IT was a desire to get people to fall back in love with dance that inspired Vin Harrop to spearhead what we know now as World Ballet Day.

The day is marked on November 2 and was previously dubbed National Dance Week. It was launched by Vin who is an art historian and a former BBC executive.

He originally started the festival back in eighties and enlisted the help of world-renowned ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, Arlene Phillips, Sir Fred Ashton, Torvill and Dean and Wayne Sleep, to name a few.

Vin has very fond memories of the National Dance Week events in Basildon: “It all began in June 1985 and I can recall as if it was yesterday seeing Ginnie Wollaston, in charge of dance at the Towngate, leading her troupe of dancers from Toys R Us through the town centre, down to the Towngate where a special public performance was mounted to delight of the audience that was gathered there.

“I remember saying a few words from the stage announcing what Dance Week was all about. At the Royal Opera House were gathered in the rehearsal room, a group of representatives from around the country keen to promote the message throughout the land. In the end, National Dance Week ran for 20 years and I was its director.”

Vin gave documents related to the festival to the archive at the National Resource Centre for Dance at the University of Surrey.

“I hoped that one day someone, somewhere might wish to continue my work. And, sure enough it was the Royal Ballet who took up the initial offer,” said Vin.

“I am delighted that dance once more is a fixture on the cultural agenda after twenty years of hard work setting it all up. I felt I was getting too old to continue it any longer. The thing that thrills me more than anything; it was something that all began in Basildon where it finally cemented itself throughout the dance world, which culturally gives little-known Basildon a new prestige to its name.”

Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, which has the Bob and Tamar Manoukian production workshop and costume centre in Thurrock, continues to champion the day.

The landmark celebration event took place this week and the Royal Ballet has a host of rehearsals, discussions and classes available to watch on its social media channels.

Visit www.roh.org.uk/about/world-ballet-day for details.