Hard work pays for ballet star; A Tyneside dancer is heading home this week for a production at Newcastle's Theatre Royal. GORDON BARR has the details

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), May 27, 2009

Byline: GORDON BARR

DANCER James Lawrence Henson is living proof that perseverance pays off.

With aspirations of a career in musical theatre, he started studying at Newcastle College, but soon found a stumbling block - the fact he could not conquer the art of ballet.

"They told me my ballet was so bad I would have to find private training, or I was going to get kicked off," recalls James, 21, who grew up in South Shields.

"Then I found a private teacher - the Affleck Academy of Ballet in Springwell Village! I trained with her for a year, auditioned for Central School and then I left Central to join English National Ballet." It is with ENB that James will return home to Tyneside this weekend, appearing in Angelina Ballerina's Big Audition at Newcastle's Theatre Royal.

He'll have a wry smile on his face - although no-one will see it as he will have his mouse costume on! "I suppose in a way it is like me saying 'there, I've done it'," laughs James, a former pupil at Mortimer Comprehensive School in South Shields, South Tyneside.

"When I went to Newcastle College I'd never done any ballet before in my life, so I must have been pretty shocking! "I went off, told my teacher I needed to get better, and she said it would take a lot. I was lucky - I learned really quickly.

"The more I did it, the more I loved it, but it was the hardest thing I have ever done. I had to practise every night and in the morning as well. I left college and got a job at JD Sports working 9am to 7pm and then going to ballet from 9pm to 10.30pm. I did it every night for a year.

"It has paid off, though, and I am off to Berne Ballet in Switzerland in August." Following the success of Angelina's Star Performance - Angelina Ballerina's first live ballet - English National Opera have created Big Audition, which follows the fortunes of the mouseling ballerina as she takes the next step towards her dream of being a ballerina.

With storybook sets and costumes, the young, talented cast bring the familiar characters to life - Angelina, the stubborn mouse ballerina, her best friend Alice who loves twirling and dressing up but often forgets her steps, naughty Sammy who teases Angelina and turns his nose up at ballet, and Priscilla and Penelope, the Pinktoes twins.

Angelina Ballerina's Big Audition is at the Theatre Royal this Saturday and Sunday..

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MOUSE TALE - dancer James Lawrence Henson is returning to his home region in Angelina Ballerina's Big Audition