CHESHIRE’S answer to Billy Elliott has won a place at prestigious Russian ballet school – the Bolshoi Ballet Academy.

Daniel Dolan, 16, will be only the third British male dancer to take up a place at the school in the last 233 years.

Daniel, who is currently studying for his GCSE’s at the Hammond School, Chester, will start after three intensive months at New York’s Juilliard, where he has been given a summer scholarship.

The teenager started dancing at the age of four when he joined the Elliot Clark dance school, in Bold Street.

Proud mother Carol said: "He first started dancing at the age of four. His older sister, Amy, danced and he was always asking to do it.

"The first time he danced he was wearing his football kit, as we just thought that it was going to be a phase.

"But it hasn’t. I am so incredibly proud of everything he has done and achieved.

"When he got a scholarship to the Hammond School, in Chester, he knew that he wanted to dance as his vocation.

"He has his heart set on learning at Juilliard and applied, but was told he was too young and instead they offered him a place on the summer school.

"He applied to the Bolshoi Ballet Academy on a whim. He sent off a DVD showing him dance and they offered him a place.

"He starts on September 1 and will be there for 10 months. It will cost 1,000 euros a month and we are hoping that he will find a sponsor.

"He will have a busy year, but I know it won’t be a chore for him as he will be doing something that he really loves.

"As a parent, all you ever wish is that they find something they enjoy and love. This is ballet for Daniel."