Dancer who high kicked her way to the top has come home

Former Horsforth schoolgirl Louise Call, 27, has performed in high-class shows in Portugal, Slovenia, India and Japan, often dancing in casinos or hotels.

Now she has moved to Harrogate, where she has settled down with her husband and young son, and teaches young hopefuls in a weekly dance session in Bramhope, where her mother now lives.

The life of professional dancer has its fair share of glamour, she says, but there is still much work to be done off stage.

"People thinks it's all glamour, it's a lot of hard work. The rehearsals are the hard part, but all people see is the finished product. I would start at ten in the morning with rehearsals, and not finish until six," she said.

Louise was also expected to look after her appearance, which fortunately came naturally to her. She would keep up her tan by going on holiday, or if she was already staying in a resort, by taking to the beach.

"It was just like one big holiday, really," she said.

The lives of Louise and other showgirls became the subject of a fly-on-the-wall television documentary while she was working in Portugal.

Louise was lucky enough to work from one contract to the next as a professional dancer, but typically, many people in the business spend a lot of time 'between jobs'.

She made sure she had some typing and other office skills which would enable her to do temporary work if there was a gap between dancing contracts.

Many dancers, like actors, have to rely on temping to see them through between showbusiness contracts, although advertising work is another option.

And making a breakthrough into the world of professional dancing does not come easily.

Auditions for work in the showbusiness industry can often be heartbreaking, as anyone who has seen television 'star search' programmes such as Popstars and Pop Idol will know.

Talented young dancers may have all the skill and charisma it takes to be a professional - but might not quite fit the bill in terms of their looks.

The most obvious pitfall is if the selection panel decides a dancer's bum is too big, or her chest is too flat, said Louise.

But a show producer may also have his or her eye on a very specific look.

"It's hard to get work in the West End," said Louise, "I'm just under 5ft 11in, so I'm tall and very slim. I can't get work in England, especially in theatre, as they seem to go for smaller people. In other countries they prefer the Vegas look."

She recalls an audition for a show at a resort on the Italian Riviera, when the show's boss flew out to Manchester to see the dancers audition, to make sure got exactly the type of dancers he wanted.

The usual practice is for appointed agents to oversee auditions.

Age can also be a barrier, and few women stay in the profession beyond their late 20s.

Although still working abroad, she got married to her then Scarborough-based boyfriend in 1999, and performed her last show - a Millennium spectacular - in India on NewYear's Eve.

She briefly set up a dance school in Staffordshire, but moved back to Yorkshire when she became pregnant.

Her work in Bramhope began when she was out for a walk with her son while visiting her mother in the village - and spotted a notice in a shop window for the Moira Hampshaw School of Dance.

As a dance teacher, Louise hopes to be able to nurture the talents of young people, and help launch some of them into a glamorous career of their own.

Boys are highly sought-after in the world of dance, as fewer take it up as youngsters, or go on to become professional, she said. Her tips for making it to the top include hard work, and learning several different types of dancing.

She says producers may have in mind some specialist moves for their productions, such as point work, which only ballet-trained dancers will be able to do.

Dancers may be expected to be able to perform to a wide variety of music, be it classical, disco or songs from the West End musicals.

Louise learned ballet and tap herself, starting dance classes when she was just two, and also learned gymnastics.

She remembers going to see a pantomime as a child, and when she saw the dancers, told her grandmother: "That's going to be me."

Her grandmother was part of a tap-dancing troupe, but apart from her brother - who runs his own production company - she did not come from a 'showbusiness' family.

She trained at the same dance Horsforth dance school as Spice Girl Mel B, and stars Bonnie Langford and Rosemary Ford, learning several types of dance, and gymnastics.

Much of her early experience was local, and she took to the stage at Yeadon Town Hall from the age of nine, in the annual Yeadon Charities Association pantomime. Louise also joined the Scala Kids stage and television agency, in Horsforth.

After gaining some experience of dance teaching and modelling, her big break came when she went to an audition in London - and soon found herself flying overseas.

Her mother would visit all her major shows, even travelling out to see her perform in Portugal. But when Louise's dancing took her to Slovenia, and then Japan, her mother was no longer able to follow her.

She is now happy to return to the area where she grew up, although she is still involved in showbusiness.

As well as regular teaching in Bramhope, she recently stepped in at short notice to help with a show in Wetherby.