Princess Diana was a longtime dance enthusiast, and although she had taken some ballet and tap classes as a child, it wasn't until she had married into the Royal Family that she pursued her love of dancing in a more formal way. In the new book Dancing With Diana, her former instructor Anne Allan revealed plenty of inside stories about working with the late royal, including the time she managed to hide Diana backstage during one surprising performance.
In the memoir, Allan wrote how she was approached by a lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Wales—who had just married Prince Charles two months prior—in September 1981 and asked if she would give private dance lessons to the royal. Their lessons were held in secret and Allan didn't even tell her own husband at first, but the two grew close over time and Diana began to confide in her dance teacher about her marriage with Prince Charles.
Two years later, Allan joined iconic dancer and choreographer Wayne Sleep in his new company, and she shared how the Princess of Wales had asked if she could take a look at their new show, Dash. The only problem was she didn't want to make it a whole thing, preferring to sneak in and watch from backstage.
The dancer wrote that she'd been hesitant about the idea, explaining that "there was always a danger element if you were not experienced in how things worked" plus it would be "a nightmare for security" having the princess there in a "pitch black" area.
Allan also revealed that the show contained a royal-themed dance that she worried might have offended the princess. The dancer "warned the princess that Wayne had created a very amusing skit based on her son, William, and wore a babygrow" (that's British for a sleeper) in the scene.
Fortunately, Diana thought it was hilarious. "She burst out laughing and said that she had to see it," Allan wrote.
The dance teacher approached Sleep and came up with a plan for the princess to attend just the second half of the show. They feared that there "would be an unnecessary risk of people seeing her at the intermission" and that the media could get alerted.
Fortunately, everything went to plan, and Diana and her protection offers were ushered unnoticed backstage to take a seat in the wings.
"Diana loved the whole atmosphere backstage and Wayne was a rascal, occasionally playing to the corner where she was sitting, rather than out front, which made her grin from ear to ear," Allan recalled.
And as for the Prince William skit, it was a hit. "The Baby Wales number was a favorite for Diana," Allan wrote, adding, "Wayne remarked to me how much he loved that she could laugh at herself and accept the intended humor."
The dancer pointed out that they were able to sweep Diana out the back door at the end and "the press never knew." However, the cast received quite the surprise when they spotted her backstage.
The dancers had no idea Diana was there "until they saw her as they were preparing to make entrances," Allan said, noting "it made for an electric Act 2." Something tells me that seeing the shock on their faces probably made Diana's night, too.
