The 75-year-old Hong Kong ballet school that nurtured some of the city’s best dancers, and the teacher who has helped keep it alive for decades
- The Carol Bateman School of Dancing, which boasts alumni including Jean M. Wong, Stephen Kwok and Christine Liao, is Hong Kong’s longest running dance school
- As the school celebrates its 75th anniversary, we look back at its history and the woman who remains its heart: 92-year-old Joan Campbell
Annelise Connell was full of confidence before her first ballet examination in Hong Kong.
Instead of worrying when a voice called out “next please” from the downstairs dance studio at the Helena May, a private club housed in an elegant colonial building in Garden Road on Hong Kong Island, the six-year-old was wondering what treats she would get after the test.
Connell, now in her 60s, is recalling a scene from her student days at the Carol Bateman School of Dancing. The dance school – Hong Kong’s longest-running – still operates from that same lower-level space at the Helena May, which is now 107 years old.
Connell has been helping the school as it celebrates its 75th anniversary, recording stories about its founding and its many alumni who have ended up becoming some of the city’s best-known ballet dancers and teachers, such as Jean M. Wong, Stephen Kwok Sai-ngai, Christine Liao, Rosalind Lee and Pearl Chan Po-chu.