‘I’ve been training to become a Samurai sword fighter for months – it’s such a precise skill’ The happiest moment you will cherish DEFINITE forever… Dancing to Uptown Girl with Princess Diana at the Royal Opera House in 1985. She came on stage and I heard an intake of breath by 2,500 people! We got eight curtain calls and ARTICLE as we walked off she said, ‘This We ask a celebrity a set of devilishly doesn’t mean you’ll get an OBE!’ The saddest time that shook your probing questions – and only accept world… The death of my mother Joan in 1994, aged 72. She died from para- THE definitive answer. This week it’s cetamol poisoning – she’d been taking it for arthritis. She was very talented dancer and choreographer Wayne Sleep and could have had a singing career, The prized possession you value The person who has influ- but sacrificed everything for me. above all others… A drawing by enced you most… Ninette David Hockney of a stage curtain he de Valois, who founded the The unfulfilled ambition that contin- painted for a gala I organised in 1977. Royal Ballet. She was my ues to haunt you… To be a graphic It’s a beautiful abstract of dancers. teacher and mentor at the designer and create posters for shows. We’ve been friends since the 1960s. Royal Ballet School. I still have some I drew when I was at school and they’re not bad. The biggest regret you wish you could The figure from history The philosophy that underpins your amend… Not growing taller. I’m only for whom you’d most like The treasured item The crime you would commit knowing life… Work hard, play hard and 5ft 2in, which stopped me getting to buy a pie and a pint… I’d steal you lost and wish you you could get away with it… remember to laugh. Keeping your classic leading roles. The upside was Serge Diaghilev, who founded A spe- David Hockney’s painting of me with could have again… sense of humour is very important. that new roles were written for me. the Ballets Russes in 1909. He cially made gold Cartier my ex-partner George Lawson from got together the best compos- The temptation you wish you could necklace given to me for Tate Britain. David started it in 1972 The order of service at your funeral… I’d ers, dancers and artists and resist… Doodling in my appoint- my 20th birthday. It went but only finished it recently. have lots of Christmas carols, especial- changed the face of performance. missing years later. ly Silent Night, and Country Gardens ments book. My PA can’t decipher The song that means most to you… by Percy Grainger. And I want every- where I’m supposed to be. The piece of wisdom you would pass The unending quest that drives you Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue. I per- on to a child… Don’t let negative one to make a donation to my charity, The book that holds an everlasting on… Doing workshops to inspire formed it aged eight at a talent con- thoughts take over the positive. so it’ll carry on long after I’m gone. resonance… A Midsummer Night’s children to dance. test I won in Middlesbrough and a judge advised me to take up ballet. The way you want to be remem- Dream has been such a positive in my The unlikely interest that engages The poem that touches your soul… bered… As someone who opened life. I’ve played Puck in the ballet, your curiosity… Iaido martial arts, The passage from Shakespeare’s play The way you would spend your fantasy doors to all forms of dance. play and opera around the world. which is Samurai sword- Cymbeline that begins ‘Fear no more 24 hours, with no travel restrictions... fighting. It’s such a pre- The priority activity if you were the heat o’ the sun’. It reminds me that I’d start with a glass of champagne, The Plug… The Wayne Sleep Foun- cise skill, full of Japa- the Invisible Man for a day… I’d we all face the same fate – death. just like Noel Coward, and a bacon dation raises money to help talented nese history. I’ve been sandwich with no butter. I’d walk by youngsters train for the theatre and float by Usain Bolt as he wins The misapprehension about yourself training for a couple of the river near our home in west Lon- dance. Visit waynesleep.org. n 100m Olympics gold. I’d you wish you could erase… That I’m months because I don with my husband Jose. Lunch As told to Rob McGibbon love to witness winning the eternal clown. For years I was may need it for a would be spaghetti alle from his perspective. expected to perform for people and I show. I ca n’t vongole at San Lorenzo in played along, but I won’t do it any The pet hate that reveal any more! Knightsbridge. I’d walk on makes your hackles more. There’s a quiet, serious side to The film you can the Great Wall of China rise... Snogging me. I’m also very private. watch time and and watch a ballet at the in public. Such time again… The The event that altered the course of Mariinsky Theatre in St things should 19 78 F r e n c h your life and character… Getting into Petersburg. We’d have a be private. movie La Cage the Royal Ballet School. I was up against steak dinner in Buenos Aux Folles. It’s so rich 250 kids for two scholarships and came Aires and I’d dance the Right: 1978’s La Cage in imagination and from a working-class upbringing in tango afterwards, then Aux Folles. Above right: champagne. always makes me laugh, Hartlepool. The screenwriter Lee Hall we would rocket into Far right: the Great especially when the told me that my autobiography was his space and spend the Wall of China men do the can-can. inspiration for the film Billy Elliot. night orbiting Earth. R NEXT WEEK allsta , l June Whitfield, starring in es PS... R Ab Fab: The Movie at 90, featu Kristen Wiig leads an all-female team in the new Ghostbusters X E Y, R Y, film – in cinemas from Monday. David Bowie Is, a documentary invites us into her home alam l N, A taste of the Med in law E K about the V&A’s blockbuster 2013 show, is in Vue cinemas on part two of our Elizabeth mi : S H David recipe series l PLUS ap OGR Thursday only. And Take That play London’s Hyde Park tonight T Britain’s best TV listings HO P PLEASE RECYCLE Our newspapers, magazines DailY Mail WEEKEND is publisHed BY AssOCiated NewspapeRS Ltd. PRINted BY PRINOvis UK Ltd, 4 DAKOta DRive, LiveRPOOL L24 8RJ. 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