Less than three months after surgery that could have left him in a wheelchair, Wayne Sleep had his dancing shoes back on. Chris Price found out why we should expect nothing less from showbiz's comeback kid.

As the shortest ever male dancer to be admitted to the Royal Ballet, Wayne Sleep carved out his career against the odds. Yet no one could have hoped the 5ft 2in dancer would be back performing 12 weeks after life-changing surgery.

Earlier this year the 62-year-old performer was preparing for a hip replacement. The operation, which has a 10 per cent failure rate, was Wayne’s only hope after a series of injuries that had caused him eight years of pain. There was also the danger that his 50-year-career – which saw him dance with Princess Diana as a surprise for Prince Charles in a Royal Opera House gala in 1985 – could come to an end. But less than three months later, as if nothing had happened, he was performing at the Royal Opera House.

“A lot of people are just glad to be able to walk after that operation,” said Wayne matter-of-factly, as if his achievements have now become routine.

“The first six weeks I was not allowed to do anything except walk. You have to sleep on your back or else your leg falls out of its socket and that would be dreadful.

“Then it gets better and you can start physio. A lot of people don’t bother with physio but you must. I swam and went to the gym for six weeks.”

The success of his op radically altered plans for his stage show Precious Little Sleep, which looks back on his career. The plan was to go on a lecture tour but the idea changed. The show now includes dances from his career in shows like Cats, Cabaret and La Fille Mal Gardee as well as films and talks.

“I could still spin like a young one so I decided to keep dancing,” said Wayne with gleeful, boyish charm.

Wayne brings his show to the county this week and to coincide with the tour he is contacting local dance schools and offering them a free lesson. If dancers are coming, he will then invite them to do a ballet number with him – no chance of him taking it easy then.

“If dancers stopped every time they got a twinge they would never work,” he said, almost rolling his eyes. “My injury started with a bad groin which I got from doing double turns in the air and going straight into the splits.

“I deserve it for the wear and tear of doing it eight shows a week touring the world. Had I worked in Covent Garden you would do three shows a month so you don’t injure yourself.

“So after the wear and tear I got a bad back and then a bad knee. Then I was told a hip replacement would take all the pain away. It all derived from the hip. My leg was grinding on the bone. I had no cartilage left. So they chopped half the bone off, stuck titanium on it and fitted it to a titanium ball and socket.

“Now the metal detectors go off in airports and I have to carry a list of what is inside of me.”

Dancing on TV

Wayne Sleep puts the new found popularity of dancing down to TV programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing, So You Think You Can Dance and Britain’s Got Talent.

“The film Billy Elliot made it more popular first of all and all the dancing on TV now has helped,” said the diminutive dancer.

“Years ago there was dancing on TV every week, be it in a show with Shirley Bassey or dancing on Morecambe and Wise and then it stopped. When I was on a scholarship I was one of five boys and 25 girls. Last year it had a ratio of 50:50 which is great.”

Wayne Sleep performs in Precious Little Sleep at Canterbury’s Gulbenkian Theatre on Friday, July 22.