Founded by William Lau in 1994, the Little Pear Garden Collective is committed to preserving and promoting the richness of the Chinese performing arts to a wide range of audiences in Canada.

The collective's name is derived from traditional Peking Opera. During the Tang Dynasty in China, Emperor Hsuan Tsung (712-755) founded the Pear Garden Academy, the first professional music and dance performance troupe inside his royal court. This important institution is considered to be the origin of Chinese opera. Subsequently the performance of Chinese opera was referred to as the "pear garden profession" and opera performers were known as the "children of the pear garden".

The Little Pear Garden has established itself as a pioneer in the development of Chinese performing arts in Canada. The collective is constantly exploring new ways to bring a diverse audience to their well-attended public presentations. The Little Pear Garden Collective hope to continue to nurture the development of Chinese performing arts in Canada through our commitment to produce high caliber concert performances, lecture demonstrations and professional workshops.

The Little Pear Garden Collective has presented Master Song Chang-Rong, Madame Dai Ai-Lian, Shen Xiaomei, William Lau, Zhang Yanyan, Tu Ji-Sheng, Ming Ta, Sheng Li, Dong Quing-Ming and Jeffery Chan in numerous public presentations involving contemporary theatre, multicultural dance workshops, Beijing opera performance and Chinese dance workshops.


For more information, please contact Dance Umbrella of Ontario (416) 504-6429 ext. 22 or duo@danceumbrella.net