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.
The woman who remains the heart of the school, however, is not Bateman but Campbell – who started teaching in 1954 and took over the business in 1967 when Bateman left Hong Kong.
She helped introduce the Royal Academy of Dance ballet examination, now the most popular ballet syllabus in the city, and has received many awards for her work in dance education in Hong Kong.
In 2016, she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire, and in September this year, she was awarded a fellowship by the Britain-based Royal Academy of Dance.
The Carol Bateman School of Ballet holds a significant position in Hong Kong’s early ballet education, says Stella Lau Yin-ling, the associate director of ballet at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA).
“[The school] has also contributed to the development of numerous talented dancers who have gone on to make notable contributions to the local and international dance scene,” Lau says.
“I learned what being on and offstage meant, the excitement of performing in front of an audience, and the joy of theatre at the Carol Bateman School of Ballet,” says Choa.
Connell and her two sisters were some of Campbell’s first students. She was sent to learn ballet because her doctor said she walked pigeon-toed – with her toes pointing inward.
“Then I was duckfooted [with her toes pointing outward] for years,” she laughs.
Connell, who danced with Campbell for more than six years, remembers her teacher as a kind person who would never hurt the feelings of her students.
“I do remember the excitement of the performances and the costumes. And being a kid, what I remember is at the end of class, if you were very lucky, you were allowed to go up the stairs and go to the kitchen and see if they had any leftover drop scones.”
Another alumni, Grace Mak, became a dancer because she was inspired by a ballet performance she saw on television. She met Campbell at the school’s Kowloon branch when she was in secondary school.
Because she was older than most of the other students, she was asked to become a teaching assistant.
“At first I had zero teaching experience. I was just smiling and hiding. All the other students were interested in me and stared at me the whole time,” says Mak.
After studying in Japan for several years, Mak began teaching ballet herself as well and eventually established her own dance school in the city’s New Territories.
‘I wanted to create’: Hong Kong Ballet choreographer Ricky Hu on his calling
‘I wanted to create’: Hong Kong Ballet choreographer Ricky Hu on his calling
Lau says the growth of ballet in the city, from its early, limited stages to something for people from all backgrounds, has been “remarkable”.
“Dance has been my life since I was three years old,” Campbell says. “My mum told me since I was a little girl, all I wanted to do was to teach ballet. She never believed that I would, but I am here now.”
Campbell has witnessed a great many changes in the city’s dance scene over the past seven decades and thinks the school has to keep evolving to meet new challenges.
“After Christmas, we really want to get the ladies’ classes going. Anybody interested should just ring here and find out!”