"I was brought up in Beddgelert. I began a ballet class in the village hall when I was 11 with Miss Paula and then Miss Hilary, a remarkable lady who really pushed me to continue my classes in Porthmadog. So I got really hooked and just did lots of ballet round Porthmadog, Criccieth and Beddgelert.

At 14, I was advised to go to the Hammond School of Dance, a residential school in Chester. We had a full-time education there, as well as lots of dance classes and I loved being in a city. It was a bit hard at first because I was very Welsh and I felt a bit 'oh dear me', but then after four or five months I got into it. I never came home at weekends, which my mum was sad about. I'd always go and stay with friends.

I stayed on in Chester to do a college course, but it wasn't really for me, so I auditioned for the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds and studied dance there.

It's really hard to get work as a dancer - there might be 400 people going for a job for one, but I got seen by a choreographer at Leeds called Emilyn Claid who introduced me to other choreographers and I managed to get work right away.

The first work I did was for the English National Opera - it was a dance piece created by Lea Anderson. I then got work in her company in London. I don't think I would have moved down there if I hadn't had a job to go to.

You have to be very disciplined as a dancer - you've got to make sure you keep strong and supple, take vitamins and eat the right food. It's really tiring and it's not well paid either so you must have a passion for it!

I came off stage as a dancer in July. It was time to stop dancing professionally and I much prefer my role now. I've been working with the choreographer Wayne McGregor for ten years. His company works with other companies all over the world and I'm his rehearsal director. When he's away, my job is to manage the dancers - make sure they keep fit, that the shows are kept to standard and oversee the tours.

One of the greatest jobs I've done so far was working on the Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire film. Wayne choreographed the dancing for the Yule Ball, but then had to go overseas, so I had to work with all the stars of the film, teaching them to dance - it was amazing, but it was so hectic. Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter) was really, really busy so we didn't have much time with him, but he was so brilliant.

It was an amazing experience to work on such a big film. Although some days were boring - I'd be on set for 12 hours without much happening, other days were really, really busy. I was the movement director for the giant doubles and was under the table in the Yule Ball scenes, counting them all in because some of the younger dancers couldn't hear what was going on properly. So I am in the film, although you can't see me - I'm out of view, going 'one, two, three. One, two, three'!

The set is really amazing - truly magical. The work they do to change things over so quickly is unbelievable. I'm really pleased with the film. Although of course they can be filming a scene for five days and it only lasts two minutes on screen.

If you live in a little village like Beddgelert and want to make it as a dancer you have to be brave enough to leave. It's such a close community and sometimes young children don't get encouraged to leave. It's getting much better for dancers, but there needs to be a lot of improvement before young people at 14 don't have to leave home to train as a dancer like I did.

There are a lot of talented young people in Wales. I'm in Cardiff now, doing inset courses for comprehensive school teachers to encourage them to really push their students.

So if you want to be a dancer, look for a dance school, but get GCSEs too. Choosing dance as your career is a risk - it's very competitive and you might not make it so it's good to have a sideline. Even if you do make it, you could get injured and what do you do then?

But if it works out, it's fantastic - so don't be frightened, don't be scared of leaving home - it'll always be there."

More dancing.