Don't let others knock your confidence

Last updated 21:01, Friday, 23 May 2008

I grew up in Renfrew near Glasgow. My dad had a butcher’s shop and my mum looked after the family. My first school was St James primary in the town. I was good at writing stories, they used to get read out in school. I wanted to be a journalist or an air hostess.

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Denise Hutton

I always loved sport. I was in the netball and hockey teams and the relay team. I used to win the flat race a lot.

I was always active, never ever in the house. I used to run jumble sales and get LPs from neighbours to run garage sales to raise money for Africa – that was probably my first attempt at business.

When I moved to high school there was a teachers’ strike. It meant all the extra curricular sport stopped.

That’s when I started dancing. My mum saw an advert for a dance troupe looking for members. Dance took over my life. Every night I did dancing and gymnastics and all day Saturday I’d be at dance competitions.

My mum didn’t push me. I’m the type of person that pushes herself.

I loved dance because it is a way to express yourself and I was quite shy. I loved the music and the sparkle and glitz of the costumes. Me and my mum would sew on all the diamantes.

My teachers said dancing was not a proper job, so I was sensible and thought that might not happen.

I got As for my highers – what you call A-levels – but I wouldn’t say I was overly clever. I loved biology, it later turned out to be useful when I took fitness exams. I also loved statistics and arithmetic.

I studied hard because I was so scared of failing. Failure was not in my book. I used to sit in my bedroom and surround myself with all my books.

When I first started at high school I was bullied by my primary school friends who turned against me.

That year I was on TV, on Saturday Superstore with Sarah Greene. They ran a competition called Search for a Superstar and our dance troupe got through and went to London. We met Keith Chegwin and I got to ask Terence Trent D’arby a question but he didn’t understand my accent. I also met Janet Jackson there. She was stunning and she had bodyguards around her.

I think the bullies were jealous but I made a new circle of friends. It was just about being strong and moving on.

My teachers wanted me to go to university but I didn’t want to – I wanted to get on with things quicker than that. From 16 I was working at weekends professionally as part of a dance troupe doing cabaret in hotels. I also worked as a secretary for a whiskey company. I just felt like a bird in a cage in that office.

So I went to Brian Rogers’ college Performers in Essex. It was a three-year course but I had to leave after a year because I couldn’t afford it. I was gutted. Then I went to work as a dancer and choreographer at Butlins in Ayr.

When I launched Razzamataz I wanted to teach children drama as well as dance because I knew from my own experience how important drama was in auditions.

I nearly got into the TV show Fame, but missed out because I wasn’t confident singing.

I think people who knew me at school would be surprised by what I have done because I was quiet. But I have always been driven and wanted to succeed.

My gymnastics teacher had a big influence on me. He made me stand up and demonstrate in class and I hated it at first. But I got more confident and ended up teaching the whole class and going to Canada when I was 15 to teach children at Camp Canada.

If I had never got involved with dance and gymnastics I would probably not have a lot of confidence and would just be doing a normal job. I would be really bored. I would say to youngsters, strive to be the best you can. Do not let other people knock your confidence and do what you are good at. You can be anything you want to be.

Interview by Kath Smart