London Vocational Ballet School rehearsal of Summer Show

Monday 29th June 2026


On the 29th June 17 members and guests watched the Dress Rehearsal of LVBS’s Summer Show: Forces of Nature at the Lillian Baylis Studio Theatre, Sadlers Wells.

The rehearsal began with the students placing the first piece - Flora. Louise Bennett (LVBS Artistic Director) explained that this was a fact-finding mission for the students to sort out practical issues such as experiencing the lighting, the exits, entrance positions in the wings and their positioning on stage. This piece featured the whole school with students aged from 10 to 16 years old, and depicted a magical flower garden. 

Louise Bennet then gave an overview of the different pieces in the show which provide a wide range of styles, choreography and music to develop the student’s creativity and aspects of dance they haven’t experienced before.

Forces of Nature is inspired by the beauty and power of the natural world and is a very apt description of the students as well as the programme of dances. They were vibrant and talented and it was a joy to watch them perform as a whole school and in smaller groups. The show contains 16 pieces. A truly eclectic mix of styles and choreography which included year 9 and 10 students performing a new version of a Circle of  Life, choregraphed by Georgina McDermott, A Chance Encounter choreographed by Anna du Boisson (LVBS Co-Founder) for Year 7 and Year 10 students and the Year 11 Graduate students performing Forces of Nature, choreographed by Louise Bennet. The show ended with the whole school performing Grand Defile to music by Sergei Prokofiev.

We were delighted to see the final version of Beatrix Eliot’s (Trixie) Harmonia, featuring 7 dancers from Years 8 and 11.  Trixie , a year 11 student, is the recipient of the LVBS Young Choreographer Award and has received financial support through an LBC donation for this work. Supported by Bim Malcomson (Choreographer and Educator) and set to music composed by Trixie and her father, the piece shows the bond between humans and the natural world, with each student representing a different element. Some of our members saw this work in progress at a previous rehearsal and really enjoyed the finished piece. Our thanks to Trixie for sharing the process with us.

It was a pleasure to see such a diverse range of dancing and it was clear that the students thoroughly enjoyed performing together. We wish the graduating Year 11 Class the very best for their future endeavours and look forward to seeing them elsewhere, and the rest of the school at a future event. 


Report by Jill Samuels © The London Ballet Circle