Lady Anya Sainsbury CBE

Lady Anya Sainsbury, née Anya Eltenton and known professionally as Anya Linden, is a renowned figure in British ballet and a long-standing supporter of The Royal Ballet School. Governor Emerita

Anya spent her earliest years in Leningrad, before her family moved to California where she began ballet lessons at the age of seven. Five years later, she was invited to study in Hollywood with the Russian dancer and choreographer Theodore Kosloff.

In 1947, Anya moved to England to continue her training at the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School, now The Royal Ballet School, which was then based in a Primrose Hill church hall before relocating to Barons Court. During her graduate year, she adopted the stage name Anya Linden, before joining the Sadler’s Wells Ballet Company in 1951 at age 18 and rising to the rank of Principal in 1958. After a career spanning almost 15 years, she retired from performing in 1965 and, in later years, supported the art form through teaching and mentoring young dancers at the School at White Lodge, Barons Court and Floral Street, passing on the artistry and discipline that had defined her own career.

Together with her late husband, John, Baron Sainsbury, she founded the Linbury Trust, a name combining both their last names, to support the arts, education and social welfare. The Trust has supported major developments at both White Lodge and Upper School, including a boarding house for Upper School students in Pimlico, and the Linden Studio Theatre which enables students to perform in-house to a 180-seat audience. Anya has also supported international tours and exchange programmes at the School. In 1987, she founded the Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage Design, further encouraging young talent in ballet production and design.

Anya’s dedication to the next generation of dancers, shaped by both her own experience and her belief in the power of the arts, remains a defining part of The Royal Ballet School’s story.