Vancouver ballet leader Chan Hon Goh appointed Royal Academy of Dance vice-president
Chan Hon Goh works with young dancers at Goh Ballet. Goh was appointed a vice-president of the Royal Academy of Dance on Sept. 14, 2026.
Photo credit: Royal Academy of Dance.
In 1988, Chan Hon Goh won a silver medal at the Royal Academy of Dance’s Genée International Ballet Competition. Thirty-eight years later, the Vancouver-based dancer and educator has been appointed a vice-president of the international dance organization where she trained as a student.
The Royal Academy of Dance announced Goh’s appointment Sept. 14. She joins vice-presidents Dame Monica Mason, Li Cunxin and David McAllister, with Dame Darcey Bussell serving as RAD president. Goh trained in the RAD syllabus early in her career, earned its Solo Seal and competed at the Genée, now known as The Fonteyn.
“I am proud to serve as a Vice President and contribute to the RAD’s vision for future generations,” Goh said in the announcement.
RAD’s vice-presidents support the president in communicating and furthering the organization’s work, and they sit on its Advisory Council, which can advise the Board of Trustees on matters referred to it. The positions are separate from RAD’s Board of Trustees and executive leadership team.
Nearly a quarter of a million candidates take RAD dance examinations each year in more than 80 countries, according to the organization, and only RAD Registered Teachers can enter students for those examinations. Goh’s appointment gives a Vancouver-based Canadian dance educator a formal place within that international advisory structure.
Born in Beijing, Goh began her ballet studies after moving to Vancouver and trained at Goh Ballet Academy, founded by her parents, Choo Chiat Goh and Lin Yee Goh, in 1978. She joined The National Ballet of Canada in 1988, became Second Soloist in 1990 and First Soloist in 1992, then reached Principal Dancer in 1994. RAD identifies her as the first dancer of Chinese heritage to become a principal dancer with the company.
Her National Ballet career included leading roles in Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and Giselle. The company’s archives include Goh performing Romeo and Juliet with Rex Harrington in 1998. She remained with the National Ballet until 2009 and gave her farewell performance on May 31 of that year, dancing the title role in Giselle at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
Goh returned to the Vancouver school where she had trained and became director of Goh Ballet Academy and Youth Company Canada in September 2010. She now serves as its General and Artistic Director, overseeing an organization with locations in Vancouver and Toronto.
Her work includes the Canadian Masterclass Series, which takes training and assessment opportunities to dancers across the country. Goh Ballet says up to 16 dancers can receive full-tuition scholarships for its summer intensive programs through the series, based on financial need and merit. A separate Diversity Scholarship stream has a total of $5,000 available for dancers from populations underrepresented in classical ballet.
Goh was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2019 and invested in 2022. The Governor General’s citation recognized her career with The National Ballet of Canada, her initiatives promoting Canadian talent internationally and her work developing the next generation of performers. The University of British Columbia awarded her an honorary Doctor of Letters in 2020 and cited initiatives including the Chan Hon Goh Scholarship Fund and Global Dance Challenge.
The RAD appointment brings Goh back into an organization that was part of her own early training in Vancouver. Its records list her as the 1988 Genée silver medallist, behind gold medallist Lisa-Marie Cullum. Goh will return to RAD activity in London this fall as one of the judges for the Bedells Bursary on Oct. 25 and 26, alongside Thérèse Cantine and Shevelle Dynott.
