This week’s dance teacher news starts with something IDTA members can use straight away: a membership card that lives on your phone. There’s also a new ISTD Cecchetti syllabus book, a Christmas card competition for your students, the Fonteyn final this Sunday and a first look at next year’s dance on stage.
The IDTA membership card goes digital
The International Dance Teachers Association has launched a digital membership card that you can keep in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. You enter your email on the IDTA membership card page, get a secure link by email, and add the card to your phone. There are no usernames or passwords to remember. The digital card is now the default, but you can still ask for a physical card for a £10 administration fee.
What this means for your school: it’s one less thing to hunt for on exam days, training courses and IDTA events. Worth a quick reminder to any IDTA teachers and assistants on your team.
New ISTD Cecchetti class exam and ballet awards syllabus
The ISTD’s Cecchetti Ballet Faculty has published a new combined syllabus book for Class Examinations and Cecchetti Ballet Awards (the awards were previously called Performance Awards). The notes are on sale in the ISTD shop from October 2026 and you can teach from them now. The revised directives and new exercises become compulsory from 1 October 2027. Changes include clearer guidance on improvisation, dances and the reverence at each level, and Pre-Primary is now described as a teacher-led introductory assessment.
What this means for your school: if you enter Cecchetti class exams, read the teacher’s summary before you plan next year’s classes, so you have time to bring the new exercises in gradually.
A Christmas card competition for your students
The ISTD is inviting students of ISTD teachers to design its Christmas card, on the theme “the magic of dance at Christmas”. Designs must be hand drawn or painted (collage and mixed media are fine, but no AI or computer graphics). Send a scan or photo to [email protected] by Friday 4 December 2026, with the child’s first name and age and their ISTD teacher’s name. The winning designs become ISTD’s official 2026 digital Christmas card. It makes a lovely calm activity for little ones in the last weeks of term.
The Fonteyn final is this Sunday
The Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition reaches its final at the London Coliseum on Sunday 8 November, from 6pm. Candidates perform an Ashton variation with live piano and a newly choreographed solo, and tickets start from £18.75. It’s a good night out for ballet teachers and older students, and a chance to see dancers trained on the RAD syllabus.
Julia Barry wins IADMS Dance Educator Award
RAD examiner Julia Barry has received the IADMS Dance Educator Award for 2026, presented at the Melbourne conference in September. She also ran a workshop there on teaching language that supports student wellbeing. Congratulations, Julia.
Around the dance world
Sadler’s Wells has announced its 2027 season, including Northern Ballet’s Wuthering Heights (4 to 8 May), Phoenix Dance Theatre’s Sincerely, The Breakfast Club (28 April to 1 May), Scottish Ballet’s Coppélia (10 to 14 March) and Breakin’ Convention (1 to 2 May). Handy if you’re planning a 2027 theatre trip. Dance Consortium’s São Paulo Dance Company tour visits 13 venues across the UK and Ireland from 1 February to 27 March, with touch tours and audio description at many venues. Closer to now, Ballet Nights comes to Theatre Royal Brighton on Wednesday 9 December, and free RAD Membership Discovery webinars run online until Thursday 12 November.
Also this week
From 3 November, eligible UK micro and small businesses can get a 75% government discount on Cyber Essentials certification, bringing it to about £80 to £125 plus VAT, via IASME’s First Step site. Useful if you hold parent contacts and photos online; our guide to dance school data protection covers the people side. One Dance UK has also flagged Resilient Minds, a new £7.99 Help4Dancers book on dancer mental health.
This week’s tip
Tapathon 2026 is still on Sunday 15 November for BBC Children in Need, with schools across the UK dancing the same routine at the same time. Our tap class ideas for beginners and this week’s winter guide to coughs, colds and bugs will help you keep classes moving as the weather turns.
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