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Breaks that helped young dancer beat a life of crime
Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter23 Feb 2009
The final straw in Stella McGowan's teenage life of crime came when she fled an Italian restaurant without paying, ran straight into a lamppost and knocked herself out. Police duly apprehended her.
Stella knew she had to do something to change her life. She chose dance - and now she is one of a handful of professional female breakdancers - B-girls in street slang - in the country.The 23-year-old is also on the threshold of winning a £100,000 prize in a national talent contest.
"I was going off the rails," admitted Stella. "I did a lot of stupid things with other kids and got loads of cautions from the police. I did graffiti, tried to shoplift a bottle of whisky and stuff like that. I was bunking off school."
She left the family home in Hammersmith at 16 but failed to hold down any jobs. But she was saved by a love of dance - breakdancing in particular.
She stumbled across the Pineapple dance studio in Covent Garden but could never afford the cost of lessons.
After persevering, she found herself auditioning for the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds.
"I hadn't had any proper training and I was up against people who had spent years at ballet and classical dance classes. I just thought this is it, I will give it my best shot. I went in there with my little hip-hop mix tape and just wowed them. I couldn't believe I got in - I was so lucky."
In fact she won a scholarship, the money topped up with a part-time job "podium" dancing in a nightclub in Leeds. Stella has not looked back.
She has moved back to live with her parents and is a member of a dance group Dclash, which has done commercial work for the likes of Nike.
She even works with the Met Police, mentoring children in danger of going off the rails.
She entered the 1Click2Fame online talent contest, which sets itself up as a rival to Britain's Got Talent.
Stella, who performs on the website under the stage name "bgirlLyra", is lying third in the voting in the dance section. The winner of each of five categories will compete for £100,000 in prize money and sponsorship. The overall winner will be announced on 1 April.
