Our Teachers
BEATRICE GHEZZI
Lead Ballet, Contemporary and MiW Teacher and Administrative Assistant
Beatrice was born in Milan and began her ballet studies in Italy at the Studio Danza Arabesque and graduated in 2006 as a ballet teacher in the Vaganova method with the Russian Ballet Association. She then carried on with her ballet studies on a more intensive level and gained a Diploma as a teacher in 2011 with AIDA Ballet Teachers Association in collaboration with Teatro alla Scala, Milan. In 2010 she added the study of Contemporary Dance Technique to her specialisations and attended a full-time course at Trinity Laban in London. In 2014 she completed the Postgraduate Course in Advanced Dance Studies at The Place where she also performed for different choreographers. Alongside performance projects, she has been teaching ballet and contemporary dance in Italy and London for eleven years and was a Dance Lecturer at Lewisham Southwark College. In 2018 she created with her colleague, BOTH Dance Classes, a company which offers adults dance classes in South East London. She enjoys working with people from different dance backgrounds and with different skill levels. In addition to dance, Beatrice also studied Heritage Preservation. She has established herself as a well-loved Ballet4Life and Move into Wellbeing teacher and maintains a high level of professionalism needed to lead our classes and programmes. The Saturday morning Intermediate/Advanced Drop-In Ballet class is very popular and full of enthusiastic "Ballet4lifers" from professional dancers to 60+ vocational class-goers. Ballet4life sponsored Beatrice in the past on her studies with David Leventhal and the Dance for PD® course which was held in Leicester, England with "People Dancing." She is the Course Leader for our Registered Charity 1172264 Move into Wellbeing® for people with Parkinson's and other mobility challenges which launched in January 2015. She successfully finished her MA dissertation on this subject in Spring 2016. Beatrice has a full DBS check, PLI, and is a qualified First Aider. She has been with B4l for over 10 years now and is currently also teaching on our online programme.
ALINA LUTS
Ballet, Character Dance and MiW Teacher
Alina Luts has a long list of performing and choreography credits. Alina grew up in Lviv, Ukraine where she studied dance at Lviv State Ballet School (Vaganova School system) for 10 years. She went on to become a principal dancer for the Aquarius Contemporary Dance Company in Ukraine. Aquarius toured the world as an independent ballet company as well as the support ballet for Sofia Rotaru, one of the most famous Russian, Ukrainian and Moldavian pop and folk singers. As an Aquarius dancer she performed in the worlds’ greatest venues including New-York Radio City Music Hall, Kremlin Palace of Congress and many others. At the same time, Alina taught at Aquarius junior studio. Alina also danced leading parts in Cabaret Theatre Leopolis for two years where she performed character, jazz and folk dance. She participated in a number of international folk art festivals where she performed character dance including Spanish, Gypsy, Russian, Hungarian, Ukrainian and Jewish folk dances, and was a member of Lviv Jewish Folk Dance company Mazl Tov. She participated as a principal dancer in a number of plays in Lviv Lesya Ukrayinka Drama Theatre and worked in Lviv Voskresinnya Theatre as a stage dance instructor and choreographer. Alina runs our popular Character Dance Programme which is currently online.This group performed at the Bedford Park Festival. Alina created our first Ballet4life Cultural Excursion and brought a group to Kiev. She holds PLI and is DBS checked, and currently teaches in-person for MiW. She led the B4l children's classes programme at the Japanese Nursery, Acton. Very remarkably, Alina co-founded and manages https://www.facebook.com/ukrainiansocialclubtwickenham
Chris Christodoulou
Ballet, Contemporary Dance and MiW Teacher
Chris was born in Cyprus and started his dance studies at age 20 in the UK, along his Visual Performing Arts degree at the University of Brighton. Upon completion of both university studies and private ballet classes, he progressed to professional dance training in Athens, at the Greek State School of Dance. Following his studies, he was accepted at the Hellenic Dance Company, dancing in works by Martha Graham, Pascal Rioult, Richard Alston and Hofesh Schechter, amongst others. Following a scholarship by the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, he continued his studies with a Masters degree in Scenography at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. He also started working as a freelance video editor and theatrical lighting designer, collaborating mainly with contemporary dance choreographers. Upon his return to his homeland Cyprus, he was invited to teach as a guest lecturer at the Dance Programme of the University of Nicosia. here in London, Chris now leads our Ballet Follow-On and Improvers classes. He was also trained to teach for Move into Wellbeing®. He teaches our MiW classes for LB of Hounslow over 60's Residents, Hounslow Seniors Trust, and at St. Mary's, Osterely. He is working daily with people with mobility issues and over 60's, including those living with Parkinson’s. Chris also teaches 2 evening long-standing Ballet4Life classes at Arts Ed.He holds an enhanced DBS check, PLI, and is a First-Aider. Chris currently teaches for our online and in-person programmes.
Johanna Saarinen
Ballet Teacher
Johanna started dancing at the age of three and continued training in her native Finland until 2007 when she moved to London to make her dancing dreams true at London Studio Centre. After graduating in 2010 Jo worked as a freelance dancer and dance teacher in the UK, US and Australia for a number of years until leaping to the other side of performing arts, running the London leg of UK's biggest physical education and performing arts company Premier Education Group. After nearly five years on the business side of the arts and introducing the world to her little dance trooper daughter Luna, Jo loves teaching and sharing her passion for dance with dancers at Ballet4Life. Jo is a classically trained contemporary dancer, highly influenced by US jazz dance heritage with years of experience in teaching students of all ages and levels. Jo considers herself highly privileged for being able to train with some of the greatest names and institutions in the industry, from The Ailey School and David Howard in NYC to Australian Dance Theatre to name a few. Jo holds an up to date enhanced DBS and PLI. Jo has created and delivered new classes for Ballet4Life such as Stretch & Tone, Barre Work-Out, and Jazz. She currently teaches in-person and for our extensive online programme as well as leading the B4l Children's Dance Programme at Riverside Studios.
Founder and Artistic Director of Ballet4life
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Beatrice Ghezzi
Lead Ballet and Contemporary Teacher and Administrative Assistant
Donna Schoenherr
Founder & Director of Ballet4life and Move into Wellbeing
Donna is not one to toot her own horn so we will by stating that she is an award winning, impressive, indefatigable, tenacious, brave visionary dance leader and artist who works tirelessly to help others and to bring Dance and The Arts to all. There! Let's see if she removes that bit. She was born in Rochester, NY receiving a superb extensive comprehensive training under full scholarship with internationally renowned dance luminaries on staff including Patricia Wilde, Anton Dolin, George Zoritch, David Gayle, Fernando Bujones, Woytek Lowski, Valentina Pereyaslavec, Leon Danielian, Miguel Lopez, Jurgen Schneider at the prestigious Botsford School. Her formative training continued in New York at the David Howard Dance Center and the Melissa Hayden School of Dance under full scholarships, training intensively with Melissa and David. After a long and successful career as a professional ballet dancer and a contemporary dancer in Europe and the US in companies such as Cleveland Ballet, Dance Express, Michael Mao Dance Co, and Dance Company Giessen, Donna went on to develop an impressive portfolio of work as a guest teacher, choreographer, rehearsal director, private mentor, and successful entrepreneur.
Over the last 4 decades, she has been a frequent guest teacher at leading American and European dance schools, festivals and companies. She held a post at the Millenium Performing Arts school for 3 years in London and guest taught at other dance institutions in London. Her choreography has been commissioned and performed internationally and is used in films and advertising and her Repertory has over 12 full works in it. Her new work to Cecilia McDowall's music premiered in June 2022 in West London. https://ceciliamcdowall.co.uk/
After the birth of her son, in 2004 she founded what was to become Ballet4life®. Her vision was to create an inspiring organisation that would pioneer top quality dance education for adults on a vocational level. Her 1st ballet class for adults in London was offered in January 2004 to eager adult learners in a studio at Rambert Dance Company's former location in Chiswick. 18 years later, Ballet4life® is a well-established and thriving institution, with daily classes both online and in-person and has delivered dance to thousands of Londoners.
Donna has also been creating unique programmes and offering dance to help those with different mobility and wellness issues. She co-created the Dance for Early Stage Dementia Programme with Clarissa Rocha for Arts4Dementia.
Driven by decades of personal resonance, passion, and research, Donna created and founded Move into Wellbeing® in 2014. MIW attained charitable status in 2017, Registered Charity 1172264. She has directed and managed this since its inception. Donna is forever grateful to every person who supported her vision and assisted in her endeavours to make this all happen and to all involved in her inspirational organisation. MIW offers unique dance, movement and exercise classes to people living with Parkinson's and a diverse range of other mobility restrictions and wellness issues. This charity is a living legacy to her father Gerard E Schoenherr and brings joy and relief to hundreds each week with classes in over 9 venues and also online. At the Hounslow Business Award 2018, MIW was Commended in the Best Charity category, it won the 2019 Atul Pathak Community Award.
Donna received the honour of being a Highly Commended Entrepreneur of the year in the Hounslow Business Award 2017 and Ballet4life® was nominated for the Inspirational Work in Education One Dance UK award 2018 and 2019. Donna was also nominated in #ODUKAwards 2019, 2020 for the Inspirational Community Dance Practitioner Award and was also nominated for the AWA Award for Inspirational Women in Dance 2022. Ballet4life has been nominated for the People's Choice Award at the One Dance UK 2019, 2020, 2021 Awards. Ballet4Life was a Finalist in the West London Business Awards 2021 for Health and Wellbeing Business of the Year. She and her husband have resided in West London for 26 years and she is a proud mum to their son who is now studying hard at Imperial College of London. Donna is also a gifted and accomplished photographer, artist, and former model. Her unique paintings, collages, boxes, and photographs are held in private collections around the globe. Lastly, she is a frequent guest on radio and and speaks at events and symposiums, and is a very proud member of the Emily Gaynor Rothman Fund for Dance Advisory Board.
https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/donna-schoenherr-ballet4life/
SERENA HORDON
Ballet Teacher
Serena has Advanced Ballet (Highly Commended) and holds her CDE and DDE teaching diplomas. She is qualified in ISTD, RAD and IDTA. She has over 25 years experience in teaching ballet to young people of ages 4 to 21 and now also enjoys covering at Ballet4life. She has staged and choreographed ballets such as Alice in Wonderland, Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, adapting each for children and young adults, at venues such as Epsom Theatre, Kings College and the Rutherford Theatre. These have raised money for Anthony Nolan Trust, Born Too Soon Campaign and Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.
Serena has an enhanced DBS check and PLI. She is a very busy dance teacher for all levels and is a lovely cover teacher for us.
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Chihiro NAKAJIMA
Yoga Teacher
Chihiro is a London based Bodyworker, Yoga teacher, and Soft Tissue/Massage/Reiki Therapist, originally from Japan. She came to London for music and stage photography in 2002. She eventually discovered yoga and holistic healing practices. Yoga recalled her roots of eastern traditions of philosophy, as well as body strength, awareness and knowledge gained through her teenage years as an athlete. After a year of daily Yoga practice, she moved to another studio with many different styles of Yoga and connected with Dharma Yoga. Its freedom and philosophy struck her heart and led her to the teacher training with one of the most beloved yoga masters, Sri Dharma Mittra in New York City and became a certified Dharma Yoga Teacher. Dharma Yoga is a graceful yet challenging form of yoga based on a system of classical Hatha-Raja yoga with flow. It is a devotional practice that emphasises good health, a clear mind and a kind heart. She has been teaching this and finds great joy in bringing people joy with her hands-on approach, helping to find the connections with their body and mind. She is passionate about spreading the healing power of bodywork and infinite possibilities everyone has within. She started ballet in the late summer of 2017 as a complete beginner of any form of dance and very much fascinated the fact that ballet and yoga complement each other beautifully. She currently teaches a bespoke B4l Gentle Yoga, Breathing & Stretching weekly as part of our online dance programme.
Johanna von Salmuth
Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary Dance Teacher
Johanna von Salmuth grew up in the south of Germany where she attended The Professional Dance Academy, Stuttgart. Her passion for dance has taken her across the globe to study, perform and teach in Vancouver, Prague, Berlin, LA and London. As well as performing with The KAMA dance company in Berlin, Johanna has worked with clients that include; Mercedes Benz, SWR1 & Staatstheater NORD as well as several musicians. Since moving to London in 2019, Johanna has been focusing on choreographing her own pieces and has worked on multiple music videos and film projects including the musical “Desiderata”. She was delighted to join the Ballet4Life Teachers Roster, is enjoying working with all of the B4L dancers, and especially enjoyed leading the B4L Dance Programme at Fulham School.
KRISTIN LEAL
Yoga and MIW Teacher
Kristin Leal is a London - based teacher, lecturer, and body worker who travels the world with her MetaAnatomy trainings, passionately sharing about the miracle of the human body and the liberating potential of both movement and stillness. She is the author of the books "The Yoga Fan”and “MetaAnatomy- A Modern Yogi’s Practical Guide to the Physical and Energetic Anatomy of Your Amazing Body”, both receiving critical acclaim. She is a also licensed massage therapist (Swedish Institute for Massage Therapy 1995) and Reiki practitioner, with additional certifications in Shiatsu, Thai massage, Marma therapy, neuromuscular and myofascial release. Holding the highest level of certification from Yoga Alliance, Kristin teaches and practices Yoga Therapeutics, and has been training teachers since 2004. She has graduated thousands of teachers through her own 200 and 300-hr teacher trainings along with working for in - person and virtual Yoga training programs around the world and sits on the anatomy advisory team at Yoga Journal Magazine.
As a former dancer with Ohio Ballet Repertory Dance Company, she moved to NYC at 17 to pursue her dance career winning scholarships to study at Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, and Jennifer Muller/The Works. After a brief 26 year break, she is thrilled to return to dance finding a sweet and nurturing home at Ballet4Life.
She is honoured to join the Move into Wellbeing® community with the support of Donna Schoenherr, Beatrice Ghezzi and David Leventhal (Dance for PD®). Ballet4Life and Move into Wellbeing® are thrilled to welcome her to their rosters.
Kristin holds an enhanced DBS check, PLI, and is a First-Aider.
SHIRI Hadad
Ballet and Contemporary Teacher
Shiri was born and raised in Haifa, the northern capital port city on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Dance has always been the primary focus of her life since childhood. She holds an impressive record of experience of both performing and instructing classical ballet to a myriad of ages. Her academic achievements also testify to her level and professional capabilities. She holds a bachelor's degree in dance instruction from Seminar Hakibbutzim College in Tel Aviv and a master's in choreography and performance from Jerusalem Music and Dance Academy. In addition, Shiri danced for the SIBA, Salzburg International Ballet Academy in Austria. Shiri has had the privilege to dance with Valery Panov, the world renowned Russian choreographer and performer at the Panov Dance Company in Israel. For the past 15 years Shiri has been teaching classical ballet in various educational institutions across Israel, for example, elementary and high schools, where she oversaw certification processes for the National Matriculation Exams. Moreover she has been the dance instructor at the OROT Israel College in Elkana. She is a colorful vibrant warm person who loves dance and loves people.