It started with Pedro the Parrot. When one-time fashion editor and mum-of-four Jill Tookey decided to write a children’s story in 1983, she had no idea it would be published and lead to the creation of her first ballet production based on the book.

Then in her forties, Jill had already led a creative life as a childhood student of ballet and then as a fashion journalist with the magazines Woman & Beauty and Honey in the 1960s.

Jill, ‘a Kent girl’ from Westerham, near Sevenoaks, says of Pedro the Parrot: “Hodder and Stoughton published it and I was thrilled.

“At the time my younger daughter was dancing in London with a small group and I had an opportunity to present my scenario to the lady running it. There was a vacancy in her programme and so I was able to direct my own piece on Pedro the Parrot.

“I had to find a composer to write the score and then a choreographer of course, and the music was premiered at the Royal Festival Hall back in 1983.

“Then I was able to direct my own piece at Sadler’s Wells theatre the same year so I thought, ‘You only get a chance like this once in a lifetime, really!’”

Based on this runaway success, Jill started a small youth ballet workshop at Sadler’s Wells, the famous London dance theatre.

“It became apparent that people were coming from all over the country, because we were producing new work and not just doing the classics. Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Academy of Dance backed my appeal to go national and the rest is history.”

Indeed it is – Jill is now the founder and artistic director of the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain. Each year young ballet dancers aged between eight and 18 audition from all walks of life across the UK. Of these, 120 are chosen for one year only, during which they attend a summer school where they take part in every aspect of creating a ballet, from the conception of an idea through to performance on stage at a professional level.

The production is then staged at a provincial theatre – this time at the Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks – and at a gala performance in London.

At the end of that year, everyone must re-audition to give newcomers the chance to come through.

“This is our 27th season. It’s been going strong and is building,” says Jill, who has seen many talented dancers come up through her ranks who have then gone on to international careers in dance.

DETAILS

Beyond Ballet, featuring the premiere of Drew McOnie’s Little Red Riding Hood as well as Jo Meredith’s SuiteBourgeoise, the Dolls House Fantasia by Strauss is at the Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks from Thursday, August 21 until Saturday, August 23. Adult tickets £18.50 and £12.50 for children. Call 01732 450175 or visit www.stagsevenoaks.co.uk