ballet4life.com

Announcement - 24 & 24 June, 2026

Our classes tonight and tomorrow night ArtsEd are now cancelled. The school will be closing due to the Extreme High Temperature Warnings 🌡️.

Apologies for any disappointment caused.

Please take care, keep safe, and keep well- hydrated.

Hope to be back at the on Saturday! 🤞

🔥

Dear Dancers,

Our Wednesday and Thursday evening Ballet classes at ArtsEd are now unfortunately CANCELLED.

Please see this notice from the AE Facilities Manager:
"The extreme heat we are currently experiencing is putting severe strain on some of our air conditioning and air handling systems. To alleviate this, we will be standing down most of our systems on Wednesday and Thursday evenings to allow maintenance and recovery. This means that all booked hirers for these two days will be cancelled."

Apologies for any inconvenience and disappointments this may cause.

Calling all of our Dancing silver swans, golden swans, white swans, and cygnets: we are planning to hold all classes this week despite the heat wave.

Teachers will be adjusting and adapting material, and helping to make sure you stay hydrated.

If you need to take a rest in classes, or to stop early, please do not worry.

Any queries - please drop us an email.

🔥

Heat Wave

All of our classes are going ahead as scheduled.

Please do remember to bring your water bottles with you to our classes. Please also take breaks or adapt the class material if/when needed.

Our teachers will support your efforts and keep the high temps in mind as well.

Keep well, hydrated,, and safe.

Thanks

Image: Iceland Waterfalls......ah..courtesy of Donna Schoenherr

Sunny Sunday

Happy Fathers Day to all Fathers! Happy Summer Solstice!

Happening today at the Bedford Park Festival:
https://www.bedfordparkfestival.org/e/328/st-michael-s-choristers
"A short choral and instrumental concert showcasing young musicians at all stages of their development. ‘The Aviary’ by Richard Rodney Bennett will be performed by St Michael & All Angels Choristers."
4.30pm

Heat Wave- please keep hydrated and rest as needed this week at all of our 12+ weekly ballet4life.com and Move into Wellbeing classes online and in West London !

We love Saturdays!! We love Chiswick!

On offer: 4 levels of Classical Ballet classes from our Complete Beginner Course up to Int/Adv, Pointe Exercise, Contemporary Dance- General Level, plus our inspirational Move into Wellbeing class.

All are welcome to try a class or to visit. Please just send us a note on [email protected] or to [email protected].

Also on today and this weekend:
There are loads of things on Bedford Park Festival. Do have a look and book in soon.

Hashtag Heaven:


Photos: sampling of various classes and events from over the years ☺

We were so enchanted by Sarah Lenton's - .lenton.92 - brilliant presentation about The Royal Ballet on Tuesday Bedford Park Festival that we forgot to take a photograph!
It was a fascinating + very interesting talk. We extend our thanks to Sarah for her efforts in creating it. It was also lovely to see old Ballet4Life friends in attendance.

The evening inspired our Founder & Director Donna to reflect upon the important British mentors + influences in her early training in Rochester, NY at the esteemed Enid Botsford School and later in NYC. Three very important and influential teachers she had were David Gayle, MBE, Miss Kathleen Crofton, and David Howard. At the time Miss Crofton was teaching at the Botsford School, she had also established + was the Director of Niagara Frontier Ballet later renamed Festival Ballet of New York. She then later became the Director of Maryland Ballet Company. Donna had the supreme joy to have her first professional contract w/ Miss Crofton’s Festival Ballet of NY. The professional contract was for dancing as a child with the company for their entire “Nutcracker” season and touring New York State. She even had a “shoe allowance” + these tattered old paper keepsakes sit in her old Ballet Scrapbook here in Chiswick.

David Gayle, former Dancer with The Royal Ballet, was also the Founder of the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars. Donna was able to locate David + to keep in touch with him here in London.

Ballet4life invited him a few years back to give a talk and this was met with great appreciation and interest. He brought along copies of his book “An English Ballet- A Tribute to Ninette de Valois” & entertained + regaled the audience w/ many anecdotes and tales.

To round up the British connection in Donna’s early training, it is important to mention that Enid Knapp Botsford , dance visionary & founder of the school, had been a Dancer with Anna Pavlova. Donna visited Ivy House decades later to see where Anna Pavlova had lived and where Enid had trained.

All remarkable facets of the international scope of Dance and Ballet. Long may it all thrive and inspire others!

Please do check out the rest of the BPF events on offer and book in!

Some tickets are remaining.....hope to see you there.

Sleeping Who? Sarah Lenton on the Royal Ballet -Tonight!!

🗓 Tuesday, 16 June 2026

📍St Michael and All Angels Church
🕚 7pm for 7.30pm

🎟️Tickets £15

No Westerner had seen a classic Russian ballet until the tiny company at Sadlers Wells performed Swan Lake in 1934. Twenty years later that troupe had become the Royal Ballet and Sarah Lenton of BBC Radio 3 unpacks the chutzpah, story-telling, and sheer technical brilliance behind the company’s Russian repertoire.  

Sarah Lenton has spent her working life at the London Coliseum and the Royal Opera House. She gives talks and writes programme articles for both these companies, Glyndebourne, Garsington, WNO and the Proms. She appears regularly on Record Review and the opera broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 – and is also an assistant priest at St Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park.

Event and booking details available on our website – link in bio

Congratulations to our lovely Dancers who gave a brilliant performance yesterday Bedford Park Festival !

Thank you to the Dancers and to the Ballet4life Teachers who helped prepare everyone and for the support along the way.

We had a very gracious and full audience - thanks!!

Of course also, thanks to all at the for having us on the Bandstand Programme.

❤️