Elizabeth Hodgshon and her lifetime commitment to dance and ballet.

Elizabeth grew up in Brighton and her first ballet steps were with Miss Lamberts. She continued her training at the Sutton School in Brighton under Mavis Ward, where she took her RAD major exams with Jean Ramsey. During this time, she made her first association dancing at the Brighton Competitive Musical Festival, until at 15, she went to the Cone-Ripman School in London for two years and then onto dance with some professional operatic companies. Her true love was centred around the teaching of others, and after having started the Rylands School in 1947, she went into partnership with Joan Gridley and formed the Brighton and Hove Stage Educational School. It was during this time that she became a member of the Brighton and Hove Operatic Society and the Green Room Theatre Society in London. The school soon developed a great reputation for excellence and as a result of this success she was asked in 1961 by an RAD examiner to go to the National Theatre ballet school in Reykjavik, Iceland, where she became ballet mistress and choreographer for two years.

In 1964, when back in England, she worked with Festival Ballet for a season and then Grace Cone offered her a teaching position at the Cone-Ripman school in London, which later became The Arts Educational School. Elizabeth also loved to travel and after a while set off on her travels again, this time going to teach in Australia in both Adelaide and Sydney and then later becoming ballet mistress at the National Iranian Ballet Company. In 1973 she returned to the Arts Educational School where she became established as a key member of the ballet faculty for 7 years.

Although she had spent much time travelling and working in London, her heart always remained in Sussex. When the opportunity arose for her to teach for Doris Isaacs she took it, and after Miss Isaacs died in 1975, she took over the Shoreham branch of the school.

Students will remember a teacher who had presence and commanded tremendous respect from all her pupils. She was a disciplinarian and only had to walk in through the door and the room would fall silent. Not only did she have the ability to develop passion and artistry, she was also a true technician and would not think twice about concentrating on the smallest detail. In essence she was a perfectionist in all that she did.

The school went from strength to strength for over 25 years and she developed a wonderful working partnership with Rosemary Warner, Jenny Skinner, Erica Jeans and Pat Newland Baker.

Having developed a reputation as a teacher of excellence, Elizabeth also taught part time at Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom and was a guest teacher at many established schools in Sussex, including the Glendale School in Worthing.

She became an examiner for the Imperial Ballet Faculty in 1978 and remained an examiner until she retired. She was a highly respected member of the faculty and travelled extensively, examining, lecturing, and teaching. She was also on the Faculty committee for 13 years and was co-organiser for the South-east Imperial Ballet teachers group.

The Brighton Festival also had a long partnership with her, starting first as a child competitor and then as a teacher. She choreographed countless solos, duets and groups, often finding it too difficult to watch for fear that the student would not live up to her high expectations. Elizabeth was a member of the dancing committee for many years and later a trustee of the Festival committee.

As a ballet teacher Elizabeth covered the whole spectrum, from those who just came once a week to those who have gone on to attain the highest levels in dancing and teaching, and this is an achievement which made her extremely proud.