Brian Beacom

TURNING a classic film such as the 1948 hit The Red Shoes into a ballet theatre piece is more challenging than squeezing size six feet into a pair of size three heels.

First up, there’s the need to capture the essence of the movie.

The story tells of a young ballerina who falls in love with the composer of the ballet that makes her an overnight star.

But the impresario of the ballet company is enraged when the young people get married.

Dancer Vicky Page is faced with the choice; to love – or to dance?

Then there’s the performance itself. Sir Matthew Bourne’s dance productions are famed for their cleverness, style and the awesome performances his dancers achieve.

However, Ashley Shaw, who stars as Vicky Page in the show, reveals the theme so often parallels real life.

And that can’t but help with the performance.

Showbiz creatures, she admits, all too often have to choose between a professional and a private life.

“There is a real element of truth in it,” she says, smiling.

“Almost everyone in dance faces this dilemma, particularly with a touring company where you are travelling all the time.

“It’s all about balancing your time, juggling thing around.”

The 27 year-old adds; “There comes a time when you have to decide whether to stay with a partner and start a family or carry on performing.”

Ashley points out the world of dance is restrictive.

“I met my boyfriend Adam when we worked on Cinderella seven years ago. We were with the same company.

“It’s the way things work out because you spend so much time in a dance studio or on stage so it’s really difficult to meet other people.

“And if someone is not in the business they find it hard to cope with you being away a lot.”

Ashley is not a lady who has been prepared to compromise her dream.

She grew up in Newcastle, but not Upon-Tyne. Her Newcastle is in New South Wales, on the Eastern coast of Australia.

It says a great deal about the lady she left Oz as a 15 year-old to come to Britain to attend dance school.

“I started to dance when I was three and from an early age I felt very serious about it.

“I always knew that’s what I wanted to do. When I was at school I sent off applications to ballet companies all around the world and was accepted by the prestigious Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham.”

The teenager came to England not knowing a soul. It must have been a hugely trying time?

“I was very determined about what I wanted to do. And I was excited. At the same time I was away from my family and there was a pressure to succeed.”

Ashley lived in a boarding house to begin with, then moved into a flat with friends.

Was it a big, bad world? “I think my parents were more terrified than I was,” she says, smiling.

“It was a big step but I was so in love with dancing. And it wasn’t as though I was sent away.”

It was in Birmingham Ashley first saw Matthew Bourne’s company - and determined she really wanted to be part of it.

Fortune favoured the brave teenager.

“I trained in classical ballet but I’d done all the different styles growing up.

And I realised Matthew Bourne’s work incorporated all sorts of different styles.

“The Red Shoes is very classically based so it’s great to revisit that style but also to do other dance forms.”

The physical demands of the production – the original film starred dancer Moira Shearer - are immense.

“This is the hardest show I’ve ever done. It’s exhausting.

“But you learn how to strap your feet up and take Ibuprofen to get through it.”

If a footballer stubbed a toe they’d take time off. If a dancer finds themselves with a bleeding feet they carry on regardless.

“That’s true,” she says, grinning. “But we do have physios as well, which help maintain our bodies.”

There are rewards which come with the pain.

“When you do what you love your realise you are so lucky. And we are getting standing ovations every night with this show.”

Ashley, who has danced in Nutcracker! and Edward Scissorhands, watched the film eight times before taking on the role.

“This show is based on the film version. It offers so much insight and even now we go back to the movie and analyse it.

“There are always little things you notice and can pick up on to give our show more of a reality.”

What of future plans, given a dancer’s life can be relatively short?

“I certainly want to keep going as long as possible. And I want to work with Matthew for a long time.

“What you have to do is look after yourself, and I’m determined.

“You have to warm up, eat properly and lessen the chance of injury because one injury can mean the end.”

Does she have to be pencil thin?

“This company is a little more relaxed about how you look,” she says.

“Matthew’s stories are always so real and he realises not everyone on stage looks like they are a ballerina, so you need all shapes and sizes.”

So she can tuck into a hamburger and chips when the mood takes?

“I haven’t had a hamburger for a while,” she says, laughing.

• The Red Shoes, the King’s Theatre, June 6-10.