Tapas Das in Blogs

The Royal Ballet School Announces New Teaching Pathways with RAD and ISTD

The Royal Ballet School’s Diploma of Dance Teaching (DDT) students will now be able to access the School’s Affiliate Programme and gain accredited teacher status with leading international dance education, training, and examination boards—The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) and the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD).

“These new partnerships reflect our belief that outstanding teaching belongs in every studio, and we’re proud to support our graduates in shaping the future of dance wherever they teach and whoever they inspire,” Karen Berry, head of teacher training at The Royal Ballet School, said in a recent press release.

Students who have completed the School’s two-year DDT course (graduates from 2014 to the present) can now access three distinct routes for continued professional development and teaching accreditation: The Royal Ballet School Affiliate Teacher status, ISTD Full Teaching Membership, and RAD Registered Teacher Status.

Photo by Rachel Cherry, courtesy The Royal Ballet School.

Through a condensed course of study that offers a mix of online and onsite training and self-study, DDT students will be eligible to gain Affiliate Teacher status with the School’s Affiliate Programme, giving them access to exclusive learning materials, expert mentorship, and professional development opportunities.

The ISTD will also recognize the School’s DDT qualification to support graduates on their teaching journeys with access to ISTD Full Teaching membership. This professional status allows teachers to deliver classes and prepare students for ISTD examinations, and offers them access to the extensive syllabi, continuing professional development courses, and business-support tools.

The School also joins the RAD’s list of dance awarding societies to offer DDT graduates RAD Registered Teacher Status with benefits that include the opportunity to appear on the global RAD Register of Teachers, enter students for RAD exams, participate in professional development programmes, and join a worldwide community of educators.

Applications for the Royal Ballet School’s Diploma of Dance Teaching will open early 2026. Learn more here.

Tapas Das: Tapas Das, a young entrepreneur of our times started TWIST N TURNS in 2005. A person who is kind, generous, creative and down to earth wanted to start his own one of a kind dance academy. According to him, Dance is a language of movements that involves space, time and the human body. He was born and grew up in Kolkata, the cultural hub of India. Being appreciated in the field of dance all his life, he is extremely talented. He has been dancing since the age of four. Once he finished his high school, he learned jazz/modern and contemporary dance. His horizons were broadened even more when he started dancing Bollywood with Beat Busters for 4 years, which then was the most upcoming dance crew in Kolkata. After that exposure, he studied how to be a dance teacher, which later started helping him impart his knowledge about dance. Thus, in 2005, with the help of family and friends, he started TWIST N TURNS. Starting with a mere number of 40 students, today TWIST N TURNS currently has over 500 students. Over the time Tapas has taught and performed all over the country. He has performed in cities such as Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Jhansi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Udaipur etc. He has been an active participant in the Salsa India Congress in the cities of Bangalore and Bombay, and he has also visited various International Salsa Congresses in Europe, namely in Berlin ,Singapore, Hong Kong,Dubai. He is been also trained recently at Broadway Dance Center (New York), Alvin Alley (New York) and Steps on Broadway (New York). He is not only a dancer or teacher. He is a successful choreographer and has coordinated various shows without difficulty in our country. His leadership skills are exceptional, thus he is where he stands today. His aim in life would be to become a dance educator. He wants to share his tremendous knowledge in the right way to the right people. He is also, simultaneously running other brands like Zumba Kolkata, Bollywood Studio ArtistWala.com and India International Dance Institute.