North Yorkshire dance teacher Christine Longster stars in Wayne Sleep’s new TV show Big Ballet. She tells MAXINE GORDON why it’s been a dream come true

Deep in the archives of The Press there is a faded brown envelope marked: “Quinn, Christine. York. Royal Ballet School”...Inside is a black and white photograph of a petite young girl in a black leotard, tiptoeing in ribboned pumps, arms raised high above her head and smiling to the camera.

The news story that ran alongside the photo back in July 1977 is stuck to the other side. It tells how Christine, a 16-year-old from Woodthorpe and a pupil of Isobel Dunn dance school, had just won a year-long place at the Royal Ballet School in London.

“Then I hope to try for a place in the Royal Ballet Company,” reads the report.

Ominously, there is nothing else in the Christine Quinn file. No other pictures, no follow-up stories on her ballet career. One could only surmise that Christine’s dream was never realised.

It’s only now, more than 35 years later, that we are finding out what happened to that pretty ballerina from York with the beaming smile – and all because of a TV show.

Christine, whose married name is Longster, is one of the stars in Wayne Sleep’s new show for Channel 4, Big Ballet, that starts on Thursday. It’s a three-part documentary following a troupe of amateur dancers of all shapes and sizes as they attempt to realise their ambition to perform scenes from Swan Lake.

Around 500 people applied to be on the show, which was filmed in Yorkshire.

At 53, Christine was the eldest, but also the one with the most formal training – she had been dancing since the age of four. Some participants had never taken a ballet class.

However, taking part in the show unearthed painful, long-buried, memories for Christine of her teenage years as a ballerina, when she struggled with an eating disorder.

She left home in York aged 12 to become a boarder at Bush Davies Ballet School in Sussex, which is second to the Royal Ballet School in terms of prestige.

“I was really homesick and put on two stones in two terms,” says Christine. “I was told to lose a little bit of weight, but I lost a lot of weight.”

When she finally moved up to the Royal Ballet School at 16, she was struck down by glandular fever and was so poorly she had to have give up her dream of being a top ballerina.

“My parents were worried about me; all they could see was that I was ill all the time. They wouldn’t let me go back,” said Christine.

Instead, she launched herself into the world of fitness and became an aerobics instructor. Over the years, Christine, who now lives in Knaresborough, has taught in many places within the York, Harrogate and Leeds area.

Recently, she has been teaching at the York Sports Village, Bannatyne’s and at the community centre in Poppleton, and was a popular instructor at David Lloyd.

But her heart always belonged to ballet.

So, she was thrilled to be given the chance to pull on her ballet pumps again for the cameras.

Over the three episodes, viewers will see the wannabes auditioning for a part in the show and follow them through rehearsals under the watchful eye of choreographer Wayne and ballet tutor Monica Loughman.

It was hard work, reveals Christine.

She had to put her life on hold for four months to go to all the classes, which were held at the Northern Ballet School in Leeds.

The final performance took place at St George’s Hall, Bradford.

Christine says: “Wayne Sleep was lovely. He’s really funny ha-ha and brilliantly creative with his choreography ideas.

“When I was at the Royal Ballet School, I used to sit and watch him and he would come over to me and have a joke. It’s amazing to think that more than 30 years later, he is training me.”

Christine, who is 4ft 11 and a size 10-12, says she likes the premise of the show: that you don’t have to be tall and skinny to learn and enjoy ballet.

“I have struggled with my weight and when I was in the ballet world I had to eat practically nothing to be the perfect body shape.

“In this day and age, there are a lot of people who don’t have that perfect body shape and would love to do a ballet class, but feel intimidated.

“This might entice people to go to a ballet class and not be put off by not being a size zero.”

• Big Ballet starts on Channel 4 on Thursday at 9pm.

Twitter: MaxineYGordon