AN ACTRESS fresh from the success of Starlight Express will be keeping dance students on track when she takes up a new teaching post.

Stockton and Billingham College's Centre of Vocational Excellence in Performing Arts was looking for a tutor to launch its HND in performing arts.

So it called on Sara Durkin, who returned to the region after several years taking the lead role of Dinah, in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Starlight Express.

After rave reviews in London, Sara took the show to Germany where she played to packed stadium audiences.

She returned to the North-East five years ago and has been teaching at Stockton and Billingham College ever since.

A former student of the college, she is delighted that it is offering the higher education award.

She said: "People interested in musical theatre have traditionally been drawn to London for training in the past.

"It's fantastic that we now have the facilities and expertise to offer the best quality training here in Teesside."