Choo Chiat Goh, Artistic Director

As Artistic Director of the Goh Ballet Academy and Company, Mr. Choo Chiat Goh both provides artistic guidance for the Ballet’s many performances and works to instill crucial artistic sensibilities and vision into the Academy’s aspiring dancers. “Audiences come to the ballet not to see exceptional technique, but to feel something – the human drama and beauty that ballet can capture and express,” says Mr. Goh, “Of course dancers must have technique, but technique means little if nothing is expressed with it.”

Mr. Goh began his training on scholarship at the Royal Ballet in London, England, where he studied with the great pioneers of ballet, Harold Turner and Madame Legat. At the age of 16 he was invited to join the London Festival Ballet, but declined in favour of studying in Beijing with the great Russian ballet master, Pyotr Gusiev. He graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy in 1959 and immediately joined the Central Ballet of China, becoming Principal Dancer and dancing leading roles in Le Corsaire, Giselle, La Fille Mal Gardee, Les Sylphides, Sleeping Beauty, The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, Swan Lake and many other classics. During the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Goh created lead roles in The Red Detachment of Women and The White Haired Girl.

In 1976, Mr. Goh immigrated to Canada. In 1977, while also serving as Ballet Master with the Anna Wyman Dance Company, he started the Goh Ballet Academy with his wife, Mrs. Lin Yee Goh. The couple quickly established celebrated teaching careers throughout Canada, as well as in Hong Kong and Japan. Students of the Goh Ballet Academy are the most honoured of any Canadian dance academy, bringing home top awards from the world’s most prestigious competitions, including the Prix de Lausanne and the Royal Academy of Dance’s Genée International Ballet Competition. The only Canadians ever to win these competitions have all been from the Goh Ballet Academy.

Choo Chiat Goh and the Goh Ballet Company have also collaborated with dance luminaries of international stature, such as Anna-Marie Holmes, Evelyn Hart and Rex Harrington. Under the direction of Mr. Goh, the Company has also toured and arranged joint productions with other companies in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, France, the United States and Canada.

Lin Yee Goh, Principal

As Principal of the Goh Ballet Academy, Mrs. Lin Yee Goh oversees one of the most successful and, unquestionably, the most-honoured of ballet academies in Canada. While her training reaches back to Russia’s great ballet masters, she feels her role as Principal demands that she both uphold the discipline and excellence of classical ballet’s roots, and constantly reach forward to the international future of dance.

Mrs. Goh’s early training was at the Beijing Dance Academy, under Russian masters Elenna Sergeivitski and Nikolai Romancheva, using the Vaganova method.

In Beijing she also completed her teacher training. Upon graduation, along with teaching at the Beijing Dance Academy, she was invited to join the Central Ballet of China, where she danced for nearly two decades and became one of the Company’s Ballet Mistresses.

Since coming to Canada in 1977, she has attended many Royal Academy of Dance teacher training courses to improve her skills. And in the late 1990s she returned to China to complete her studies in the Vaganova Method with her teacher, Ms. Romancheva.

In her 25-plus year career teaching dance from the preschool to professional level, Mrs. Goh has collected much wisdom and experience. She introduced the Royal Academy of Dance curriculum at the Goh Ballet Academy and has helped to see 20 students to its highest honour, the Solo Seal. The Goh Ballet Academy has single-handedly put Canada at the top of the most prestigious ballet competitions, the Prix de Lausanne and the Genée International Ballet Competition. Goh Ballet graduates also dance in all the major companies in the world.

As she says, “Ballet is beautiful – most definitely – and the career of teaching ballet is just as beautiful.” Mrs. Goh’s aim in her teaching course is to give aspiring teachers the tools to find the love and beauty that she has experienced in her long career as a teacher.

Yao Ping Zhu, Instructor and Ballet Master

Mr. Zhu, a graduate of the Beijing Dance Academy, performed and toured intensively with the Central Ballet Company of China, as Principal dancers. He has danced leads in ballet classics such as Swan Lake, Don Quixote and Giselle, as well as other varied repertoire ranging from contemporary to Chinese folk dance. In 1989 he immigrated to Canada and is currently Ballet Master for the Goh Ballet Academy’s Youth Ballet Company. Mr. Zhu’s expertise in pas de deux technique and the classics makes him a sought after coach. His energy and dynamic teaching style, as well as his attention to alighnment and technique contributes greatly to his students’ understanding and enjoyment of ballet.

Jian Rong Sheng, Instructor and Resident Choreographer

Mr. Sheng graduated from the Beijing Dace Academy in 1963 and was accepted into the Central Ballet of China (now the National Ballet of China), where he toured internationally, dancing lead and soloist roles. He also became Ballet Master and stage coach for the Central Ballet. Mr. Sheng has been guest artist and teacher on numerous occasions with the Matsyama Ballet of Japan. In 1985, he was guest artists with the Vancouver Goh Ballet, performing in the Chinese classic, Dream of the Red Chamber. In 1987 he immigrated to Vancouver and has taught at the Academy and choreographed such pieces as Voices of Spring, Souvenir de Florence and The Mountain and the Forest for the Goh Ballet Youth Ensemble.

Lynnette Kelley, ARAD, ATC, Instructor & RAD Vocational Examiner

Mrs. Kelley received her dance training in Victoria and the Banff School of Fine Arts. She obtained an Advanced Teaching Certificate from England’s Royal Academy of Dance in 1971 and has since become an RAD Examiner at both the Graded and Vocational levels. Mrs. Kelley has taught RAD syllabus programs and the Academy since 1985, and has instructed at numerous international summer schools in recent years. Many of her students have completed their Solo Seals, the highest award conferred by the Royal Academy of Dance, and achieved finalist or medalist ranking at the prestigious Adeline Genée International RAD competition.

Fiona Smith, ARAD, RAD TC diploma, NBS diploma, Goh Ballet Teacher Training Certificate, Instructor & Principal’s Assistant for the General Division

A graduate of the National Ballet of Canada’s Teacher Training Program and the London Studio Centre in England, Miss Fiona has taught ballet in Japan, Toronto and Vancouver. Her formal training began at the Goh Ballet, where she performed and toured as a member of the Goh Ballet Youth Ensemble. After graduating from Goh, she earned her Advanced Cecchetti Certificate, Advanced RAD and Advanced National Character, and then toured with England’s London Studio Centre, working with choreographers Geoffrey Cauley, Michael Corder, Harold King, Margaret Barbieri and Iain Webb. Miss Fiona returned to the Academy in 2000, where she brings her international experience and love of ballet to bear in her teaching role.

Bau Zhu Sheng, Instructor

Mrs. Sheng began her dance training at the Beijing Dance Academy in 1964. In 1970 she graduated from the Dance Academy and joined the National Ballet of China.

Mrs. Sheng performed Principal and Soloist roles in numerous ballets, including Napoli, Sylvia, Swan Lake, Children of the Grassland, Lin Dai-Yu, to name a few. She toured internationally with the National Ballet of China.

In 1986, she won the Arts Award from the Cultural Department of the People’s Republic of China.

Ying Zhang, RAD, Goh Ballet Teacher Training Certificate, Instructor

Ms. Ying trained professional at the Beijing Dance Academy and the Vancouver Goh Ballet Academy’s Professional Division, successfully completing her RAD Advanced Level examination. She has danced professionally with the Guangzhou Dance Company from 1995 to 2000, being promoted to Soloist in 1997. She has performed roles in ballets including Swan Lake, Giselle, La Traviata, and Nutcracker. Ms. Zhang completed her 2-year professional Teacher Training program at the Goh Ballet Academy and completed her RAD teacher training certificate in 2005. She has successfully prepared students for RAD graded children’s examinations, and has choreographed award-winning repertoire for ballet festivals.

Jian "Ken" Guan, Goh Ballet Teacher Training Certificate, Instructor

Mr. Guan studied at the Guangdong Dance Academy, the Beijing Dance Academy, and in the professional training program at the Goh Ballet Academy. He received Distinction on all of the RAD Vocational Examinations and alos received RAD’s highest examination honour, the Solo Seal. Mr. Guan’s extensive Principal role performance experiences include: La Sylphide, The Conservatory Ballet Master, Modern Dance (Staged by Choo Chiat Goh), and Jazz (staged by Bill Robertson). Mr. Guan has also performed pas de deux of Le Corsiare and Flower Festival. In 2005, Mr. Guan joined the Suzanne Farrell Ballet Company and was the Soloist in Don Quixote. Mr. Guan is currently completing the RAD Teacher Training program and has also received the Goh Ballet Teacher Training Course Certificate.

Tanya Phelps, Goh Ballet Teacher Training Certificate, Instructor

Ms. Phelps has training with the Kirov Dance Academy, Les Ballet Jazz be Montréal, Anna Wymann School of Dance and currently trains and performs with the Goh Ballet Company. Her performance and teaching experience includes classical ballet, modern, character, jazz, tap, and flamenco and she has choreographed award-winning pieces for festivals and numerous styles of dance for year-end performances of her students at Goh Ballet and elsewhere. She has won awards and scholarships in musical theatre, tap and has completed her Intermediate RAD examination and Ukranian Academy of Dance certificates.

Aimée Després, Goh Ballet Teacher Training Certificate, Instructor

Ms. Després trained at the Anne-Marie School of Dance in Nova Scotia, and is enroled in the Goh Ballet’s professional program. Ms. Deprés’ performance and teaching experience encompasses classical ballet, tap, jazz, Celtic step dancing, and musical theatre. She has toured with professional step dance group La Baie en Joie in major North American cities and has assumed lead roles in theatrical performances such as Evangeline, Grease, Annie, West Side Story, and Chicago. Ms. Després has received many awards and accolades from the British Association for Teacher’s Dance, including Most Promising Dancer (1994-1997), and Gold Medal at the provincial competition (1995-2002).