Ms Lisa started ballet lessons when she was 5 years old. At the age of 11 she won her first ballet competition, the junior section of the Mabel Ryan Award, and in the same year was also offered a Cecchetti scholarship to take classes each Saturday in London. As the years went by her enthusiasm for ballet grew as she took part in choreographic competitions, performances and summer schools and by the time she turned 16 she decided to audition for full time dance school.

She was accepted by the Royal Ballet School in London to take the 3-year Teacher's Training Course and although the experience was extremely tough at times, she appreciated the high standard of teaching and enjoyed studying a wide variety of dance styles. Lisa graduated in 1997 having achieved her Advanced 2 Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) exam and was awarded graduation prizes for Benesh notation and RAD teaching. She was offered a job in Nicosia, Cyprus and was delighted to accept a position overseas to start her teaching career.

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Lisa worked in Cyprus for 3 years, teaching for Clare Merchant Andreou, an RAD examiner and wonderful mentor. In addition to teaching, Lisa also gained experience performing with semi-professional ballet and contemporary dance companies. Whilst she enjoyed being on stage, she found that her real love was for teaching, partly because of all the different aspects that could be incorporated into the job; choreography, music editing, props and costumes etc.

When the time came to look for a new position, she saw an advertisement for a teaching post in Hong Kong and hoped that this would be a very different but equally rewarding experience.

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Lisa arrived in Hong Kong in September 2000, initially working for a Chinese ballet school but then switching to join the Southern School of Dance where she taught from 2001-2022. During this time, the absolute highlight was creating performances for all her students; hours of work but so rewarding! She also enjoyed preparing students for exams and loved seeing the progress and dedication shown by ballerinas of all ages. Lisa is especially proud of the girls whom she taught from a young age right up to the highest exam levels; it has been a great privilege to work with girls for grade 8, Advanced 1 and 2 and Solo Seal. 

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September 2022 saw the start of a whole new chapter in Lisa’s teaching career. She is incredibly excited to have launched EncoreBallet which will continue to give children in Hong Kong the opportunity to learn and build confidence through creative and challenging ballet classes and performance experiences.