Ballet teacher hangs up her shoes aged 89 as students hail ‘end of an era’

Sheena Gough is 89 years old but she can easily lift her leg on to a ballet barre to demonstrate elegant dance moves to her class.

The ballet teacher, who trained in London and Paris, has pupils who travel hundreds of miles every week for her 90-minute lessons in Edinburgh.

But now the grande dame has decided to hang up her ballet shoes after a 72 year career.

BBC Scotland News joined her last class in the Stockbridge area of the city, where her students said it was the “end of an era”.

Sheena enrolled at the Scottish School of Ballet in Grosvenor Crescent in Edinburgh when she was 14 years old.

By the age of 17, her talent had caught the eye of English ballet dancer and choreographer Anton Dolin – who begged her parents to let her be taught by Bolshoi-trained Olga Preobrajenska in Paris.

“Fortunately my parents agreed,” Sheena said.

“I was really rather nervous, my parents took me over in the car and dropped me off at someone’s flat in Paris and left me to get on with it.

“It wasn’t even a school, she was just somebody that famous dancers from all over the world would go to to attend her classes, so it was a little bit daunting.”

Margot Fonteyn – the Royal Ballet prima ballerina – was among Sheena’s fellow pupils in the classes, which were conducted in French.

“She was sweet, I remember her having difficulty with one of the steps. It was all quite an adventure,” Sheena said.

But it was when she moved to London that she badly injured her ankle while doing pointe work – where dancers perform on the tips of their toes – and her parents told her to travel back to Edinburgh while it healed.

There she helped with the teaching at her former ballet school during her recovery.

“And lo and behold I discovered I was far happier teaching than performing – and I’ve never looked back. I’ve been teaching ever since,” she said.

Ian Johnston, 60, regularly makes a 200-mile round trip from Carlisle to join Sheena’s lessons.

He first joined her class when he lived in Edinburgh in 1991. Now he brings his son, Sandy.

“I travel this distance every week because Sheena is one of a kind, her classes are inspirational and her teaching style is very exciting,” he said.

Ian contacted the BBC through Your Voice, Your BBC News to suggest we tell Sheena’s story.

“There is nobody else who teaches quite like her,” Ian added.

“Her classes are notoriously tough and rewarding.

“It’s going to be quite a shock not to have her anymore but I will hear her corrections in my head and her saying, ‘Where’s your face? Where’s the join? Where’s the excitement?’ every time I do other classes in the future.”

Ian’s son, Sandy, added: “I can’t tell you how much I will miss the classes, they are the best I have ever been to and unlike anything else.

“She doesn’t let us away with anything, she notices everything, and she knows what you can aim for.

“I’m very sad she’s retiring because you don’t find many classes like these anymore.”

Sheena said she decided to retire after worrying she might not be able to remain at her peak.

But she is not planning to have a rest.

“There is the garden and my house to tidy up,” she said.

“I think I ought to make it easier for anybody who has to sort it out after I go.”

Another pupil, data scientist Ryan Mcmanus, said it was the end of an era.

The 34-year-old, who travels more than 100 miles every week for the class, said: “It’s the highlight of my every week to come along and have a great time learning how to do things and getting corrections.

“I have been to other classes and what I like about Sheena is she is very insistent on the fundamentals: on correct placement, correct posture, on correct technique.

“I’ve seen a vast improvement in me and it’s entirely down to her correctness, which I really appreciate coming from a scientific background myself.

“I had tears in my eyes when the class ended, I’m so sad and I sincerely doubt we will be able to find anyone like her again.”

Tracy Hawkes, a ballet dancer who owns the dance studio in St Stephen Street where Sheen’s classes are held, said the teacher had left a wonderful legacy.

“She’s certainly one of the grande dames in Scotland,” she said.

“To have someone who has been through decades of change in style and methods of teaching but has continued to have been such a font of all knowledge and experience, to have someone who is nearly 90 still doing that is just amazing.

“I’ve been so proud to have her here at the studio and it’s a very sad day now she’s retiring.”

Some of Sheena’s pupils have gone on to the Royal Ballet, International Ballet and the British Ballet.

“One of my former pupils is about to move to the Scottish Ballet and when he heard I was retiring he was on the phone saying he wants private lessons, I’ll get you tickets to come see me dance if you just give me some private lessons,” Sheena said.

“So, it’s meant to be the end – but we’ll see.”