Little Pear Garden Dance Company
Started in 1994 as a Peking Opera collective, then transformed into a professional dance company in 2007, the Little Pear Garden Dance Company is one of the most sought-after dance troupes in Canada.
Inspired by the rich and diverse tapestry of Chinese dance vocabularies, the Company has created an acclaimed and powerful body of work that encompasses both classical and contemporary productions, warmly received by audiences of all ages and cultures.
The Company is actively involved in many projects of dance development and promotion and has enjoyed a consistent presence in festivals, performing seasons and tours. Our current artistic director is Ms. Emily Wing-Mei Cheung.
Little Pear Garden has extensive touring experience. Since 2013 the company has toured nation-wide and performed more than 200 shows in various venues and locations, and reached more than 76,000 audiences. The Company continues to tour annually.
We honour and acknowledge the ancestral caretakers of this land that we live, work, and dance on the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the Wendat First Nation who have a Treaty relationship with Canada.
Spectrum of Connection Toronto
Dance reflects timeless emotions that feed the soul for a lifetime.
About Us
Organizational Mandate/Mission
iLttle Pear Garden Dance Company [LPGDC] (formerly Little Pear Garden Collective) develops and promotes Chinese dance in Canada via the production and presentation of performances, lectures, workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions on the local and national levels by creating an environment that supports Canadian artists practicing both Chinese traditional and contemporary artistic expressions. We aspire to develop a distinct voice in the opera and dance ecologies and to be the premiere Chinese performing arts company in Canada that features professional artists, innovative programming, stimulating workshops, and creative new works that reflect passion, honesty, integrity and excellence.
Under the leadership of current Artistic Director Miss Emily Cheung, LPGDC’s vision is in building Chinese contemporary dance vocabularies through innovations and creative works that are meaningful to the Chinese / Canadian Diaspora. Miss Cheung also seeks to collaborate with artists from various disciplines and culturally diverse backgrounds to create work that uniquely combines the different aesthetics and contemporary sensibilities. The main focus of LPGDC is to create repertoires that utilize a unique contemporary dance vocabularies based on both traditional and classical Chinese dance/opera aesthetics. In order to achieve this, all of LPGDC dancers are required to conduct training in traditional and classical Chinese dance and operatic movements to preserve the authenticity of the Chinese elements in the new dance vocabularies.
Name Origin
hTe company’s name is derived from Peking opera’s tradition of nomenclature. During the Tang dynasty in China, approximately 712 – 755 AD, Emperor Hsuan Tsung founded the Pear Garden Academy inside his royal court, thereby establishing China’s first professional music and dance performance troupe.
This important institution is considered to be the origin of Chinese opera. Subsequently, Chinese opera has been referred to as the “pear garden profession”, and opera performers may be referred to as the “children of the pear garden.” Thus, when William Lau founded the collective to promote Canadian appreciation of Chinese performing arts, he named it the Little Pear Garden Collective. In 2015, the board decided to recognize the fact that the collective had been transformed from a Peking opera presenter to a dance focused theatre under the leadership of Ms. Emily Cheung, and officially changed the collective name to a dance company.
Contact Us
Our Productions
BITTER TEA
Choreographed by Jack Shi, Jeffrey Chan.
FENG (BREEZE)
Choreographed by Jack Shi and Emily Cheung.
VENOM OF LOVE
Choreographed by Emily Cheung.
THE 5 ELEMENTS
Choreographed by Sze-Yang Ade-Lam, Emily Law, Tia Lu, Natasha Poon Woo, Cindy Yip.Poetry by Stephen Siu.
FOUR BEAUTIES OF CHINA
Choreographed by Sashar Zarif, Emily Cheung, Jeffery Chan, Guang Dong Dance Assemble, William Yong.
TALES OF GODDESSES AND A PAINTER
Story by Emily Cheung.
YUNNAN BRIDE
Arranged/Choreographed by Carman Chu.
WA DANCE
Choreographed by Mmd Li Ye-Xian and others.
CONFLARE
Choreographed by Fang Wang, Felix Chen, Sirui Zhang, etc.
UNLEASHED
Choreographed by Emily Cheung.
TRACTION
Choreographed by Yi Yuan.
