Lin Yee Goh

Lin Yee Goh is a Co-Founder of one of the most successful and most-honoured of ballet academies in Canada. While her training reaches back to Russia’s great ballet masters, she upholds both the discipline and excellence of classical ballet’s roots, and constantly reaches 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. There, she was taught the art of teaching. Upon graduation, she was invited to join the National Ballet of China, where she danced for nearly two decades and became one of the Company’s Ballet Mistresses.

She immigrated to Canada in 1977, and joined her husband, Choo Chiat Goh, on a quest to establish a prestigious ballet academy in their new home. Together, they founded Goh Ballet Academy in 1978. During this time, she cultivated and fine-tuned her ballet instructor skills by attending courses at Royal Academy of Dance. In the late 1990s, Mrs. Goh returned to China to complete her studies in the Vaganova Method with Ms. Romancheva, truly bringing her teaching skills full circle.

“Ballet is beautiful – most definitely – and the career of teaching ballet is just as beautiful.”

— Lin Yee Goh, Co-Founder

The Goh Ballet Academy reflects her deep love of classical ballet and extensive training background. Mrs. Goh introduced the Royal Academy of Dance curriculum to the school, instilling in her students the highest discipline and skills required to rise to the top. Twenty of the Academy’s students have reached Solo Seal, the highest honour of the Royal Academy of Dance. The school has single-handedly put Canada at the top of the most prestigious ballet competitions.

In recognition of their accomplishments and contributions, both she and Mr. Goh were presented with the 2003 City of Vancouver Civic Merit Award and the 2006 BC Community Achievement Award.