HK28: Glenda Allen – Story of resilience & entrepreneurship of a globally acclaimed dancer

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:

“𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐻𝐾. 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑓𝑢𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒.”

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:

“𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑏𝑦 𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑏𝑜𝑥𝑒𝑠. 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑. 𝐼𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ.”

“𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑑𝑜. 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑠.”

“𝐼 [𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑦] ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑏𝑖𝑔. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑖𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠.”

“𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝐾 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 ‘𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜’ 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝐾.”

“𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝐻𝐾 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠.”

“𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 [𝐻𝐾] 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑.”

𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞:

Glenda Allen began her dance training in Perth, Western Australia at the age of 10, learning Jazz Ballet, Tapping, Musical Theatre, Acrobatics, Singing and Highland dancing.  At the age of fifteen she was successful in being chosen to attend both the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne and the Royal Ballet School in London.

A serious knee injury, sustained whilst on tour with the Company, forced Glenda into an early retirement from the stage and was, as one critic wrote, “one of the greatest tragedies to befall the Australian ballet world”.

But the accident did not daunt Glenda’s spirits and she decide to pursue her dance passion by starting a Dance Academy.  The Glenda Allen Dance Academy was founded in April 1995 with the aim of encouraging young dancers to reach their full potential, whilst nurturing their love of music and dance.  Strong emphasis is placed on performing, and all students take part in an annual performance at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA).  The Academy has been holding classes at multiple locations and some schools in Hong Kong since 1995. In 2004, Glenda was nominated for the “Australian of the Year” award.