“Ross Stretton, the sixth director in the Royal Ballet’s 70-year history, may at first seem a rank outsider. His career as both a dancer and a director has been confined to America and Australia. Yet Stretton trained in Melbourne under Peggy van Praagh and Robert Helpmann, whose links with the Royal Ballet could hardly be more gold-plated. So even if he is a Covent Garden outsider, he is the insiders’ outsider.” – London Times