All the right moves

THE LIVELY tot, with her glitter-smeared eyebrows and locks scraped into a tiny bun, shifted furiously into a variety of ballet poses on the living room carpet.

She was, without doubt, her mother's child.

"There aren't many three-year-olds who can do that," said Joy Wareing with pride as she watched her daughter Anysia.

These first awkward steps by the youngster could indicate that we have a ballerina in our midst. One thing is certain: she has the genes and connections on her side to achieve it.

Her 32-year-old mother has travelled the world as a dancer and model, as well as working in panto and television, rubbing shoulders with stars like Cilla Black, Hale and Pace, Rik Mayall and Jennifer Saunders.

Joy has returned to her roots in Blackburn from the fashion capital of Milan to nurture home-grown talent.

"I've gained a lot of contacts and valuable experience working globally and teaching in Milan and Italy. Now I intend to encourage my own pupils on to a similar road to success or just to help them to enjoy dance as a self-expression and stress-buster," she said. She admits her new direction is due to the birth of her daughter but it was a sacrifice she gladly made.

Joy had spent five years as assistant to a top choreographer, who directs elite models such as Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell, when she discovered she was pregnant.

"It finally convinced me that I had to adapt my hectic lifestyle, almost always in constant travel mode. I wanted a stable environment for my daughter."

But the spirit of dance still resides in Joy and she wants to share the secrets reaped from 15 years of worldwide experience.

Her Dance Factory is an avant-garde alternative to the traditional dance school which, while acknowledging classical ballet, also features styles such as funky jazz - favoured by the likes of Janet Jackson and All Saints.

She knows the world of showbusiness is often a game of chance. So, offering the right mix of classical and contemporary dance and pulling on her list of contacts - which reads like a Who's Who of the dance world - is half the battle.

Joy was plucked from obscurity two weeks after her high school exams.

"I was just 16 and had never been abroad," she said. "Suddenly I found myself on a plane to Spain, where I knew no-one. It was scary."

Joy, of Whalley New Road, Blackburn, was performing in a show at Preston Charter Theatre when she heard the director of Cats in Barcelona was desperate for a girl dancer. She sent a photograph and two days later got the job. "I went from earning £2.50 a week from a paper round and baby-sitting to working on a big show with proper money. I was homesick but I'd wanted to be a dancer since I was eight and I loved it."

At the time she was an award-winning ballet, tap and modern dancer who had taken singing and acting lessons and just happened to boast the height, good looks and fantastic figure needed to be a dancer.

She had many other assignments, such as Gucci and Christian Dior fashion shows, and was chosen to work on cruise ships, where she became head dancer, choreographer and cocktail party host.

She said: "It was a great life - lots of money, mingling with the rich and famous, travelling to the Caribbean and Alaska but I didn't want to float around forever."

At 21, she went to London. The former Pleckgate High School pupil, who has eight O-levels and speaks fluent Italian, clinched work on television shows such as EastEnders and the Brittas Empire and scores of modelling contracts with companies such as Wella, Ellesse and Adidas.

But now she is turning her attention to helping others.

"I am still getting offers of work all the time but it's time to call it a day," she said.

"It is a big change but I will be happy bringing dance to people in Lancashire. It is educational, therapeutic and can lead to a career in the profession."

Her school, which also includes body conditioning and cardiovascular exercise, will open on Monday, September 14, at Livesey Parish Community Hall, York Terrace, Feniscowles.

For more information contact Joy on 01254 728358.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.