‘I love to see what my body can do’

Like many little girls, Nicola Lusher enjoyed ballet. Fast forward 30 years, and the busy GP has rediscovered her childhood pleasure

Life can be hectic with three boys under 10 and my work as a GP and lecturer. It’s taken me a long time to rediscover my childhood passion for ballet, but now my Monday evening class is the one event in the diary that never changes.

It was daunting going to my first class since my teens. At 42, I thought I’d be the oldest one there, and in my old running pants and T-shirt, that I would look out of place among the leotards. But I needn’t have worried. The class was a mixture of men and women of all different ages and experience, most of whom were wearing simple workout wear. After one class, I was hooked.

I’d had ballet lessons as a child, and had fond memories of my grandmother knitting me little pink bolero cardigans, and putting on make-up and pretty tutus for shows. When schoolwork took over in my teens, however, I thought I’d hung up my ballet shoes for good.

When my first two boys were born, I made sure we walked everywhere, mainly to wear them out, but it turned the boys into endurance athletes. They’re very sporty, and because I wanted to be able to keep up with them, my thoughts turned to ballet. I looked into classes and was about to start when I found out I was expecting my third child. After that, I was over 40 and thought I’d left it too late. But my teenage babysitter reassured me there were women of all ages at her ballet school.

For the last two years I’ve been going to weekly classes at the Royal Academy of Dance. I love the challenge of seeing what my body can do. I’m using muscles I didn’t know I had and my flexibility and core strength have improved. Ballet has helped me regain my abdominal and pelvic strength, and my posture has got better, too. It does take me a while to recover from dizziness if I’m pirouetting, but I’m

working on improving that!

Often my patients say they’re too old to exercise and they’re surprised when I tell them about my ballet. It’s such a great activity, because it helps strengthen bones, which is particularly important for women over 50. Plus, you can start as a beginner no matter what age you are.

When I’m at a class, I’m very focused – it takes a lot of concentration, so it’s perfect to take your mind off a long, stressful day. I come back buzzing, and am often to be seen dancing around the kitchen. My oldest son once said to me, ‘I’m not going to see you in a tutu, am I?’ That’s fine by me, as performing on stage was never my motivation. It’s just pure pleasure every time I slip on my ballet shoes.

My family were worried about seeing me in a tutu