Lynne Bustard expects everyone to remember her name, and no-one to remember her face. ''I've heard all the jokes about my surname,'' she says a little wearily. ''But you must admit that it's unforgettable, which is vital when a producer is trying to recall the third chorus girl from the left.'' It's the job every little girl dreams of, once she's realised that there's only so many parts for principal dancers, but the show literally couldn't go on without the chorus girls.
Lynne's different, for as long as she can remember she's wanted to work in dance, but playing the lead simply never entered her head. ''To start with, I am shy,'' she explains. ''As a young child I was even more so, but I knew I could dance and reckoned the only way I could achieve the type of career I wanted would be as a dancing teacher.''
No-one in the family could explain where this desire to tread the boards came from, as before Lynne and her brother Alan came along the most likely road to fame in the Bustard family was as a footballer. ''We've had quite a few well-known footballers among relatives, and my mum sang in a band,'' remembers Lynne. ''But her career was in travel and my dad's an electrician so there's no obvious connection. There must be something, however, as my brother's an actor.''
Perhaps encouragement played a big part. Despite her shyness, Lynne can always remember her parents taking her ambitions seriously, to the extent of funding her through dance school. Like so many girls, she started at a local dance school at an early age, learning a bit of everything. As time progressed, she realised that she wanted to concentrate on the traditional training which comes with classical ballet, and at the age of 16 took up a place at Lily McNeill's School of Dancing in Glasgow.
''I had to retrain in everything,'' she says. ''If nothing else, I'm an example of how you can achieve anything you're really keen to do. Although I'd danced for years, I had to start from scratch and forget most of the methods I'd been taught. There's so much talk now of dancers being hot-housed from pre-school, and I know it must reflect their skills and ability, but if I'm totally honest my real training started at 16, and I just worked and worked at my technique.''
Dance school illustrated to Lynne the depth of her passion for dance, and although teaching still seemed the obvious choice for her personality, for the first time she also caught the performing bug. She had always choreographed dances from when she began learning as a child, and while she continued to do so, and worked towards a teaching career by helping younger students.
However, demonstrating moves and techniques came easy to her, and she began to imagine what it would be like to be part of a show. She admitted to herself that she did want to perform, and despite lacking confidence in her abilities decided it was time to put them to the test, to see if she had the necessary skills in other people's eyes.
Then, and now, adverts for auditions were the first step, and Lynne began buying the different stage newspapers and looking at what was on offer. She had just graduated from dance school at the age of 18, when a job in a magic show in Switzerland caught her attention.
The first whittling down got rid of those who weren't the right height, shape or weight. Brutal, but effective, it left 60 who were put into smaller groups and asked to perform more intricate dances. After some jazz, and a little tap, the dancers reached the last 15, who were sent home while the producers made their final decision.
When the call came offering her the job, Lynne was totally shocked. Her parents were over the moon, and it was their enthusiastic response and total belief in her that transformed her reaction.
''Suddenly, all my dreams were coming true, and all I could think was that I had to try it, even if it was only once,'' says Lynne. Now, she looks back at her 18-year-old self in some bemusement.
She stayed in Switzerland six months, came back to Glasgow to do panto, and went back to the same show in Switzerland the following year. Her confidence grew with each job, and her next big production was with a children's show in Malaysia. The show went on to Singapore and Lynne took two weeks holiday going round Thailand, and then continued work in Bangkok.
Now, despite having been offered lead roles and turned them down, Lynne is in her element as a chorus girl, combining shows with teaching and choreographing, and enjoying a mix of tap, tiller, jazz and funk.
Qualifications and training
Train with a reputable school.
Maintain constant good stamina and fitness, never get out of condition.
Follow-up auditions.
Work hard to improve technique or learn new moves.
Be grateful if you're tall (Lynne's 5ft 8in), ''it's a brilliant natural advantage''.
Have faith in your abilities, and don't ever feel patronised, everyone starts off the same way.
There's no show without the chorus girls.
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