CHARLES HUTCHINSON goes behind the scenes at Birmingham Royal Ballet to see the huge effort it takes to get this company of dancers, musicians and support staff on the road, before this week’s visit to York.

NO sooner has the Birmingham Royal Ballet returned from its Japanese tour than 60 dancers will split into two for northern and southern mid-scale tours, York and Truro first.

Preparations for abroad and home have overlapped, part of those plans involving staff visiting the Grand Opera House in York in advance of Tuesday and Wednesday's triple bills of Ashton, Macmillan and Alexander Whitley works.

A different triple bill will head round the south, after the dancers have presented Swan Lake and Cinderella across Japan as part of the BRB's 25th anniversary itinerary.

In the past, BRB has visited York Theatre Royal but the Opera House has embraced the opportunity to welcome the company in the hiatus caused by the redevelopment of the St Leonard's Place theatre.

The contours of the narrower but wider Opera House stage, the lay-out of the dressing rooms, the technical layout for scenery, all such matters must be taken into consideration by BRB's stage management.

So too must the storage requirements and the needs of the dancers, their costumes, their dance shoes, their make-up, dietary requirements and all the accoutrement of preparing the body, especially the feet, for touring first Japan and then Britain this spring.

Birmingham Royal Ballet held a behind-the-scenes press day at their central Birmingham studios next to the Birmingham Hippodrome on the Friday before setting off for the Far East on April 20, kicking off with an introduction by artistic director David Bintley and chief executive Christopher Barron.

It was a chance to see the male dancers do their morning daily class with added dash and daring and mutual encouragement before heading to Japan, and the afternoon rehearsal of Swan Lake, sitting but inches from principal ballerina Jenna Roberts as she went through the laborious bandaging of delicate toes and tying-up of shoe ribbons before leaping on to the rehearsal studio floor.

This was but one aspect of the lead-up to take-off for Japan. The costume department was busy with last-minute work with thread and needle; the wigs were being readied too; and conductors Paul Murphy and Phill Ellis were going through their paces with BRB's musicians – "the busiest orchestra in the world" – before meeting up with Japanese musicians for the foreign performances.

The medical, physio and gymnasium rooms in the Jerwood Centre had a stream of dancers working on limbs, either in recovery or maintaining fitness.

Here too on a fourth floor were the all-important facilities for recovery, a swimming pool and ice bath. Dancers are encouraged to dance as part of their recovery from injury – "rehab in tutus", as it is known – and this can be aided by the buoyancy of water that allows them to move unimpeded, without the impediment of crutches. Even pointe work can be done in the water.

Overseen by clinical director Nick Allen, who worked previously with Premiership rugby teams, the medical and physio supervision is designed to provide the perfect diet for dancers (even a vending machine is permitted) and also the best course of treatment to ensure full recovery to face a programme of 150 shows a year.

If that means, BRB dancers take longer to recuperate, then so be it, says Allen, because they recover stronger. While this may not prolong their careers – the oldest dancer is 38 – it should ensure that their bodies are in better condition for retirement and their "lives are as productive as possible after they leave us".

"They do 35 hours of dance-related activity per week, compared with the 12 hours that footballers spend doing football-related activity," says Allen, whose strategy for recuperation and recovery has reduced the company's injuries by half.

Chi, 38 and in his 20th year with BRB, has no thoughts of retirement, as he stretched in the physio room. Only last month he told Terry Wogan in a radio interview that he still had another five years of top-level dancing in him.

Among the team putting the finishing touches to the tour inventory was shoe master Michael Clifford, who must dye shoes into assorted colours, each dancer located a locker.

"The average cost of shoes for a ballerina is £38 and each corps de ballet dancer gets through ten pairs of shoes a month," he says, as he worked on 30 pairs for 12 performances on the northern tour with such love for his unsung role. All in the cause of bringing the best out of dancers from 17 nationalities in the BRB ranks.

Birmingham Royal Ballet presents works by Sir Frederick Ashton and Sir Kenneth MacMillan and a new piece by Alexander Whitley at Grand Opera House, York, on Tuesday at 7.30pm and Wednesday at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york

Did you know?

Birmingham Royal Ballet's company manager for the northern tour is Sarah Caselton-Smith, from York.