Whilst dancing in the King Head Pub in Crouch End a woman named Sarah Soetaert chicagothemusical.co.uk/cast-london.php approached me and asked whether I would be interested in auditioning for a TV Advert ... she gave me a leaflet with the details below ....
Lighter Life Commercial lighterlife.com/
The idea behind the ad is that a woman who successfully lost weight on the Lighter Life programme, dances with a cardboard cut-out of herself in her larger form. It is set in a dance venue and we will have 6 featured dancers and up to 25 dancing couples in the background.
The casting for the featured dancers will take place in Pineapple in Covent Garden Thursday 28th February 2008.
The filming for All dancers will take place on the 21st (featured dancers only) & 22nd April (all dancers) 2008.
I went along to the auditions and to my surprise I was chosen as one of the featured dancers (3 men & 3 women). I thought that I would not be a featured dancer, as I was the second oldest and second shortest, and I was content to be a background dancer.
The advert was filmed at Witanhurst, 41 Highgate West Hill, London N6 6LS which is the second largest private home in London after Buckingham Palace. We filmed in a freezing cold 70 foot ballroom. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witanhurst
I was the only dancer allowed to wear red, which clashed with the main woman, as the Wardrobe women said red was my best colour. I am featured 7 times (you have to be quick to see me) on the 30 seconds advert. In the still frame I am on the left.
I didn’t know that my dance partner, Dalh Haynes, was a stage actress and performer from the stage show “Chicago” globalartists.co.uk/pages/actress.php?content_id=148 There were a number of Chicago dancers at the audition who ended being background dancers on the day of filming and the rest were regular salsa club dancers.