A staff member and recent graduate from Leeds Conservatoire’s Music Production course have created a score for a pioneering project led by Northern Ballet in partnership with Leeds Hospitals Charity.
Images of Cameron Pugh and George Liang dancing. Photo credit throughout: Colleen Mair
The pilot project, which also involves key partners including the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University, aims to explore how young people at Leeds Children’s Hospital can be positively impacted by using VR technology. Utilised by hospital Play Specialists, the experience will ‘transport’ patients out of the clinical setting into a sensory, 360-degree virtual environment to experience a dance piece inspired by and set in the natural world.
It is hoped that the project will gain an understanding of how young people react to the virtual reality experience and also aims to help bed-bound patients, or those in hospital for long periods of time, feel entertained and more connected to the world outside.
The five-minute-long immersive experience is choreographed by Northern Ballet’s George Liang, who has danced with the company since 2018, and performed by Cameron Pugh, a dancer at Northern School of Contemporary Dance. It was filmed over the summer at Otley Chevin Forest Park by filmmaker and project director Mark Wilkinson. The finished work is set to a score composed by Leeds Conservatoire, which combines gentle music with elements of an outside soundscape.
The creation of the score was led by Professor Caterina McEvoy, Associate Professor in Sound Art at Leeds Conservatoire, and recent BA Music Production graduate Dylan Cater. The duo worked alongside the dancer and choreographer to develop the music alongside the movement, taking into consideration how the ambisonic score would be experienced spatially through the VR headset.
Reflecting on the recent project, Caterina said: “What a wonderful project to be part of, with such a meaningful purpose at its heart! It was a real joy to co-compose alongside recent BA Music Production graduate Dylan Cater, sharing creative ideas and bringing our musical approaches together. Working with Northern Ballet’s fantastic team, George Liang’s inspiring choreography, Cameron Pugh’s beautiful dancing, and Mark Wilkinson’s stunning immersive VR filmmaking made the whole experience incredibly rewarding. I hope the finished film will bring a sense of calm and connection to young people spending time in hospital.”
Dylan added: "It was a privilege to compose music for Northern Ballet and the NHS. For me, the aim was to create music that supported and mirrored the movements of the dancer and surrounding environment to create an immersive, relaxing experience for the viewer. The brief gave me a clear creative direction which helped when it came to collaboratively composing alongside Caterina and supporting the other elements of this project."
The VR experience will be tested in a clinical setting this autumn with groups of children and young people aged between 8 and 16, led by the Play Team at Leeds Children’s Hospital, funded by Leeds Hospitals Charity. The project partners have devised a short feedback form to capture insights and feedback from patients. An analysis of the feedback will be summarised in a report which will be made publicly available in spring 2027.
The pilot project has been funded by The Linbury Trust and is also part of West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds City Council’s Seasons of Culture 2026.
