London Children’s Ballet Behind the Scenes

Ballet Position goes behind the scenes at London Children’s Ballet to witness the creation of its new show

I sense a buzz of excitement as I approach a squat, nondescript building tucked away in a South London side street on a grey, wet afternoon buffeted by a chilly east wind.

But the discomfort of this typically unsettled April day is soon forgotten as I’m led into a bright dance studio where a vibrant rehearsal is in progress. This is the home of London Children’s Ballet, and this afternoon some two dozen kids, evident eagerness tempered by remarkable discipline, are being put through their paces by choreographer Kristen McNally and company director Ruth Brill, with a little help from the company’s new patron, the Royal Ballet Principal Character Artist Gary Avis, on his first visit there.

Avis says he was “thrilled” to be asked to become a patron and thus be able to support “an important and worthy organisation”. He adds, “I was interested to see the creative development of the children during the process and I was intrigued and impressed to see how immersed they were in their characterisations and detail from the word go.”

The West End Beckons

It’s all in bits and pieces for now, but by 4th July they will have been marshalled into a cohesive and highly professional company for the first night of their brand new West End show at the Peacock Theatre: Ella’s Big Chance: A Jazz-Age Cinderella.

London Children’s Ballet, Ella’s Big Chance, Eve Schwartz as The Flapper Girl. Photography by ASH

They follow in the footsteps of some 30 cohorts since London Children’s Ballet was founded in 1994 by the visionary Lucille Briance as a charity aimed at offering talented nine to 16-years-olds a very special dance and stage experience – and all cost-free.

To that end, each year 50 children are picked out of literally hundreds of applicants through an Autumn audition, where they’re selected solely on the basis of talent and stage presence.

Then the hard work begins, as director Ruth Brill, herself a London Children’s Ballet alumna, told me:

“We rehearse on Sundays and then we have intensive rehearsal blocks, one in the Easter holidays and one at the end of May in the half-term; and then our performance is in July. Every Sunday is quite spread out, but we have two of these intensive rehearsal blocks, where it all goes up a notch in those consecutive days.”

A Novel Experience

The ballet is being choreographed by The Royal Ballet’s Kristen McNally, a talented, tried and tested choreographer, for whom this is, nevertheless, quite a novel experience.

“I have done a lot, but nothing quite like this. I mean, the scale of it! The opportunity to create a full-length ballet, this hour and a half full story, is a rare and brilliant opportunity.”

No wonder she is visibly thrilled. But how does she find working with children? Is it very different from choreographing for adult dancers?

“It is, but strangely I don’t feel like I’m having to think any differently… maybe in the simplicity of the steps, but certainly, as I’m trying to think of how I do a scene or tell a story, it feels like I’m doing exactly the same thing.

“But some of these children do class once a week – it’s not like I’m getting them all from vocational schools – so it’s not always easy… I was part of the audition process as well, and I’m drawn to characters, so I haven’t always picked those who have dance technique.

“To make this rich picture on the stage I have all these characters with different abilities, and I think what’s important is that everybody gets a full experience: I want the older ones, the 16-year-olds who have been dancing for longer, who are more mature, for them to be able to exist alongside the nine-year-olds and still feel they’re part of an experience that represents them. Sometimes that balance is difficult.”

The story Kristen McNally is telling comes from the book Ella’s Big Chance, A Fairy Tale Retold by the award-winning children’s author and illustrator Shirley Hughes.

Hughes died aged 94 in 2022, and so didn’t live to see her book adapted to the stage, something which her son, the journalist Ed Vulliamy, who was also sitting in on this rehearsal, told me casts a shadow over his obvious enjoyment of it all.

“She would have loved to have seen her book turned into a ballet”, Vulliamy said.

A Jazz-Age Cinderella

Ella’s Big Chance transposes the Cinderella story to the glamorous 1920s, with a few inspired twists along the way. The weak, ineffectual widowed father, Mr Cinders, is present, as are the evil stepmother and cruel stepsisters.

London Children’s Ballet, Ella’s Big Chance – Mbayang Ndiaye (left) and Ailsa Levy (right) as the stepsisters, Georgia McBride (centre) as the Stepmother. Photography by ASH

There is a ball, of course, and with the help of a very down-to-earth fairy godmother, Ella goes to the ball. But although she steals the Duke’s heart, Ella turns him down in favour of her one true love, the irrepressible Buttons:

London Children’s Ballet, Ella’s Big Chance – Toby Gray as Buttons. Photography by ASH

No Mere Walk-On Parts

Ruth Brill adapted the book so as to meet the specific needs of her young company:

“A huge part of what we do is that every company member is valued, therefore I needed to build in a cast list which gave opportunities for lots of dancers to have lots of dancing and lovely little moments. And Ed was open to that and welcomed all ideas.

“In the book Ella has a cat, and I thought, oh that would be a lovely role! I thought, how lovely to always have the cat going on a walk around town, and it keeps coming back, but it also develops, so the cat meets another cat and then at the end a few kittens appear… it’s just such fun!

London Children’s Ballet, Ella’s Big Chance – Theana Amolo as The Grey Cat. Photography by ASH

“It’s set in a dress shop, Mr Cinders owns a dress shop and Ella is head of all the sewing and dress-making. We have customers coming in, we have townspeople, things you’d expect, but we also had the idea to add some mannequins, so there’s the dance of the mannequins, which is quite fun.”

Though no young dancer will feel underused, there are, of course, lead roles. Ella is danced by Gina Harris-Sullivan, at 14-years-old already a seasoned performer.

She had a small part in LCB’s Anne of Green Gables three years ago, and also a stint in the musical Matilda, in the West End.

A charming, very articulate interviewee, she told me how she felt about the role of Ella, which requires a lot of acting alongside dancing:

“It’s good to be like a more real character, rather than somebody that’s dancing, because you get to think about what she’s feeling, what her thoughts are and how she’s reacting to the situation, which is, like, refreshing compared to just dancing. It’s a change.”

London Children’s Ballet, Ella’s Big Chance – Gina Harris-Sullivan as Ella. Photography by ASH

A Thoroughly Professional Production

Ruth Brill is keen to stress that, although the performers are children,

“We do things to the same standard as professional companies – the creative team are all professionals.”

That was more than apparent in the wardrobe department, a glittering treasure trove of glamorous 1920s costumes, where the multi-award-wining set and costume designer Carrie-Ann Stein showed me how Shirley Hughes’s own illustrations had inspired her.

London Children’s Ballet, Ella’s Big Chance – costume designs. Photography by ASH

The jazz-inflected score was especially commissioned from composer Ian Stephen and will be played by a live orchestra.

A latecomer to London Children’s Ballet, I so enjoyed Anne of Green Gables three years ago that I determined there and then I’d be a regular at their shows. And after watching this rehearsal I’m even more looking forward to Ella’s Big Chance: a Jazz-Age Cinderella. Roll on July!

(Banner image credit: London Children’s Ballet, Ella’s Big Chance, Gina Harris-Sullivan as Ella, Caelin Stewart as the Fairy Godmother. Photography by ASH)

Ella’s Big Chance: A Jazz-Age Cinderella is at the Peacock Theatre 4 – 6 July 2025. Tickets here

Full information about London Children’s Ballet here.