works to encourage and support. In addition to our school nurse, special needs tutor, school psychologist and counsellor, the school has its own full-time physiotherapist who works with injury prevention, treatment and, if necessary, rehabilitation. The school works closely with orthopedists and other specialists in dance and sports injuries.

The team also works to promote various important areas such as young people’s mental health. Both students and teachers receive mental training, and the students’ parents are offered lectures held by the school dietitian on the importance of keeping a healthy diet for active children within the sports and dance world.

All specialists whom the school collaborates with have long and extensive experience from the sports world and high-performing children.

Training to Prevent Injury

The school has a strong focus on working to prevent injuries. The students have strength training several times a week and all dance training has in recent years been reviewed and validated so that our ways of working and methods are at the forefront of research and development for dance and injury prevention training.

The school has a gym for cardio and strength training as well as a Pilates reformer and training equipment for Pilates, yoga and PBT (Progressing Ballet Technique).

Diet and Nutrition

At the school, we have a strong focus on health and nutrition. Together with the school’s dietitian, the students learn about how healthy and nutritious diet choices give them the right amount of energy to both be able to grow but also endure a high level of exercise.

Our school is sugar-free. This means that we do not eat unhealthy things during the school day. Instead, students have access to fruit and bread during all their breaks. Our kitchen serves a healthy snack once or twice a day, and the lunch which is the same as other compulsory schools in Gothenburg, is enhanced with extra salad and additions if needed.

The school’s goal is for all students to have a natural and healthy relationship towards their diet at an early age, and understand the importance of eating a lot, often and healthily.

Parents

The students’ parents and family are of course a very important part of the support network during the student’s schooling, not least when they attend an elite education. Therefore, the school organises a number of lectures and education days in how to support a child who trains at such a level as ours and is a high achiever.

We have lectures and education days in dance training, injury prevention training, the dance student’s own responsibility, being new to the dance world, diet,  nutrition and mental training.

The school also has an active parents association that works closely with the school’s management. The association functions as a network for the school’s parents and works to support each other, the students and the school. The association does not have the function, as in the world of sports, to collect money for the team, but works on a voluntary basis and provides opportunities for those parents who want to help, at open houses, behind stage at performances, to go on school trips and arrange a spring party for the students.