Student leads Ballet Club ahead of new production of Coppélia
Thursday 9 February 2023
A St Catharine’s alumna who returned for her postgraduate studies is leading the Cambridge University Ballet Club this year as it prepares for its next Annual Show. Alongside her responsibilities as the Club’s President, Pin Yu Chew (2017, Natural Sciences) is a Winton and Oppenheimer-funded PhD student at Cambridge’s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry.
The Ballet Club offers classes, workshops, social events and performance opportunities. Classes are open to students, members of the University and members of the public aged 18 and over – from complete beginners to professionals. The Club is currently gearing up for its Annual Show, a full-length ballet production performed by its members and held during Lent term.
Pin Yu explains that she joined the Ballet Club recently after learning to dance as a child:
“Growing up in Singapore, I first started to learn Chinese dance at a young age and then tried other styles of dance during my school years. After taking a break from dance for a few years, I started going to some of the Ballet Club’s classes in Lent 2022. The friendly and welcoming environment made me want to go back and reawakened my interest in dance. The Ballet Club is mindful of students’ other commitments so classes are run on a drop-in basis and (outside of show season) you can come along as often as you want.”
Pin Yu Chew
Pin Yu is excited for the upcoming Lent Show, which will see the Club stage a production of the comic ballet Coppélia at West Road Concert Hall on 3–4 March 2023:
“We asked members what their favourite ballets were and chose Coppélia due to its enduring popularity as a funny and light-hearted ballet – it’s also been a while since the Ballet Club last performed it. I’m also really looking forward to the show becauseCOVID-19 restrictions were in place last year and we can finally have more members involved in the cast and production team. I’m very impressed with everyone’s dedication towards preparing for the show, with people putting in so much time into rehearsing and choreographing while studying or working a full-time job.”
As part of preparations for the Annual Show, Pin Yu arranged a photo shoot for the main cast at St Catharine’s with the College’s support.
