A 98-YEAR-OLD woman has stolen the hearts of the nation after her incredible audition on a BBC dance show.

Dinkie Flowers, from Shoreham, took to the stage on the first episode of the second series of the Greatest Dancer, seen on BBC One on Saturday night.

Presenter Alesha Dixon told Dinkie: “I don’t think you realise how special you are.”

Arriving in an old dress, Dinkie told Love Island star Curtis Pritchard, the show’s new receptionist, “you should be a dancer, you are excellent”, apparently unaware that he is already a professional.

Dinkie said she was “a little bit nervous”, even though she had been dancing since the age of three.

The Argus:

Lesley Tomlinson, her best friend, said on the show: “She just loves performing for people. It is her world. She is a one-off, she is incredible, an amazing lady, an inspiration to everybody.”

Dinkie impressed everyone as she started her tap dancing but when as she picked up the pace, judge Oti Mabuse could not contain herself, describing Dinkie as “absolute class”. “She is still really strong, man,” said Oti.

Judge Todrick Hall told Dinkie he felt like he was watching a “Tony Award winner” and viewers at home were equally impressed by her performance.

Fellow judge Cheryl said Dinkie was a “natural born performer” who had shown a “jolt of energy” when the mirrors opened.

This means at least 75 per cent of the audience voted for Dinkie and she goes through to the next stage of the competition. Dinkie honed her skills at London’s Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts and the Doris Isaacs School of Dance. Born in Hove, she used to love ice skating in Brighton’s old Sports Stadium in West Street.

Dinkie was scouted by the company in her late teens and went on to appear in her first production at the Brighton ice rink, Hello Ice, where she performed two solos.

Dinkie, who moved to Shoreham with her mother when she was in her early twenties, has been teaching dance for 50 years.

She opened the Shoreham Centre with renowned astronomer Patrick Moore in the early 1970s.

The pair worked together on an opera by Mr Moore called Perseus and Andromeda in 1974, which she choreographed at the centre.