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Nicky Bentley

Published Monday 2 November 2009 at 18:20 by Julie Ann Barnett

Dance teacher and choreographer Nicky Bentley died of cancer at her home in Frensham, Surrey, on August 31.

Born on March 24, 1961, Nicky was an accomplished gymnast before training as a dancer at Arts Educational School. In the early eighties she began working at Pineapple Dance Studios in Covent Garden, at first covering classes for Arlene Phillips and later teaching in her own right. She soon built up a first-class reputation and many famous names benefitted from her inspired teaching and choreography, including Cliff Richard, S Club 7, Danni Minogue, Lulu, the Sugababes and Status Quo.

Nicky is survived by her composer husband Mark Sayer-Wade, their children Tobias, Joshua, Storm and Fabian, and by her father John and sisters Sharon and Sue.

Students who attended her classes at Pineapple from the eighties onwards and remained friends with her until her death commented:

“Nicky Bentley changed lives. We know this because she changed ours. An exceptionally talented dancer and teacher, she managed to work us hard, inspire us to improve and at the same time make us laugh, so much, sometimes, that we forgot the pain. She introduced us to jazz, street, cheerleading and a trend for wearing huge plastic knickers over our dance gear to make us sweat even more. Who else could have convinced us that was a good idea?

Her dancing, teaching and choreography inspired and influenced more than one generation and, to the end, she sparkled with a passion for dance, grace, elegance, humour and an amazing strength of spirit. She will be greatly missed.”

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