Meet The Teachers

Hi! My name is Elisa Reinerio and I moved to London over 10 years ago to follow the love of my life, who then became my husband and the father of my two boys.

I started dancing at the age of 6 in a local ballet school back in Italy. My passion for dance came at once, and I wanted to practice almost every day. At the age of 15, I started teaching ballet to children from two to 10 years old and I loved it!

But as I got older and started working, dance took less of a central role in my life.

Claudia is a French native, in her mid-thirties, who started studying jazz dance in Paris 20 years ago. She subsequently qualified with Gold Medal as a professional dancer and performed some years as a soloist in a Junior Jazz Ballet Company.

Partisan of the “Universality” of dance and willing to explore further, Claudia decided to go back to school and develop herself in contemporary dance. She was lastly seen on stage in 2016 in Normandy and in Paris.

Claudia loves argentine tango and met her husband in an abrazo. Together they spent nights dancing in Parisian ballrooms, performed for private events and taught in different places.

Jazz, Tango, Ballet, Contemporary… this is where the Universality of dance resides. Anytime, anywhere, anyhow, movement is life and translates in infinite concepts: Connections, freedom, mindfulness, emotions…

Claudia is a certified Barre&Baby teacher and mum of Isaure, a one year old little girl, who will be assisting her during Barre&Baby classes.

“Pregnancy and motherhood are paramount times in life when mothers focus on their bodies, emotions, changes… times of sensitivity and creativity… It is also a magical time when dance helps reconnecting with oneself by creating great opportunities to discover the multiple benefits of an interaction with our babies as well as with other mums.”

Claudia will be teaching Pregnancy and Mum&Baby Ballet classes every Monday in Canada Water SE16.

Danielle started dancing at 3 years old and never stopped! Her love of dancing led to a degree in contemporary dance gaining a 2.1 BA Honours from the University of Chichester. Since graduating Danielle has performed with The London Cheerleaders and Nonsuch History and Dance Company. Danielle also discovered a passion for teaching, in particular, introducing children under seven to ballet, street dance, musical theatre and drama. A love for children and a desire to learn more about motherhood, led to Danielle discovering Barre&Baby. She immediately realised it would be the perfect fit and six months later became a Barre&Baby teacher!

Jaye has studied and performed dance in London and Los Angeles. She took up dance teaching after an intensive period learning jazz methods from LA-based choreographer Bill Brown, and qualified (with honours) as a Ballroom and Latin American dance teacher in 2014.
As a student she competed nationwide in Dancesport for two years, specialising in Latin American styles and collecting a crateful of medals and trophies (which she recently threw out because they were cluttering her attic!) She has since taught lift-tastic partner work for performance, wedding dances, and provided movement coaching and choreography for stage and music videos.
Jaye is a certified Barre&Baby teacher, with a special interest in postnatal recovery. She is mum to a six-year-old daughter and a baby boy, Axel.

Jaye will be teaching Pregnancy and Mum&Baby Ballet classes every Thursday in Crouch End.
She will be accompanied by her supportive teacher Axel, who has been joining Barre&Baby classes since he was a few weeks old in the womb!

Ilaria started dancing when she was 5 years old and her passion led her to experiment many different types of dance: ballet, contemporary, modern, aerial silk, latin dance and kizomba. She studied and graduated in Psychology and Health at University in Rome.
Ilaria is an auntie to four children, who she considers the most incredible gift her sister and her brother could ever give to her. Through them, she had the amazing possibility to deeply discover pregnancy and motherhood and she started reading books, talking with midwives and doulas in order to nurture her spontaneous interest in “mothering”. When she discovered Barre&Baby she knew that’s what she wanted in life: in just few months she decided to leave everything in Rome and come to London to train as a Barre&Baby teacher! After an year of sharing the love in London, Ilaria has decided to be the first seed of Barre&Baby in Italy and she’s now head back to her home town Rome to share the love of Barre&Baby.

“I am truly in love with what I do. Creating a welcoming and nourishing space for the mums, dancing and sharing the class with them makes me feel in the right place in the world!”

Born in London, Antonette trained at The Debra Bradnum Ballet School, The Royal Ballet School and Central School of Ballet, graduating with a BA Hons in Professional Dance with First Class Honours.
As a student she performed with The Ballet Central 2005 Tour, The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Kirov.
Antonette has danced professionally since 2005 touring the UK and internationally with CeDeCe, The Curve Foundation, Rambert, Alexander Whitley Dance Company, Renaud Wiser Dance Company, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance and DeNada Dance Theatre. She has performed works by renowned choreographers such as Christopher Bruce, Javier de Frutos, Michael Clark, Merce Cunningham, Itzik Galili, Ashley Page, Siobhan Davies, Paul Taylor and Liam Scarlett.
In 2016 with help from the Dancers Career Development, she became a STOTT PILATES® Certified Instructor including pre and post natal pilates and further training in injuries and special populations.
After becoming a mother in September 2017 she decided to combine her knowledge and experiences in dance, Pilates and motherhood by becoming a BARRE&BABY™ Certified Teacher.
Antonette and her assistant Gabriel will be teaching Pregnancy and Mum&Baby Ballet classes every Thursday at The Garuda studio in St Johns Wood.

Christina started ballet at the age of three and has never stopped loving the magical feeling when the music begins for pliés at the start of class.
Christina is a proud Mum to two boys. She danced through both pregnancies, and was back in class a couple of months after the births with husband Ben taking the babies in the sling into Regents Park, both hoping that they wouldn’t wake up needing a feed! Christina’s teacher, Nina, provided incredible support and encouragement to continue dancing, even offering to have the boys in the studio. This never happened as Christina didn’t want to disturb the peaceful class for everyone else! Barre & Baby was brought to Christina’s attention near the end of maternity leave and she jumped at the chance to train in Elisa’s very special method of prenatal, and mother and baby/baby-wearing ballet. Christina is delighted to be able to bring Barre & Baby to Hertfordshire mothers and babies.

Anastasia has over 20 years of experience in ballet and contemporary dance. Her passion and love for dance has led her to experiment with many different genres such as jazz, creative dance, contact improvisation but also to train as a Dance movement psychotherapist and combine her two passions, dance and psychology!

Anastasia strongly believes that as the movement is the first language of our bodies, moving can evoke deep feelings and connections between our bodies and minds as well as enhance the mother-infant attachment and experience.

Anastasia found Barre&Baby when she was pregnant and felt in love with the idea of keep practicing ballet along with being able to move and connect with her baby while still in the womb! She decided to train and become a certified Barre&Baby teacher to allow other mums to experience this wonderful feeling.

Anastasia will be teaching Pregnancy and Mother&Baby ballet classes every Friday at the Platform in Finsbury Park.