Meet your instructors

After a successful international professional dancing career, Ioe Sheridan became a mother, and that's when she got interested in teaching ballet in a gentle and nurturing way to young children. Living in South Woodford, she decided to create Bambino Ballet to share her experience with the local community.

Ioe Sheridan : Founder and teacher 

Ioe was born in Tokyo. Her name is pronounced ‘Ee-Oh’. After training for 10 years at the Momoko Tani Ballet Company, Ioe traveled to London’s Urdang Academy of Performing Arts where she studied dance, choreography, and drama. She furthered her training in jazz dance receiving intensive tuition from Sheila Sangster.

Ioe then returned to Tokyo, embarking on her career as a professional dancer by joining the contemporary dance company BATIK as a founder member in 2002. Dancing with the award-winning BATIK, Ioe performed extensively in Japan and around the world in places such as London, New York, Paris, Moscow, Montreal, Frankfurt, Brisbane, Kuala Lumpur, Soul and Singapore.

Ioe has lived in U.K since 2006 and has two children.

Contact   io@bambinoballet.com

Eva Solange Bortalis : Teacher

Eva was born in Paris where she began dancing at the age of 3. Growing up she studied ballet, jazz, modern and commercial. She started Rhythmic Gymnastic at the age of 7, and became French champion twice at 11 and 13. Then she attended a stage school in France where she discovered her passion for musical theatre. She moved to London and graduated from The Musical Theatre Academy in 2018.

Eva has performed in shows like Rent (London) & The Lion in Winter (Frankfurt) and also appeared in various projects including BBC Bitesize and Sainsbury’s commercial. Alongside her training Eva never stopped teaching dance and animating youth theatre groups. Eva particularly enjoys seeing children’s creativity and their improvement class after class.

Erin Hughes : Teacher

Erin started ballet at the age of three, before also learning tap, modern, jazz and other styles. After spending five years on Dance City’s Advanced Training Programme, she moved to London to study contemporary dance at Trinity Laban, where she trained extensively for three years and achieved a First Class degree.

Following her undergraduate degree, she joined The Collective at Dance City in Newcastle, under the creative direction of David Lloyd. There, she performed commissioned works by Mischief Company, Lost Dog and Gecko.

Erin now works in London as a freelance performer and producer, using a mixture of her performance background and Arts management knowledge. She is passionate about bringing the joy of dance to all people and really looking forward to working with Bambino Ballet!

Stephanie Burrell : Teacher

Stephanie is a dancer and performer originally from Manchester. She trained at the Centre for Advanced Training in Manchester for three years in Ballet and Contemporary. After this, she went on to train at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Stephanie has performed in London and Berlin and is fluent in Spanish and German. She believes dance is for everyone and loves seeing children and young people excited about learning and expressing themselves in creative safe ways.

Stephanie is a company dancer for Hallomai Dance who makes interactive work specifically for children. Outreach and inclusion are elements of dance Stephanie feels strongly about. She is excited about joining the Bambino Ballet team!

Telisa Cottier : Teacher

Telisa started dancing at age 16 in her hometown Tamworth, whilst at secondary school. This led her to move to London where she studied a BA degree in dance at the University of Roehampton. During her time here, she completed an intensive with Jasmin Vardimon Company in Barcelona and was given a scholarship to attend Technice Di Danza Moderna intensive in Rome. Following this, she gained a Masters degree in performance from Dance City (Newcastle), whilst part of the post-graduate dance company ‘The Collective’.

Most recently, she has been part of a dance company at Dance East, where she performed, taught and organised events. In her career as a contemporary dancer, she has worked with choreographers/ companies including Alleyne Dance, FUBUNATION, Vinicius Salles, Mischief Company and Southpaw Dance Company. As well as assisting the classes at Bambino Ballet, she teaches ballet and street dance classes to children, and contemporary classes to adults.

Ruth Pugh : Teacher

Ruth has enjoyed dancing from a young age and went to a local dance school in her hometown, Birmingham for several years where she did ballet, tap, modern and freestyle. After doing a BTEC in dance, Ruth moved to London to train at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Since graduating, Ruth has worked and performed professionally in various different shows and performances including DisneyLand Paris, ‘Nobody’s Baby’ by Arthur Pita at The Royal Opera House, an historical Masque at The Banqueting House, and  ‘How to Hold Your Breath’ by Zinnie Harris at the Royal Court. Her love for dance never stops growing and she wants to spread the joy and of dance on to others! Ruth has taught ballet and creative dance classes to children and loves seeing them use their imaginations, have fun, and improve after every class.

Phoebe Higgins : Teacher

Phoebe was born in Leeds where she first started her dance training and trained with Northern Ballet from ages 13-16 and had the opportunity to perform with the company in both The Ugly Duckling and The Nutcracker. From there, she completed her degree course at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance before joining the post-graduate company “Verve” at Northern School of Contemporary Dance back in Leeds.

Phoebe is now a freelance dancer and yoga teacher in London. She really enjoys the teaching side of dance and loves seeing the enjoyment and excitement that children get out of ballet.