Endrina is a participant in the aDvANCE project, where she is working with Royal Ballet Upper School 1^st Year students. She is in Year 12 at Featherstone High School, Southwark, West London. What difference has being part of The Royal Ballet School aDvANCE project made to you? Well, I’d always loved ballet.  When I was little I used to buy loads of those ballet magazines that showed The Royal Ballet Schools and ballet stories.  I used to nag my mum to take me to see ballet shows, but I couldn’t go to ballet classes because there weren’t any in my local area.  So when I found out about this project I thought, ‘I’m doing this, I don’t care!’   The project has given me confidence in my creativity and assured me that I can be creative.  I am currently doing A Level art and I think this experience has helped me come up with new ideas.  How are you finding your time on the aDvANCE project? It has been a really amazing experience.  It is completely different to anything I’ve done before and I’ve learnt lots of new skills.  It’s been a great way to meet new people and to understand the lives of the ballet students, who have such different experiences to us.  The Royal Ballet School dancers were really welcoming and made us feel comfortable – I’ve already friended all of them on Facebook! What has been the highlight of the project? The highlight for me was when we first came to The Royal Ballet School to watch ballet class and meet everyone.  I remember, in the ballet magazines I used to collect as a child, there were pictures of the dancers in costumes and the students we met looked just the same!  I couldn’t believe I was actually there!  The ballet students showed us a dance from The Nutcracker that they had been rehearsing and it reminded me of the ballets I had seen as a child.  I couldn’t believe how perfect it looked.  What has been the most valuable thing about the project? The most valuable thing for me has been to reconnect with my love of dance, because I had lost touch with that over the years.