Programme

Hong Kong Ballet is offering high-quality classical ballet training with a special syllabus developed by our world-renowned faculty and artistic staff. Our unique curriculum follows a progressive structure designed to build a solid foundation in ballet technique and develop artistry in students of all ages. While most ballet schools in Hong Kong offer training based on the RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) training and exam system, Hong Kong Ballet’s curriculum draws from the Vaganova and international traditions.

Girls and boys are placed in class levels according to age, experience and ability. In the programme’s first year, we start with the simple joy of moving to music, building a classical technique foundation and introducing basic ballet terminology. In subsequent levels, the classical programme teaches critical foundational techniques, creative artistry and dynamic performance skills in a supportive environment to develop strong, expressive dancers. Supplementary conditioning, character dances, repertoire classes and pointe classes are also offered.

Apply for 23/24 Mid-year Entry Assessment

Level Progression

All students must enter a placement assessment during the intake period before entry. Once a student is admitted into our programme, they will be placed in a class based on their current technical ability.

The syllabus is designed to build upon concepts introduced in the previous level. A student may spend one or two years at each level based on a number of factors, but growth is a major consideration. The health of our students is paramount and it is best to have a student repeat a level if they do not demonstrate the strength and correct placement for the next level syllabus. The year-end assessment of the student’s progress will determine the student’s placement the following year. 

Programmes Offered in 2023/24

Boys' Class

Boys’ Class is a distinct programme designed specifically for boys ages 6+ and intermediate boys ages 10+. The classes concentrate on the important technical skills necessary for male dancers.

Children & Youth Regular Training Programme

In Ballet 1  (ages 6+), classes will meet one day per week from September–June. Students may continue training in their home studio, but it is not compulsory.

In Ballet 2 - 4 and above (ages 7+), classes will meet two to three days per week from September–June. Designed to complement and supplement the students’ training at their home studio, the classes give students additional training to accelerate their learning and broaden their ballet experiences.  

In Ballet 5 - 6 and above (ages 10+), classes will meet three days per week from September–June. Students who are not enrolled in external ballet training must take three classes per week with us. Designed to complement and supplement the students’ training at their home studio, the classes give students additional training to accelerate their learning and broaden their ballet experiences. 

For ages 4-5+, please refer to the information for Pre-Ballet Foundation Programme. 

PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITY

Students enrolled in Ballet 2 and above are required to participate in The Nutcracker performances in mid to late December. Faculty members may also select Ballet 1 students to participate in the performances. Students will need to commit extra time at regular rehearsals on Saturday or Sunday mornings, starting from late September, as well as run-throughs and stage rehearsals with company dancers in early December. Students should attend auditions for roles on 2 & 3 September 2023.

Apart from The Nutcracker, students will be offered various opportunities to perform during their training at Hong Kong Ballet. They will have the opportunity to perform in a year-end class demonstration performance, where they can show their family and friends the skills and artistry that they have learned throughout the year. In addition to their weekly classes, students are required to attend weekend rehearsals in order to participate in year-end performances. Advanced students will have the opportunity to audition for roles in Hong Kong Ballet productions.

Enrollment

Candidates must register for the entry assessment based on their age as of 31 December, 2023. Underage enrolment is not accepted. Candidates with less experience may consider enrolling the assessment in a lower age group.

TRAINING VENUE

Hong Kong Ballet Studios, Happy Valley

COURSE FEES (For reference)

Level

Session of Training

Class duration

Full-year Course fee^

Two Installments*

Ballet 1 

1 class per week, 34 weeks

1 hour 15 mins

HKD 10,000

HKD 5,500/ installment

Ballet 2-4

2 classes per week, 34 weeks

1 hour 15 mins

HKD 20,000

HKD 10,000/ installment

Ballet 5-6

3 classes per week, 34 weeks

1 hour 30 mins

HKD 34,000

HKD 17,000/ installment

Upon enrollment, students will be committing to classes for the entire academic year from September 2023 to June 2024. 

Parents can choose to pay the tuition fee for the whole year in one full payment or in two installments. Please note the numerical difference between the two payment methods.

^For parents who choose to pay in one full payment, the course fee will be assessed during enrollment.

*For parents who choose to pay in two installments, the first installment will be assessed during enrollment. The second installment will be due in early February (two weeks before the second term).
 

Entry Assessment

Prospective students  will need to undergo an evaluation for proper class placement. This assessment will resemble a trial ballet class, and HKB teachers will see if a student is excited to explore their love of ballet and dance. Teachers evaluate students based on their ability to follow instructions, natural musicality and expression, taking into consideration previous experience and physical ability. We want to ensure that ballet training will be safe and healthy for our students as it requires a great deal of flexibility and strength.

Faculty teachers will give the final decision on student's placement level. Some students may need to attend a lower level or attend two levels concurrently for a half-year period before mid-term evaluation.

Apply for 23/24 Mid-year Entry Assessment

Mid-year Entry Assessment

Date: 7 Jan 2023 (Sun)
Venue: Hong Kong Ballet Studios, Happy Valley
Group: 

10:00-11:00 - ages 8-9

11:00-12:00 - ages 10-11

12:00-13:00 - ages 11-16 (With pre-pointe experience)

15:30-16:30 - ages 6

16:30-17:30 - ages 7-8

*Very Limited remaining places in year 2023-2024. 
*Successful candidates will attend training from mid-February to June in the 2nd term.
*Mid-year admissions for students will require a minimum of one year to complete a level or potentially longer.

For ages 4-5+, please refer to the information for Pre-Ballet Foundation Programme. 

Faculty

Artistic Director of Hong Kong Ballet/ Artistic Advisor

Septime Webre is an internationally recognised ballet director, choreographer, educator and advocate. He joined Hong Kong Ballet as its Artistic Director in July 2017 after 17 years as Artistic Director of The Washington Ballet in Washington DC, US from 1999-2016. Previously he served as Artistic Director of the American Repertory Ballet, based in Princeton, New Jersey, US from 1993-1999. In addition, Webre has served as the Artistic Director of Halcyon, a Washington DC-based foundation, launching an annual international Festival for Creativity in Washington DC in June 2018.

During Webre’s tenure at The Washington Ballet, the institution’s budget grew by 500%, and it enjoyed unprecedented advances in the scope and quality of its work on stage, in the size and reach of its professional school and in the development of several far-reaching community engagement programmes that he founded. Webre also launched an array of artistic initiatives, including The American Experience, which developed great works of literature like The Great Gatsby and Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises into full-length ballets.

As a choreographer, Webre’s works appear in the repertoires of ballet companies throughout North America, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Colorado Ballet, Ballet West, Atlanta Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet Austin, Ballet Memphis, Milwaukee Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico, and many others, and he has worked frequently in theatre as well as opera. His new work for HKB, Romeo + Juliet, set in 1960s Hong Kong, will have its world premiere in June 2021. As a dancer, Webre was featured in solo and principal roles from the classical repertoire as well as in contemporary works by choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor and Merce Cunningham. He has served on the board of Dance/USA and on the juries of a number of international ballet competitions, including those in Varna, Bulgaria, Istanbul, Cape Town, New York and Seoul. Webre's work has received numerous honors, grants and awards. He holds a degree in History/Pre-Law from the University of Texas at Austin and is the seventh son in a large, boisterous Cuban-American family.


Artistic Advisor

Born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Luis R. Torres was previously the Ballet Master with Les Ballets Jazz De Montréal. He graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Dance and Psychology and completed a Master of Fine Arts from George Mason University. Torres has enjoyed an extensive dance career with Ballet Arizona, Ballet Theatre of Maryland and The Washington Ballet, where he performed as a Soloist and Principal Dancer. Torres created roles in many works by world renowned choreographers and has held the positions of Ballet Master at Chamber Dance Project, The Washington Ballet’s Studio Company and Trainee Program, Adjunct Professor at George Mason University and Repetiteur for Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Septime Webre as well as Guest Teacher/Choreographer.


Associate Director of Training

A former coryphée of Hong Kong Ballet who has performed numerous lead roles, Irene Lo has been working closely with HKB for over a decade. Currently, she is the Associate Director of Training for HKB’s Classical Ballet Training Programme and the part-time faculty member at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA). In 2022, she obtained her Master of Fine Arts in Dance with distinction at HKAPA with a full scholarship from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund.

During 2021-2023, Lo was a Rehearsal Mistress for the children who danced in HKB’s Peter Pan, Cinderella, ALICE (in wonderland) and The Nutcracker. In 2018, she was a project coordinator for Scottish Ballet’s Hansel & Gretel. As a certified yoga and aerial yoga instructor, Lo also teaches ballet and yoga at City Contemporary Dance Company and Hong Kong Dance Company. In the past decade, she has been a guest teacher in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Malaysia, Indonesia and Macau.

Her choreographic work includes the TV ad of a Cheung Kong/ Sun Hung Kai Property Grand Jeté, Hello Hong Kong with Hong Kong Tourism Board featuring celebrities Aaron Kwok, Kelly Chan and Sammi Cheng, True Light College’s 150th anniversary musical and Three As One Theatre’s drama No Name.

Lo’s accolades include ‘Most Promising Dancer’ from Friends of Hong Kong Ballet and ‘Outstanding Performance of the Year’ from Hong Kong Dance Alliance. Additionally, Lo was Chief Executive Manager of the Asian Grand Prix (AGP) in 2013-2015 and served as a jury member in the Manila, Malaysia, AGP, Canaan International Competitions and Dance World Cup.

Faculty teacher

Dong Ruixue graduated from Beijing Dance Academy and was a member of The National Ballet of China in 2006. She joined Hong Kong Ballet as a Corps de Ballet member in 2011 and was named Soloist in 2014. After she left the company, she became a ballet teacher in 2021. Currently, she is a faculty member of Hong Kong Ballet's Classical Ballet Training Programme. 

With HKB, Dong has danced principal and featured roles, including Juliet in Rudi van Dantzig’s Romeo and Juliet, Ballerina and Clara in Terence Kohler’s The Nutcracker, Dai Yu in Wang Xin Peng’s The Dream of Red Chamber, Princess Florine in Cynthia Harvey’s The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella in Yuri Ng’s Ballet Classics for Children: Cinderella, Peasant Pas de Deux in John Meehan and Lin Mei-fang’s Giselle, Valencienne in Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, Natalia Makarova’s Swan Lake, John Cranko’s Onegin, George Balanchine’s Jewels and Serenade, Wang Xixian’s The Red Detachment of Women, Zhang Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern choreographed by Wang Xin Peng.


Faculty teacher

Corps de Ballet

MR JUSTIN D'AGOSTINO ARTIST

Born in Hong Kong, Leung Saulong trained at The Hong Kong Camy Academy of Dancing, completed the Gifted Young Dance Program under the directorship of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) and received a Diploma in Performing Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from HKAPA. Leung joined Hong Kong Ballet as an Apprentice in 2015 and became a member of Corps de Ballet in 2019.

With Hong Kong Ballet, Leung has danced in John Meehan's Swan Lake, Terence Kohler’s The Nutcracker, Septime Webre and Charla Genn's Giselle, Anna-Marie Holmes' Le Corsaire, Nina Ananiashvili’s Don Quixote, Rudi van Dantzig’s Romeo and Juliet, Ronald Hynd's Coppélia, Septime Webre's ALICE (in wonderland) and The Great Gatsby and Pär Isberg’s Pinocchio.

Leung received gold awards at the Open Dance Contest in Hong Kong in 2009 and 2011.


Faculty teacher

Lynn Liang trained at Shen Zhen Arts School and further studied in The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2012. She joined Hong Kong Ballet as a member in 2014. After she left the company she became a ballet teacher in 2019. Current, she is a faculty member of Hong Kong Ballet's Classical Ballet Training Programme. She is also a freelance dancer based in Hong Kong. 


During the Academy year, Liang obtained a full Scholarship. Liang won silver prizes in the Junior Group at the Asian Grand Prix in 2011 and at the Japan International Tsukuba Ballet Competition in 2010. She won third prize in performance and the Excellent Performance Prize at Taoli Cup Dance Competition in 2009. 


Faculty teacher

Corps de Ballet

Born in Hong Kong, Jeremy Chan started his ballet training at Jean M. Wong School of Ballet and received the Tsinforn C Wong Memorial Scholarship to study at The Royal Ballet School in London. He graduated in 2020 with a Bachelor's degree in Classical Dance and then joined Hong Kong Ballet as a Corps de Ballet member. Chan performed in the 2020 Prix de Lausanne Finals Interludes and won third place in the 2016 Youth American Grand Prix in New York.


Faculty teacher

Dawnie Kwok began her ballet training with Cheung Sau Fan, a former Hong Kong Ballet (HKB) dancer. After graduating from Hong Kong Baptist University with a Translation degree, she joined HKB's Education and Community Outreach Department in 2019 and currently serves as a HKB Classical Ballet Training Programme faculty member. In 2024, she was accredited as an Affiliate Teacher through The Royal Ballet School’s Affiliate Training And Assessment Programme. 

As a ballet student, Kwok performed with Teatro alla Scala Ballet in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 2015, she obtained Distinction in Royal Academy of Dance Advanced 2 Examination. That same year she became a semi-finalist at Genée International Ballet Competition in London and received the Darcey Bussell Genée Bursary.


Faculty teacher

Wu Di was a former member of the Corps de Ballet of Hong Kong Ballet. He received his training at Shanghai Dance School, Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy on full scholarship and Royal Swedish Ballet School, where he graduated in 2015. 
With HKB, Wu has danced the featured role of Italian Doll in Terence Kohler’s The Nutcracker and performed in John Meehan's Swan Lake, Nina Ananiashvili’s Don Quixote, Anna-Marie Holmes’ Le Corsaire, Rudi van Dantzig’s Romeo and Juliet, Ronald Hynd's Coppélia and Alexei Ratmansky’s Le Carnaval des Animaux . 
He won second prize in the Senior Division of The Nordic Baltic Ballet Competition in 2015 and received an Outstanding Performance Award in the Junior Division at the Taoli Cup Dance Competition in 2012.
 

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