“I never thought about dancing ballet. I thought it was something that tiny skinny mean girls did from the age of 4, and someone like me could never do it. As I child I did a few years of Highland & National Dancing and was often the only boy in my category at competitions. When I started high school I dropped it because I found it just wasn’t challenging for me anymore. You could learn new steps, but there wasn’t the joie de vivre there. Once at university I bought myself on a whim some social lessons in ballroom & latin American dancing, which quickly grew, with my family buying me more lessons as my 21st present, and then my graduation gift. I’ve now been doing that dance for coming up 9 years!

A couple of years ago I thought it would be fun to do some other kinds of dancing and made enquiries but never took it further. I went to sign up for Broadway and Solo Charleston, and got told that I should do a block of ballet first to get the basics down pat first. Apprehensively, I looked around for classes, and found Ione’s. I asked people I knew if any of them knew her, and they all did, and the first person I knew said they could vouch for her because she was their teacher! I was extremely nervous about coming, and kept asking my friend all sorts of things, like what should I wear, how many boys come to these classes, what if the teacher doesn’t like me, and she said I’d be fine.

When I met Ione, I realised she was right. Ione puts you at ease and cares for your development as a dancer. There’s no wooden ruler for hitting you when your knee turns in, or stomping the floor until you get something perfect. This creates a welcoming environment where it is a delight to dance and be together, and where you never want to go home!”