Visit to Elmhurst 

May 12


Clare Davis (Development) and Denise Whiteman (Director of Dance Training) extended a very warm welcome to a small group of LBC members and discussed how the students’ dance training fits in with their academic work. We were then invited to watch the Year 10 boys put through their barre exercises under the watchful eye of ‘Old Elm’ Alex Harrison. 

The main event of the day, however, was to join with the Friends of Elmhurst to observe George Liang rehearse his Gainsbury Award winning piece The Great Race of the Zodiac commissioned by Elmhurst’s Artistic Director, Robert Parker, and choreographed in collaboration with the entire lower school. Born in Taiwan, George has danced previously with the National Ballet of Canada and is now a Coryphée with Northern Ballet. He admitted to having been very nervous at the prospect of working with the 67 young dancers spanning Years 7-9 but had been quickly won over by their energy and enthusiasm. 

The 18-minute piece is to be shown as part of the School Summer Show whose title Orpheus encompasses themes of myth and legend. George explained to us that his ballet draws on his cultural heritage incorporating both Qigong movements and shadow puppetry, blending traditional Chinese art with ballet and giving the students valuable stagecraft experience. With George today was Archie John, a young composer and recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Music. They worked closely together to create a bespoke soundtrack which developed alongside the choreography, illustrating the unique personality characteristics of each of the 12 Chinese animal zodiac signs: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Beginning as rivals the ‘race’ becomes a journey celebrating the qualities each animal offers and the Zodiac shines only when all are included. Pairings of some of the animals within the year groups gave each student the opportunity to dance and George invited them to include some of their more gymnastic ‘party tricks’ into the choreography. He also introduced some pas de deux work for a group of Year 9 students, a discipline they had not been taught before, but which was executed with confidence and flair. 

George explained how Northern Ballet, under the directorship of Federico Bonelli, is nurturing him closely as an emerging choreographer though his main priority is as a company dancer. He is due this summer to complete his master’s degree in choreography at Central School of Ballet. A busy man! London Ballet Circle is delighted to have been able to support him through our Gainsbury Award in his blossoming career.

Having had our appetites whetted we are looking forward to seeing a full performance. The Summer Show runs from July 3-9 and tickets will soon be on sale through the Elmhurst website.

LBC has also been invited to watch rehearsals of the other recipients of our 2026 Gainsbury Award. Aleth Berenice will be working through her work Peripheral Perception at the Wayne McGregor studio on Saturday May 23 and London City Ballet’s Tasha Chu will show us how her project is progressing in the autumn. Please see our website for further details.


Report by Krissie Poyser © London Ballet Circle