Ballet Theatre Camp: Ballet & the Amazing Animals, a workshop for children and young people aged 4-13, took place over three days during the Easter Holidays (3-5 April 2015) in the rehearsal rooms, backstage at the Grand Theatre in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. There were over 160 participants.

Through fun and interactive sessions, students were introduced to various aspects of the theatrical experience of ballet. Participants learned about the main characters and about the storyline of The Carnival of Animals and Pinocchio, they engaged in basic ballet steps and movements, gained an understanding of costume and set making, and learned to appreciate the music that accompanies these productions.

A variety of professionals very much enjoyed sharing their knowledge and experiences with the participants including: The Hong Kong Ballet Dancer Shunsuke Arimizu, former Company dancer Li Jie, The Company’s Education and Community Outreach Manager, Vency Kwok, pianist Tony Lam, as well as professionals from the Company’s Wardrobe and Technical Department.

The children really enjoyed the workshops, and relished the opportunity to make new friends too. Together they learned to act the parts of the characters by mastering some of the dance moves performed in The Carnival of Animals by the jellyfish, the lion and the elephant, as well as those performed in Pinocchio by Pinocchio himself, and the Blue Fairy. They also better understood the movement and emotional characteristics of different animals by acting and dancing with animal masks. The children performed their own style of animals after exploring fantastic ballet scores with animal themes.

By the end of the camp, the children had also gained knowledge of the principles of making a set and its structure. As the three days of lively workshops drew to a close, the smiles on the children’s faces confirmed that they had loved their time together.