I’m finally hanging up my ballet pumps…aged 89, says veteran Scots teacher

By CLAIRE ELLIOT

Published: 21:00 BST, 25 April 2025 | Updated: 21:00 BST, 25 April 2025

It is a form of dance designed to improve posture and flexibility.

And ballet has certainly kept Sheena Gough in the peak of fitness as she is still able to show off her moves – at the grand age of 89.

The octogenarian, who trained in London and Paris, never craved the limelight, so after injuring herself at 17 she began passing her expertise on to others.

She only hung up her ballet slippers for the final time after 72 years last week.

Her students, some of whom travelled hundreds of miles each week to attend her 90-minute classes in Edinburgh, described it as ‘the end of an era’.

But Ms Gough said while she plans to turn her attention to her home and garden, she has not ruled out giving private lessons to former students who ask.

She said: ‘I say I’ve stopped, but we’ll see.’

During her own dancing career Ms Gough trained in Paris alongside the late Dame Margot Fonteyn, who is widely regarded as the greatest ballerina of her generation, having held the title of Prima Ballerina Assoluta at the Royal Ballet after being appointed by Queen Elizabeth II.

Sheena Gough has decided to finally hang up her ballet shoes after a 72 year career

Ms Gough aged 17, having moved to Paris to be trained by legendary ballerina Olga Preobrajenska

Legendary British ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn, in 1939

But while she always loved ballet, after injuring her ankle while training in London, she discovered she enjoyed teaching it even more.

When she returned home to Edinburgh to recover she taught at her former ballet school.

‘And Lo and behold I discovered I was far happier teaching than performing,’ she said. ‘From the moment I started teaching at 17 I found that suited me well, rather than the focus being on me, which I don’t like.’

The grandmother has seen her students go on to train with the Royal Ballet, International Ballet and the British Ballet.

Her own success began after she enrolled at the Scottish School of Ballet in capital when she was just 14.

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.

Ms Gough said: ‘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.’

It was here she met Dame Margot, one of the pupils in the classes, which were conducted in French.

Tracy Hawkes, a ballet dancer who owns the dance studio where Ms Gough’s classes were held, described her as a ‘mentor’ and ‘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.’

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I’m finally hanging up my ballet pumps…aged 89, says veteran Scots teacher

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