
“Green Gables is the dearest, loveliest spot in the world”Īs soon as I step inside I sense how much of a family feel the venue has. “It has been a game changer,” Brill admits. It is a young dancer’s dream complete with sprung floors and mirrors and of course, all the (yellow) storage space for set and costume that a dance company could need. LCB made a successful pitch to Wandsworth Council, and with support from the Big Yellow Storage nextdoor, attained the children’s charity a beautiful multi-level space in the heart of Battersea. That all changed in December 2020, though.

The charity has been running since 1994, and all the years since (including Brill’s participation in 2000’s The Last Battle and Royal Ballet Principal Anna Rose O’Sullivan’s dancing Sarah in 2004’s The Little Princess) worked on a basis of booking whichever London studios they could get. But it gave us a window of time to achieve my dream of getting LCB a home.” When Brill stepped into her role in early 2019, LCB did not have a permanent rehearsal base. “Covid was extremely challenging for us at LCB,” she says, “Like a lot of the arts sector, we found ourselves trying to protect the company. The postponement was deeply sad at the time for the young dancers and for me, but as Artistic Director Ruth Brill tells me, it wasn’t without an unexpected silver lining. This plan was made in Spring 2019, but a pandemic that rhymes with Ovid got in the way.

“There was in it thankfulness for the past and reverent petition for the future”

Lovely weather for an exciting day – exactly the kind of morning that would thrill Anne Shirley, the lead fictional character of Anne of Green Gables, my favourite childhood book series and the LCB’s latest adaptation for the stage! As Anne herself proclaims, “It’s delightful when your imaginations come true, isn’t it?” It is a bright, crisp Saturday morning when I go to visit London Children’s Ballet.
