Dance icon Stephanie Ledger is about to take her final curtain call after over 40 years of teaching ballet and music to children across the district.

She has been running the Stephanie Ledger School of Dancing in St Albans for 42 years, holding classes six days a week for age three upwards.

The end of term will see her saying farewell and making way for new principal Helen Brewer who has herself been teaching at the school since 1987.

Stephanie has not just taught ballet to many hundreds of children and adults, she has also gone out of her way to bring the joys of ballet to the wider community.

She regularly supports Age Concern as well as the St Albans Festival and a number of charities including launching flash mobs on unsuspecting St Albans shoppers to raising money for the Bailey Sarwa cancer appeal in the city.

She said: “Ballet is not only great exercise, it gives you a chance to be creative, express yourself and most importantly have fun”.

Helen Brewer, who will take over the school from September, said: “Stephanie has always been passionate about the importance of live piano accompaniment and this will continue for all classes.”

Not only does she have a wealth of experience in the school itself, but she also brings experience from the wider world of dance with a particular interest in special needs teaching.

For some years she taught at the Royal Academy of Dance on their programme for children with special needs. She has also taught visually impaired children and adults for the Royal Opera House Education Department and has run workshops at Sadler’s Wells for hearing impaired children.

Stephanie added: “I have enjoyed many years of teaching in St Albans and have fond memories of the children and families I have taught. After 42 years I feel ready to hand over to someone younger and with more energy.”

A farewell gathering will be held from 1pm to 3pm next Saturday, July 12, at the Age Concern Hall in Hall Place Gardens, St Albans.