Don’t cry for me, ballerina
Evita singer Elaine, 70, goes to ballet classes to keep herself ‘limbered up’
WEST End star Elaine Paige has just taken up ballet again at the age of 70 to stay nimble and help her cope with the fear of cancer.
The singer, who found fame in the late 70s in the hit musical Evita, said: “I have just taken up ballet again and it’s great for me to do a few plies.
“I go to the Silver Swans. The English National Ballet have this charity and it’s for ladies over 55, and I think one of us is well into our 80s. We might look peculiar but it keeps you limbered up and mobile.”
Elaine is on BBC2 tonight in Evita: The Making of a Superstar, which celebrates 40 years since she was cast as Eva Peron by Andrew Lloyd Webber in his musical.
Elaine, who found a lump in her breast in 1995 and endured five years of cancer treatment, including radiotherapy, spoke of her fears that it could return.
She said: “Once you have had breast cancer, the fear of it never really leaves you and every year I am checked over.
“But
I have been healthy now since that episode and that’s over 20 years ago. Of course, since then I am mindful of what I eat and try not to indulge myself in all the things that are meant to be bad for you. Equally, you have to enjoy life.”
Elaine has supported The Children’s Trust Extraordinary Music Box Appeal, which promotes music therapy for children with brain injuries, for 40 years.
She says: “It’s a very humbling experience.” Visit thechildrenstrust.org.uk for more information on the charity’s work.