The Russian Ballet Society, alone, has the remit to foster and promote the Legat System of  ballet training in the Russian classical style.

Our roots were planted when  Nikolai (Nicolas) Legat and his wife, Nadine Nicolaeva, came to Great Britain from Russia in 1923. After a brief spell in France, they returned and opened a school in London. Famous dancers of the day Flocked to the Maestro's classes and included such famous names as, Anton Dolin, Margot Fonteyn, Andre Eglevsky, Moira Shearer & Nathalie Krassovska etc.

In time, a system of examinations was devised for the benefit of the younger pupils and graduating students, many of whom went on to have successful careers in ballet.

After the death of her husband in 1937, Nadine Nicolaeva-Legat retired from the theatre to continue with the training in the school which he had established.

In 1939, with the outbreak of World War Two, she evacuated her school from London to a place in the country, taking with her many of the schools students, and thus established the first ballet boarding school in Great Britain.

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On her retirement in 1967 she passed the responsibility of fostering and teaching the Legat System of Classical Ballet Training to her former pupil, Eunice Biedryski Bartell, (nee Gibson), (Ballerina, Anglo-Polish Ballet, Dancing Act, "Leon and Eunice Bartell", Principal Legat School, 1967-1986).

In 1986, Mme Biedryski Bartell transferred the Head Quarters of the Russian Ballet Society to Edinburgh and since that time, has introduced the Legat System and the Russian Ballet Society Syllabus of Examinations to many schools in other parts of the world.

Teachers in Italy, Germany, Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia, U.S.A, Thailand and Japan have studied and/or adapted to the Legat System through the personal effort and attention of Mme Bartell. Former pupils have opened schools in other coun­tries and in Scotland, England and Wales, all of whom are associated with the Russian Ballet Society and hold examinations annually or bi-annually.

As with many artistic ventures, the way has not always been smooth, despite this we are proud of our many achievements and of the successes of our talented students and teachers, both  at home and abroad, who continue to arouse interest in the Russian Ballet Society and the Legat System of training, the one being synonymous with the other.

In 1996, the 25th anniversary of the death of Nadine Nicolaeva-Legat, a Scholarship was launched by the Society to give a promising student a free place at our International Summer Ballet Course

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