Boffin By Day,Dancer By Night

By day,Joanna Kingman wanders the stuffy science corridors of her local university,teaching students everything they need to know about biomechanics.

In her long white coat and conservative dress,most would think she spends her nights with her head buried in books before going to bed at 9pm sharp.

But come nightfall,the plain Jane science boffin transforms herself into a wild child of the dance floor,complete with spikey hair and the most revealing of outfits.

The 26-year-old boffin loves nothing more than casting off her dowdy image and taking to the clubs as a podium dancer.

"They are both so different that they complement one another.It's great to have such a varied life."

Joanna,from the south of England,is at the exam stage of a doctorate in biomechanics at university where she is also a research assistant and teacher.

But she also runs her own business which supplies podium dancers for clubs.

She said "I've always really loved dancing and being sociable and when I was studying for my first degree I used to go to a local nightclub.

"I noticed they didn't have any dancers and offered to dance for them myself.It was petrifying for the first weeks because everyone would stop and stare as they weren't used to it."

Every Friday and Saturday night for a year Joanna danced at the club to help finance her degree.

From there she began dancing in clubs across the South, until she formed her agency which now has 50 men and women aged between 18 and 38 on its books and provides dancers for 12 clubs across the UK.

They can earn from £40 to £150 a night and Joanna says male dancers are most in demand because there are fewer of them.

Although Joanna has taken a back seat from the dancing to run the agency and concentrate on her studies, she still loves taking to the podium.

Joanna,who was also a roller hockey player for England until she was 21 lives with her boyfriend Graham, 27, who is also involved in the business.

He runs a company which supplies "body armour" style outfits to dancers and clubbers.

Joanna said: "He's absolutely fine about me dancing. He comes to watch me and is very laid back about it.

"The outfits I wear aren't skimpy and raunchy - it's not about that. They're based on different themes, like a devil or cowgirl.

"People get confused with lap dancers, pole dancers and podium dancers. We're more of a show than sleazy or sexy and we don't take our clothes off.

"I've never been hassled - I think men are intimidated by us! It's the male dancers who get harassed!"