Alan Vincent

Job: Ballet dancer. Born: 1975

Studied: Lewisham College, south-east London, 1993-94

Qualifications: performing arts diploma

Alan Vincent is one of Britain’s foremost ballet dancers and has performed on stages around the world. His credits include Stan and Hero in the original West End cast of `Cinderella’, the SwanStranger in a national tour of `Swan Lake’, Luca in the original cast of `The Car Man’ and Speight in the original cast of `A Play Without Words’.

Lewisham College was great. The good thing about the studios there was they had a lot of natural light and were a good size to move about in.

Dance training is very disciplined and you have to be dedicated in yourself, to get yourself to class or rehearsals every day. That is something I learned at Lewisham and it is something that never stops.

I learned that the more you put into your training the more you get out of it, but looking back, I should have definitely worked harder in all my classes and tried to be more disciplined. It’s a classic case of “if I knew then what I know now”.

The best bit about the college, I think, was the people I got to meet, the choreographers I got to work with. I do think the college offers a really strong performing arts course. It was great.

I sometimes bump into old faces from college and am still close with Andrew Williams and Nic Anim.

One of my best times since leaving college was getting a full three-year scholarship to the London Studio Centre, which I wouldn’t have got if it wasn’t for my time at Lewisham.

I love choreography and I founded the company BEA Theatre a few years back.

I love teaching and creating roles. I will continue to do as much as possible. I feel stronger now than I ever have and I hope to continue performing until this body says: “That’s enough”.

Alan Vincent was talking to Shekhar Bhatia