Royal Academy of Dance – Dancing into a new era

Client challenge

The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) was in the process of a major transition. Once seen as an exclusive organisation, focused solely on ballet, it wanted to be seen as a vibrant brand open to all levels and styles of dance, with a truly global and inclusive presence, and it needed a new website to reflect its more diverse mission.

The previous website used a variety of frameworks, making updates difficult. Each country had its own subdomain, and creating and managing content was labour-intensive, with loading times and site performance below par.

What we did

We began by migrating the site to Kinsta and simplified back-end systems, upgraded outdated frameworks, and introduced security improvements. We restructured the architecture, making the site more future-proof.

The migration included consolidating 14 international subdomains into a single, centrally controlled system under royalacademyofdance.org with country-specific extensions (eg .fr, .de, .us). This change provided tighter brand control and improved site performance.

A key development goal was to simplify content management. The new site was built using WordPress’s Gutenberg editor, reducing reliance on third-party plugins and improving performance.

The rollout of the new site was done in a highly agile, iterative, collaborative style, so that the client could gain early access to new features and feed back on revamped areas of the site.

We reviewed user experience, streamlined content and developed brand assets for the new design, including a new logo that is now being rolled out across internal marketing.

Creative branding

Along with the technical build and development, we also developed a new brand design for the RAD, centered on ‘the joy of dance’ – bringing to life its capacity to inspire and offer self-expression through colour, form and type.

‘To captivate modern and future audiences, our approach was strategic. We began by defining the “tribes” we were aiming to reach. We worked closely with the different RAD departments to analyse challenges and opportunities, and to create interest from all shareholders, across countries and the organisation.

‘Having identified the brand cornerstones, which needed to be maintained, we also looked at the areas where the brand could stretch and transform, settling on a bold, colourful and energetic route. We reworked the visual identity, expanding on what makes it identifiable, to make it uplifting and dynamic.

Our creative director, Rachal Watson, outlined our strategy: ‘Our design approach had to pay homage to the RAD’s extraordinary heritage while allowing for the injection of a new energy and spontaneity into the brand. The time was right for a bold, transformative brand upgrade, ensuring relevance to all genres of dance and inspiring future generations.

‘Visceral and powerful, the new identity is rooted in the RAD values of togetherness, creativity, openness and joy. The design captures the energy and exuberance of dance and movement, polished and cohesive but also freer and more expressive.

‘We retained the signature red, and added a palette of vibrant secondary and tertiary colours that make the red pop, elevating colour to be the bright heartbeat of the brand.

‘The inclusive arabesque “R” marque was introduced, inspired by graceful dance positions, to give the brand exuberance, as well as a distinctive visual sign-off.

‘The RAD visual identity is now a dynamic suite of elements that can be used in different contexts, from social media to merchandise. Bold, open-source fonts offer freedom of use across platforms, while easy-to-navigate branding allows for design within set guidelines.

‘The new RAD visual identity retains its legacy but has been refreshed to be open, engaging and accessible.’

Impact

The redesigned website has improved speed, usability, and accessibility. It features optimisation which compresses images for faster load times, and an improved teacher search function allowing users to easily find dance teachers around the world.

SEO results have been maintained and are likely to improve with a better-performing site. We worked closely with the RAD’s marketing team to ensure a smooth transition, implementing 301 redirects and restructuring content for better navigation. The consolidation of the subdomains has also helped to foster a greater sense of cohesion and community across a global organisation.

The redesign has been warmly welcomed among site users and stakeholders.

‘We are thrilled with the launch of our brand-new website!’ says RAD marketing director Susi Pink. ‘This is a major milestone for the RAD as we look to innovate and evolve. Our new website has been designed to reflect our brand values, sharing the joy and vitality of dance, and our commitment to creativity, innovation and excellence to inspire the world to dance. I am so grateful to Generate UK.’