'I've Always Been a Frustrated Ballerina' after Stripping Traditional Welsh Folk Down to Its Bare Bones for the Album Tir, Cerys Matthews Is Now Part of a Collaboration to Reinterpret It through the Medium of Contemporary Dance. She Tells Nathan Bevan Why and How Her Love of Bob Dylan Cut Short Her Budding Career as a Ballerina

Beginning of article

THAT Cerys Matthews never ended up becoming one of Wales' most successful ballerinas is entirely Bob Dylan's fault. The former Catatonia singer's formative years in Cardiff had been spent pirouetting in pink ballet pumps and perfecting her plies in front of full length mirror - until that is, at the age of 11, she first heard a certain Robert Zimmerman sing.

"It's true, I'd been learning to dance ever since I could walk really, but I packed it in to be more rock and roll," smiles the 43-year-old.

"Dylan was my secret hero and I just thought, 'Well, Bob doesn't do ballet' and that was that.

"Besides, I'd started playing a lot of instruments by that point - piano, guitar and a few different woodwind things - and wanted to concentrate more on music.

"I didn't want to be a jack of all trades …