Ali Bardgett’s life revolved around music. She was a professional dancer in England in her younger years, even appearing on stage with a legend: Smokey Robinson.

Twenty years ago she traded it all in for a traditional office job.

In 2014 she realised cutting music out completely, had been a big mistake.

“I was going to work and I was going home,” she said. “I needed to do something for me.”

For some reason, drumming popped into her head.

She called the only instructor she knew: Eddie Ming of the Rhythm Lab in St George’s.

Mrs Bardgett was stunned when he said he was free for a lesson that night. Once she got there she was glad she’d made the call.

She easily kept up with Mr Ming even as he made the sequences more complicated.

“Playing the drums feels so natural,” she said.

“I could have kicked myself for not starting sooner. It’s the closest thing I’ve ever found to tap dancing.

“From that first lesson, I was addicted. Eddie has been a wonderful teacher. He really brings out the best in his students.”

The fun really started when her husband Chris gave her a drum kit for Christmas.

“It was bubblegum pink,” she said. “When I saw it under the tree, I was in tears.”

The instrument lives in the kitchen. She practises three hours daily, and takes lessons three times a week.

“If I have had a particularly hectic day, I come home and play drums,” Mrs Bardgett said. “You can’t think about other stuff when you are playing. You really get into a zone.”

She played for an audience only two weeks after her first lesson.

“Eddie had a concert and said, ‘Right, you are going to be playing’,” she said. “I thought he was joking, but he meant it. It was scary, but I did it.”

Her first time playing with a band didn’t go so well. The song was The Girl from Ipanema.

“During practice I could play it with my eyes closed,” she said.

“But when the band started it was a lot faster than I had been used to playing.

“I went completely blank. I kept the rhythm but what I should have been playing was not happening. The band didn’t really notice, but I knew.”

Since then she has performed in several concerts arranged by Mr Ming — the next one takes place on Saturday.

She’s headed to New York in July. There she’ll spend five days at the Collective School of Music taking lessons.

“Finding drumming at this point in my life does feel like a gift,” said Mrs Bardgett, who declined to give her age.

“I think you have to be open to trying new things. You always need to be learning and growing.”

Despite that, she vetoed the idea of leaving her job to become a professional drummer.

“In my dreams,” she laughed. “[But] if AC/DC wants to give me a call, I’m here!”

What she would like to do is start her own all-girl band.

“I’ve been talking to [singer] Joy Barnum about it,” she said.

“She’s very enthusiastic. We just need some more female band members.”

Watch Mrs Bardgett in action at a fundraiser for the Rhythm Lab on Saturday at 7pm. The event takes place at 6 Old Military Road near the St George’s Community Centre.

•General admission is $30; patrons pay $50. Women interested in joining Mrs Bardgett’s band can send an e-mail: abardgett@gmail.com