RBS Nadia Nerina Scholarship

The Scholarship provides three years training at the Royal Ballet School

Nadia Nerina

The Nadia Nerina Scholarship is named in honour of one of the most gifted ballerinas of the last century, who lighted up the Royal Ballet in London during her 25-year career.

The Scholarship is awarded by Chris Powney, Artistic Director provides three years training at the Royal Ballet School for an exceptional young dancer leading to a career with one of the great international ballet companies.

The Royal Ballet School

The Royal Ballet School was founded in 1926 and granted its Royal Charter in 1956. Its mission is to nurture, train and educate exceptional young dancers for The Royal Ballet and other leading UK and international companies and to inspire the future of classical ballet training. It is one of the world’s greatest centres of classical ballet training, which for generations has produced dancers and choreographers of international renown including Margot Fonteyn, Anya Linden, Kenneth MacMillan, Lynn Seymour, David Wall, Antoinette Sibley, Anthony Dowell, Marguerite Porter, Stephen Jefferies, Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope. And now a new generation of Royal Ballet School alumnae is making its mark on the world stage – Lauren Cuthbertson, Francesca Hayward, Steven McRae, Edward Watson and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon to name a few. Admission to the School is based purely on talent and potential, regardless of academic ability or personal circumstances and 89% of current students rely on financial support to attend the School. The School offers an eight-year carefully structured dance course, aligned with an extensive academic programme, giving the students the best possible education to equip them for a career in the world of dance. The demand for Royal Ballet School graduates remains intense; in the past fifteen years almost every graduating student has secured a contract with a top international ballet company.

Fellows

Javier Cubillas Izaguirre

Javier is from San Luis Potosí, Mexico and started dancing at the age of 6 with a local dance academy. He moved to Guadalajara to join youth company Hector Hernandez, regually performing to audiences in Mexico who had never seen ballet before.

This July Javier performed at the Royal Opera House alongside his year 11 peers in Jubilation at the School’s Matinee Summer Performance. He joined the Upper School at The Royal Ballet School in September 2022. 

Javier Cubillas Izaguirre

2022-2025

Frieda Kaden

Frieda Kaden was born in 2003 in Berlin and has studied ballet since she was six years old.  At 10 she began full time training with the Staatliche Ballettschule where she has studied for the last six years under the artistic directorship of Gregor Seyffert and Marek Rozicky.

Frieda was given wonderful opportunities to perform with the School and also the company, playing the role of ‘Little Clara’ in the Staatsballett’s The Nutcracker in 2014, 2015 and 2016. In both 2016 and 2018 Frieda was awarded the Gold medal in the Staatliche Ballettschule ballet competition dancing one of Kitri’s variations from Don Quixote and Duo Verba a contemporary solo by Barbara Gatto. In 2020 Frida was joint winner of the Frida Seymour Expressive Dance Award. After graduating from the Royal Ballet School in 2022, Frieda joins Birmingham Royal Ballet under the artistic direction of Carlos Acosta.

In 2022 she was selected to form part of a special talent group at Birmingham Royal Ballet – BRB2.  This is a group for rising stars in the company aged between 18-22 who will tour in specially curated shows alongside their work with the main company.

 

Frieda Kaden

2019-2022

Amiruddin Shah

Amiruddin is an Indian national from Mumbai. He is the youngest of seven children, five boys and two girls.  Amir attended a local state school but dropped out in the 10th grade. In 2013 he gained entry to the Going Home Project of the Danceworx Theatre Society, which was set up to help talented young people from socio-economically deprived backgrounds to train and build a professional career in dancing.  Amiruddin then joined the Oregon Ballet Theatre in Portland in December 2016 and although he was initially going to New York to complete his studies Amiruddin has since chosen to attend The Royal Ballet School. Amiruddin’s development as a dancer in just two-and-a-half years is impressive. Amor Graduated from the Royal Ballet School in 2021. He combines his work as a ballet professional with entrepreneurship developing an app for artistic collaborators to connect.

2017-2021

Yu Hang

Born in Jilin in Northeast China, Yu Hang was accepted into the Dance School of the prestigious Shanghai Theatre Academy for Ballet on a scholarship. She had the honour of being taught by  well-known teacher Lin Meifang who has produced many outstanding dance talents. Yu Hang was the first Chinese winner of the 2016 Prix de Lausanne in 29 years. In the same year, she won the gold medal in the women’s Senior Division (dancers ages 15-19) of the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP). Yu Hang is only the third person to win both the Prix de Lausanne and Youth America Grand Prix. Yu Hang joined the Royal Ballet in 2018 on the Aud Jebsen Young dancers programme and is currently an Artist with the company.  In the 2019/2020 production of Sleeping Beauty, Yu Hang performed the role of Woodland Glade Fairy for some performances. Yu Hang was promoted to First Artist at The Royal Ballet in 2023.

2016-2018

Joonhyuk Jun

Having won the top prize at the 2016 Youth America Grand Prix, Joonhyuk Jun graduated from The Royal Ballet School in 2017 and became an Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme with The Royal Ballet.

Joon becomes the first South Korean to be accepted into the company and only the second Korean to be a member of any of the renowned classical ballet companies in the world.  Joon is First Artist with The Royal Ballet, London.

Joon made his solo debut with the Royal Ballet in March 2022 playing Benno in Swan Lake. Joonhyuk Jun was promoted to Soloist with The Royal Ballet in 2023.

 

2014-2017

Hannah Christian

Hannah Christian (née Bettes) won the Gold Medal in the Junior Division at the Youth America Grand Prix in 2011 and received a Silver Medal in the Pre-Professional Division in the World Ballet Competition. The following year she was invited to compete at the Prix de Lausanne and was awarded 2nd prize and “Audience Choice Award”.

Also in 2012 she won the Gold Medal in the Senior Division at the Youth American Grand Prix winner. Hannah danced with The Royal Ballet during her time as a Nadia Nerina Scholar. At the end of her second year with The Royal Ballet School, she joined Boston Ballet.  In 2017 she was promoted to Second Soloist and in 2018 she debuted in the role of Aurora in Macmillan’s The Sleeping Beauty.  Hannah took a career break from December 2018 – March 2022. She is an artist of Ballet Arizona in Phoenix.

2013-2015

Esteban Hernandez

Since his graduation from The Royal Ballet School, Esteban has been honoured with the Latino Spirit Award from the California Latino Legislative Caucus for his achievements in the performing arts and he was named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Mexico.

He received a Jerome Robbins Foundation Award and gold medals at the Youth America Grand Prix. He is a Soloist with San Francisco Ballet.

2010-2013