TRYING to strut like a 6ft supermodel with attitude is proving to be a tall order if you'll pardon the pun. I end up gambolling across the room in an ungainly fashion looking more like a startled foal than Jerry Hall.

This is my first class with former Hot Gossip dancer Chrissy Wickham who makes every move look effortless despite the fact she is awaiting surgery to repair some cartilage in her knee.

Chrissy was in the original line-up for the 1970s dance troupe renowned for its sexually suggestive routines and considered rather risqué at the time.

She describes herself as "the fat one in the background" who tended to do the live shows at the working men's clubs as opposed to the regular TV slot on the Kenny Everett Shows.

"I wasn't built to be a dancer - I would never have survived now. It was great fun but hard work. We had no money for costumes but one of the guys had a friend in a sex shop which is why we were all kitted out in leather and rubber!"

Hot Gossip was created and choreographed by Arlene Phillips - better known these days as the acid-tongued judge on Strictly Come Dancing. The pair have been firm friends ever since.

"We have a mother/ daughter relationship," says Chrissy. "I'm on the phone to her all the time. If anything goes wrong I always talk to her first. Arlene is so real, so down to earth - she's exactly the same as she was all those years ago."

Although it's been 28 years since Chrissy quit the group, she's barely paused for breath since. She went on to star in the original cast for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express in the West End before moving into choreography on both stage and screen.

She's worked with some big names in the business including Mick Jagger and Cliff Richard and it was Chrissy who choreographed Bucks Fizz for their Eurovision winning song, Making Your Mind Up.

"If I had a pound for every time that's been shown I would be a millionaire," she says ruefully sitting back in her chair in the garden of her home in Southbourne.

At 52 she's still a bundle of energy and although she looks tanned and relaxed in a pair of loose-fitting tracksuit bottoms and a bikini top, you get the impression she lives life at full throttle.

"I am a very dramatic person - I'm never on a level. I don't know how my husband puts up with me," she admits.

Unlike many in her profession, Chrissy has managed to hold down a successful career and a happy family life - she's been married to Tony for 25 years and they have four sons.

She says she couldn't have done it without Tony who used to be an actor but quit to support her career. He currently runs a local entertainment agency.

"Two people can't be in the business when there's so many children," she says. "I feel I have been so lucky to have been able to combine a family with a fulfilling career as I always wanted to have children."

At least two of her boys plan to follow in her footsteps.

"One wants to be an actor and one wants to be a rock star. It's not something I would have chosen for them because it is such an over-crowded profession but it's in their genes. I wanted to be a dancer from the age of three."

Chrissy was born in Lyndhurst and went away to dance school at the age of ten. She eventually moved back to the local area with her family in 1998. She worked for the Big Little Theatre School in Bournemouth for 12 years and used to run the Spotlight Shows.

But despite her wealth of experience, she seems rather apprehensive about her new dance class due to start later that evening.

The class is for what she calls her Calendar Girls (as opposed to her racehorses - her young professional dancers) although she is quick to stress that "nobody will be taking off their clothes".

This comes as a welcome relief as Chrissy is keen that I should go along and try it for myself. Apparently most of the women are regulars at her Wimborne class which she launched in January.

"It all started when my sister and a couple of her friends had to do an Abba number for a family party and they asked me to help.

"They were so bad to begin with they looked like Morris Dancers! But they really got into it which is why I started the class in Wimborne. They are so good now and have learned so much.

"I do love teaching people who can't dance - making them feel anything is possible. It's all about confidence. They tell their husbands they are learning to become pole dancers!"

Her Calendar Girls are certainly on good form when I meet them later at the St Peter's School of Dance Studio in Southbourne.

The first half hour is devoted to stretching and toning exercises before we start working on some dance moves and routines.

Annette Parsons who is in her 60s and one of Chrissy's regulars from Wimborne tells me later: "I've done all sorts of different fitness classes over the years and I can honestly say this is the best class I've ever done.

"I find I walk taller and am more aware of my posture too. It's not just the fitness side - it's just so much fun too. It's the best hour of my week."

For more information call Chrissy on 01202 421114.