Sarah Du-Feu & Susan Handy
Sarah and Sue have a long history together dating back to about 1990 when Sarah, an eager little 3 year old, joined The Susan Handy School of Dance in Eton.
Sarah decided at a young age that she wanted to be a dancer and progressed up through the school under Sue’s experienced teaching, gaining distinction in every ballet exam up to Advanced.
At age 16 Sarah left to further her vocational training, having gained a scholarship to English National Ballet School where she trained for the next few years. On graduating from Ballet School, Sarah danced professionally with English National ballet Company at The Royal Albert Hall in London and then moved to Paris to dance for a year before moving home and deciding that teaching was the route she now wanted to follow.
Susan is one of the most highly respected teachers within both the Cecchetti Society and the classical ballet world in the UK. Having received her classical training at the prestigious Royal Ballet School, she went on to have a successful career within the company being promoted to Soloist dancer. On becoming a teacher and starting her school, ‘Susan Handy Dance’ over 40 years ago, she now has a long established, hugely successful school with over six hundred pupils and branches in Eton, Windsor, Old Windsor, Datchet, Eton Wick, Ickenham, Richmond and the Hurlingham Club in Putney.
6 years ago… after choosing the teaching route, Sarah asked Sue if she would tutor her through her teaching qualifications in Cecchetti ballet, after all, there is no one better than an ex -Chairman of the Cecchetti Society, Fellow and Senior Examiner of the I.S.T.D, a holder of the Enrico Cecchetti Diploma and someone who can quite frankly read Sarah like a book!
On gaining her ISTD DDE qualification, Sarah embarked on teaching for Sue at the school she once trained at which was a huge honour and soon after, the opportunity arose for them to co-own and grow a dance school in Woking. So, excitingly they joined forces to build the Woking school.
During this time, Sarah moved to Woking and over the years has become more and more involved in the school teaching the majority of the ballet classes as well as helping the wonderful Liz, with the admin side of running the school too.
Today, still working closely with Sue, Sarah has taken on management of the Woking branch with the aspiration of Sue and all she has passed on over the years with the aim of giving back to her students the exact care, discipline and belief that Sue had in her since the age of 3 and to inspire the next generation of dancers just as she once was.
Sarah also now has a presence as The Ballet Coach offering an online programme of classes, tutorials and ballet content to dancers of all ages worldwide. For more information on her dance at home programme visit http://www.theballetcoach.com
Get in touch
If you are interested in any of our classes or would like to get in touch with us for any other reason, click the button below.