Hugh Kerr writes: I moved to Harlow New Town, Essex, in 1960, soon after Leo Kersley set up his ballet school there. Its reputation quickly spread and Leo and his wife, Janet, became an important part of the life of Harlow.
He also produced ballets for the local community that complemented its rich musical life, which then included the Alberni String Quartet, Harlow Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, and music schools in every comprehensive. The BBC were so impressed with the town's cultural life that in 1965 they made a documentary, The Pied Pipers of Harlow.
Leo was also a firm supporter of the peace movement and CND, and a great internationalist.
Simon Larter-Evans writes: The influence of Leo Kersley as a teacher goes far beyond dance. Among my cohort in Harlow in the late 1970s and early 80s, more than a dozen went to the world's top dance schools or into arts organisations from theatre to television. Most, if not all, remained faithful to Leo's bigger idea that the arts are fundamental to civic society. Many of his pupils became teachers and social activists in one way or another.
Leo's commitment to disciplined criticism of ideas, selflessness, fair-mindedness and equality informed his teaching and his private life. He would interrupt his ballet classes and invite us to gather round for chats on subjects as diverse as smoking, opera, town planning, war, science, literature, nature, painting, beauty and human relations. Without being polemical and through seemingly disconnected anecdotes, he taught us that people should be treated well regardless of their circumstances. Yet he did not suffer fools and to have an idle mind was, to him, a cardinal sin.
His was not a world of material abundance, except for the vast numbers of books, pamphlets, newspaper cuttings, recordings of operas in particular, music scores, paintings and drawings that turned his and Janet's home into a labyrinth. Their house smelled of tobacco, coffee and big ideas.