A TALENTED Bromsgrove dancer, who contracted pneumonia twice and suffers from epilepsy, has defied the odds to achieve her life-long ambition and take to the Birmingham stage.

Twenty-seven year old Ruth Scott, of Lyttleton Avenue, Charford, will appear in Big Leaps in House at the Birmingham Hippodrome in Hurst Street on Sunday.

The appearance will be a dream come true for Ruth. But the dedicated performer has not enjoyed an easy road to success after spending much of the last two years fighting against a series of illnesses.

Ruth started dancing from the age of two in Catshill and now attends dance schools in Redditch and Worcester.

She took up jazz and ballet at the national dance agency in Birmingham and the DanceXchange ten years ago.

But the Bromsgrove resident, who is taking her A-levels at Kidderminster College, has always suffered from epilepsy, which has become much worse in recent years.

In 2000 she contracted pneumonia twice, suffered a collapsed lung later the same year and a drain which put in place to help drain the lung led to another infection.

But her illnesses failed to get the better of Ruth and the enthusiastic dancer continued to take dance exams and lessons whenever she could.

"Epilepsy drugs affect your whole body. It's hard to balance and sometimes I get the shakes," she said.

"But I will dance and continue to get involved in shows as long as I understand the world around me and the drugs haven't taken my mind away."

The free show, which will include over 200 performers dancing to the rhythms of Bollywood, hip-hop and Caribbean music, will kick off at 2pm.

"It's hard to accept I can't dance as easily as I could before but I know I can and when the teacher says rise and hold it, I will balance for all my life's worth."