On 14 June 2010 in the Royal Albert Hall, one of London's most prestigious performing arts venues, over 100 school children from UK and China performed a Swan Lake-inspired dance piece in front of an audience of over 3000 people. The performance, titled Swanning Around, was a reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. The one-hour performance was the result of nine months of hard work and three days of intensive rehearsals led by English National Ballet. The student dancers were in top form and radiated the highest level of energy, and they received a round of huge applause at the end of every section. Happy tears flooded their eyes at backstage after the performance.

Supported by the British Council, Swanning Around is a dance and cultural exchange project between 10 schools in the UK and China which jointly presented by the Royal Albert Hall, English National Ballet and WebPlay. For months, they have been rehearsing one section of Swan Lake, in their own interpretation and that of the lead choreographer, English National Ballet soloist Jenna Lee.  With that perfected five schools in the UK and 10 students from China united in London in June. They worked together on the big opening and finale for the show at the Royal Albert Hall, accompanied by the English National Ballet Orchestra.

The students from both countries first met in-person on 10 June at the English National Ballet studio, but they have been communicating with one another via WebPlay since the beginning of the project. After a short ice-breaking, the students from China and UK quickly became buddies, despite their language barrier. Also the teachers of both countries saw the differences between the styles of performing by the students, and admired each other. Teachers from Shanghai even started a conversation with teachers from Latymer Upper School about the possibility of future collaboration.

It was a great opportunity for the children from the UK and China to learn from each other. In the beginning, the students from China were more elegant and their UK counterparts were more energetic and expressive. They obviously have benefited from the cultural exchange, and at the final performance it was no longer possible to distinguish the two groups from their dance steps. Their performance was just stunning.

Students and teachers from China also took this opportunity to explore the Royal Albert Hall by taking a guided tour and visiting some of the interesting spaces they wouldn't have access otherwise. Olivia Kong, a student from Hong Kong, was excited for her first visit to UK. Aspiring to be a professional dancer, she said, ‘I want to dance one day in the UK. I love this place!’

The performance in June is only the first of the two highlights of the Swanning Around project. In September, a group of young British students will fly across the world to join their Chinese counterparts and perform at the Shanghai Expo. 130 dancers from Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing and Hong Kong will gather in Shanghai. They will be joined by 10 students from the UK and together they will bring an engaging cross-cultural performance to the Chinese audience.

Craig Hassall, Managing Director of English National Ballet commented, ‘Through support from The British Council, English National Ballet has been able to create an international learning exchange with students from around the United Kingdom and throughout China. The schools from both countries will be represented in the culmination of the project, Swanning Around, the cultural centrepiece of the UK's National Day celebrations at the Shanghai World Expo 2010. The support from British Council teams around China, including Hong Kong, has been superb and vital for the success of the project.’