Lorita Leung is well respected in Canada, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan as a Chinese dance teacher, educator, choreographer and writer. She is Chairman and founder of The Lorita Leung Dance Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, preservation and enhancement of Chinese dance. She is also the founder of The Lorita Leung Dance Company and continues to advise on artistic elements.The Lorita Leung Dance Company has been recognized by China as the leading Chinese Dance performing group in North America.
Born in Shanghai, Ms. Leung began her formal dance study in ballet and Chinese dance. At 16, she became a member of the elite Lanchow Army Song and Dance Troupe, performing as a professional dancer throughout China and Korea until leaving her homeland for Hong Kong in 1963. Arriving penniless, Ms. Leung spent the next seven years building a successful career as a dance and mime instructor in film and television. She eventually earned the reputation as the colony's premier Chinese dance choreographer responsible for the artistic direction of a weekly television show on Rediffusion Television.
Marriage brought Ms. Leung to Vancouver in 1970. That year she founded The Lorita Leung Dance Company and since then has devoted her choreographic talents, professional show production expertise and teaching skills to increasing awareness for authentic Chinese dance.A frequent visitor to China, during the 70's and 80's she was one of a select few dance instructors living outside China permitted to study minority dance without restriction. In 1986, she received the only North American invitation to observe the National Dance Competition in Beijing. In 1988, she was invited to teach a seminar on Children's dance techniques in Gansu Province. That same year, Ms. Leung was featured on a special half hour television interview, which was broadcast throughout China. In August 1994 Beijing TV interviewed Ms. Leung for a program, which was aired throughout China later that year.Lorita is a member of the East China Children's Song and Dance Association, the BC Multicultural Society, and the Alliance for Arts and Culture in Vancouver.
In addition to teaching at her own school, Ms. Leung has been on the faculty of the Okanagan Summer School of the Arts in Penticton, BC. In 1991, she was a guest instructor at the National Conference of the Canadian Music Educators Association. Also, in 1991, Lorita was invited by the Chinese Autonomous Regions of Xin Jiang and Inner Mongolia to share her choreographic and teaching experiences. In 1992, she was the Canadian Guest of Honour at the China National Arts Festival held in Yunan Province. In 1993, Lorita received the Canada 125 Commemoration Medal in recognition of her service to Canada and to her fellow Canadians. In 1994, she represented Canada and gave a lecture on "Dance in Canada" at an International Dance Conference in Beijing. She is a frequent workshop presenter at the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle and The Lorita Leung Chinese Dance Company has been the representative of Chinese Dance at the Festival since 1992.
In 1997, Lorita presented Chinese dance at the "Building Bridges" Dance Artists Development Weekend Workshop organized by the Dance Centre with the support of Multiculturalism and Citizenship Canada. In 1999 she established the entrance standards for Chinese Dance for the Canadian Dance Teachers' Association.Lorita is Chairman and the Chinese Dance Examiner of the National Dance Division of the Canadian Dance Teachers Association (BC). She is a Certified Teacher of the Beijing Dance Academy Chinese Dance Syllabus. She has a Diploma in Dance Theory from the Beijing Dance Academy. She is listed in two Chinese books: "Contemporary History of Chinese Dance" and "Brief Biographies of the Contemporary Chinese Dance Celebrities". The latter publication is illustrated and in both Chinese and English.
Lorita is well regarded in China and Canada as a Chinese dance educator who has made a significant long-term contribution toward promoting, preserving and enhancing Chinese dance. She has written many articles in Chinese and you can view them by clicking here.
