Dancer inspiring students after escape from Ukraine

Kateryna Tor set up her own ballet business in the East Midlands

"In one moment, I realised, this is death, this is war."

In February 2022, professional ballet dancer and single mother, Kateryna Tor, woke to the sound of bombs going off in her home city of Odesa, Ukraine.

Fearing for her life, she jumped into her car in the early hours of the morning, with her one-year-old baby boy, driving for 38 hours with no sleep or food, determined to escape to safety.

Ms Tor travelled to three countries before settling in the UK, where she taught herself to speak English and started up a ballet school for adults of all abilities in the East Midlands.

Before the Ukraine war started, Ms Tor was a professional ballet dancer in Odesa

The 41-year-old, who now lives in Alfreton, Derbyshire, started dancing in Ukraine in the 1990s, when she was six years old.

She fell in love with ballet and made a career out of it, training as a classical ballet dancer.

Ms Tor danced professionally in Odesa, but when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she knew she had to leave her country.

"It was very scary, if you don't leave, you will die," she said.

Ms Tor fled Odesa with her baby in the early hours of 24 February 2022, when she was woken by the sounds of the city being invaded.

"I tried to avoid all the bombs, tried to stay alive," she explained.

Ms Tor travelled to Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, before arriving in England in October 2023, as part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

She settled in the East Midlands, where she learned how to speak English.

Ms Tor, who now lives in Alfreton, teaches adult ballet classes to people of all abilities

Last year in September, Ms Tor set up her own business, teaching ballet dancing to adults of all ages and abilities in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, and Alfreton in Derbyshire.

"I wanted to do something for this community, for this country, to show people Ukrainian culture," she said.

Ms Tor added the dangers in her home country push her to achieve every day.

"If I'm tired, or upset, or everything is horrible, or it's wet, I say - 'I'm not in Ukraine now'," Ms Tor said.

"In Ukraine, you can die, so go up."

Pictured from left to right: Rosie Finney, Amanda Sullivan and Joanne Baker attend the ballet classes in Eastwood

Ms Tor teaches four sessions a week with a group of adults aged 25-70.

She said she wanted people to be inspired by her classes, and believes she could teach anyone to dance.

"I like it when I see my influence on them and see how they grow," she added.

The women who regularly attend the classes said Ms Tor had created a special community.

Amanda Sullivan, 59, from Mansfield, was inspired by Ms Tor to take up dancing again after 40 years.

"The fact that she's come over, she's learned a whole new language, new alphabet [from Cyrillic to Latin], she's had to make a completely new life for herself, and she can communicate, get us to do what she wants, she's an inspiration - she's brilliant," Ms Sullivan said.

'A superwoman'

Ms Tor's ballet classes are not just for experienced dancers but also for beginners of any age.

Rosie Finney, 27, from Riddings in Derbyshire, started going to the classes in January as a beginner.

"I literally had no idea what I was doing when I started," she said.

"She makes you feel like you can do it.

"She's a superwoman, it's incredible. I've never met anyone who does so much and does it so flawlessly and makes it completely effortless."

Some members of her classes in Eastwood, who had previous ballet experience, said the quality of her teaching was unmatched by any other teacher they had ever had.

Joanne Baker, 57, from Heanor, said: "She's very positive and picks out things that will help you, and immediately I improved."

"She just has an attitude that you can do anything."