Eleven-year-old Ella Boyd from Durham has been offered a place at Elmhurst School of Dance in Birmingham, the oldest vocational dance school in the UK.
Elmhurst – which trains classical dancers for Birmingham Royal Ballet and a range of other national and international dance companies – takes only a handful of new pupils each year.
And Ella – who wants to be a classical ballerina – has beaten off competition from around the world to win one of the sought-after places.
Mum Lisa said the whole family “was thrilled” at her achievement.
“Ella started dancing when she was two and at the time we just thought it would be something nice for a little girl to do,” she said.
“We had no idea at the time that she had a real talent for it.”
Teachers spotted Ella’s potential at an early age and while the family were living in the south, she regularly was involved in classes at the Royal Academy of Dance.
The Boyds moved to the North East in 2011, when dad Tim came to the region to become manager at Ramside Hall Hotel, with Ella joining the Lewis School of Dance in Chester-le-Street.
“She managed to get a place on a Royal Ballet School associate programme in Newcastle and along with her usual classes, she dances around 10 hours a week,” said Lisa.
Ella, currently a pupil at Durham High School, had to go through a strict audition process to get into Elmhurst and heard recently that she had been successful.
She’s now preparing to start at the school – where she’ll be a boarder – in the autumn.
“We couldn’t be more proud of her,” said Lisa.
“We don’t know where she gets it from though as we’ve all got two left feet!”