The former Royal Ballet star Darcey Bussell has been elected President of the Royal Academy of Dance, bringing a fresh new face to one of the iconic honorary posts in British ballet. While it's not clear how vocal she will be prepared to be on behalf of British ballet, her appointment looks to be part of a wider sea-change going on this year, with Tamara Rojo, a current Royal Ballet star, newly appointed to head English National Ballet, and a young team of men under Kevin O'Hare taking over at the Royal Ballet this autumn.

A sense of urgency is in the air, with arts cuts damaging British institutions, and a new tone in debate as to how to address the problems for high artforms of less money, less popularity and a changing world.

Bussell, who retired from the classical stage in 2007 aged 38 after a stellar two decades as a Royal Ballet principal and world star, has developed a more mainstream entertainment career since. She teamed up with popular mezzo Katherine Jenkins for a song-and-dance show, Viva la Diva, and has become a judge on the TV show Strictly Come Dancing, replacing Alesha Dixon. She has also written a series of children's books called The Magic Ballerina, and many people remember her appearing as herself during her dancing career on Dawn French's TV comedy The Vicar of Dibley.

However, unlike Rojo or the increasingly vocal dance lobbyists now, such as Sadler's Wells chief Alistair Spalding and Dance UK's Caroline Miller, Bussell has so far appeared to be in the tradition of her predecessors as RAD presidents, two great former ballerinas, Antoinette Sibley and Margot Fonteyn, both rarely mounting barricades.

She's only the fourth president in the RAD's 92-year history, during which British ballet has grown from a formless scene of sporadic visits by foreign ballet troupes into one of the world's elite forces in the art form - and then faced an increasing clamour of concern about its future.

There are considerable pressures today upon the tiny UK ballet industry from less demanding contemporary styles and the limited work opportunities, and the RAD is naturally looked to for a lead. It was set up in 1920 by powerful young dance leaders, including the then stage superstar Adeline Genee (its first President) and the young Ninette de Valois (later founder of the Royal Ballet), to determine and shape a future for ballet training in Britain. A systematic grading system to lead young children from first ballet classes to a professionally qualifying level was evolved, and disseminated through British and increasingly international ballet schools.

Arguably the golden era of the Sixties and Seventies were the peak delivered by that determination as the Royal Ballet and London Festival Ballet became world-beating companies, with terrific home-grown talent amplified by foreign stars such as Rudolf Nureyev and Natalia Makarova.

Dancers, critics and theatre managers have been articulate in their concern about the dissipation of ballet popularity among native British children

Since then, however, ballet's constantly increasing internationalism and pluralism has changed the game, and the Royal Academy of Dance finds itself one of several ballet systems now being studied by dance teachers in the UK, if still - with its "royal" imprimatur - the standard template for ballet. It has some 1,000 student teachers under training in its system in Britain at the moment. However its rather stolid standards have been criticised for inexpressiveness by the world choreographer William Forsythe, who in an interview with me (see here), said the stiff hands and arms of RAD style were a reason why he was not much attracted to working with British-trained ballet dancers.

While dancers, critics and theatre managers have been articulate in their concern about the dissipation of ballet popularity among native British children, and the proportionate rise of foreign entrants into UK training and companies, the RAD has not so far been a notably prominent voice. Darcey Bussell has an undoubted popular appeal well beyond ballet, and while she relocated with her husband and daughters to Australia in 2008, some will look to see if she too decides to take more frequently to British podia and the parlours of Downing Street to sound the alarm for ballet - as opposed to all-comers community dancing, currently all the political rage.

RAD chief executive Luke Rittner said of Bussell's appointment: “Our membership voted overwhelmingly to appoint Darcey as our fourth President and I am personally delighted that she has accepted the position. Darcey is one of Britain’s most distinguished ballerinas, and her passion for all forms of dance make her the ideal role model to lead the Royal Academy of Dance towards its centenary in 2020. We look forward to working with her on a wide variety of national and international projects that will keep us, and our members, at the forefront of dance education and training.”

Bussell commented: "It is a privilege to be asked to be President of the Royal Academy of Dance, an institution which consistently makes such an outstanding contribution to the art of classical ballet and to so many forms of dance. It is very important to me that the RAD continues to both provide the very best quality of training, but also continues to instill the enjoyment and love of dance in everyone by offering such a wide range of opportunities to get involved. As President of the RAD, I will aim to embody the Academy's vision and values, which Dame Antoinette Sibley so wholeheartedly supported and which strongly reflect not only the organisation's rich past but also its investment in the future of dance, dance-education and training. I am passionate about dance and truly look forward to representing the RAD in this role."