Lone lord of the dance a class act

The recently-released Billy Elliot looks destined to join a elite band of British films to achieve worldwide success along with Chariots of Fire, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The Full Monty.

It is about a young boy in a Durham coalmining community who takes up dancing and finds that, not only is he good at it, but he enjoys it as well. But he has to face his father's opposition and the bullying of his peers.

In Devizes, the real-life Billy is 12-year-old Ricky Cole who has set his sights on a career as a professional ballet dancer.

Ricky, who lives in Bromham, became hooked on dancing when he went along to a class being run by Melksham dance teacher Sandy Anderton with his 14-year-old sister Emma.

Since then he has not looked back and when Mrs Anderton's class closed, he moved to Sarah Challice's Devizes School of Dance which meets on Thursday and Friday evenings at the Scout Hall in Southbroom Road.

Mrs Challice has had boys in her classes before, but says she has never one with the potential of Ricky who is seriously contemplating a dancing career.

She said: "Ricky has come on very quickly.

"He is working towards his grade four exam which he will be taking next month. That is very quick considering how long he has been dancing."

Ricky has seen Billy Elliot and he says he thought it was brilliant, although he had some criticisms of it.

He said: "In a sense it's not true to life. The dance teacher smoked and I don't think she'd do that. But it did show the discipline you need and the amount of practice you have to put in."

Billy had to put up with the opposition of his dad, one obstacle Ricky has not had to cope with.

Richard Cole, a bricklayer by trade, has been entirely supportive of Ricky and his ambitions. Ricky's mum, Tina, said: "I remember when I told him Ricky wanted to go to ballet class. He just accepted it. He said: 'Let the boy do what he wants to do.' I have heard other parents say that ballet is a bit cissy. That is their problem. Richard and I support our children in everything they do."

Bullying and teasing have been like water off a duck's back to Ricky.

He said: "There have been one or two who have given me a hard time but I challenge them to do an hour of ballet and see how they cope with it. I run for Bath Athletics Club as well and ballet is a lot harder."

Ricky's closest friends have supported him from day one and Lavington School, which both Emma and Ricky attend, has also been very supportive.

Mrs Cole said: "When Ricky was being teased the school was wonderful at putting a stop to it."

Emma is proud of her little brother's achievements in the world of dance.

She said: "He has excellent posture and stage presence."

Ballet has also had a beneficial knock-on effect with Ricky's other love football.

The balance, posture and quick reactions needed for dancing are just as useful on the pitch.

Mrs Cole is head of care at Rowdeford School, Rowde. Emma and Ricky have run dance classes there and the pupils were very enthusiastic.

Ricky's only regret is that more boys do not take up ballet.

He recently took part in a ballet summer school in Bristol run by the Royal Academy of Dancing and was disgusted to find that, not only was he the only male student there but there were no male dance teachers either.

Any boy out there interested in taking up ballet dancing has all Ricky's support. He said: "I can recommend it. If you like dancing, then give it a go."

Ricky and Emma are hoping to take part in a ballet being mounted by professionals from English Youth Ballet at the Wyvern Theatre, Swindon, but it will cost each more than £200.

They are longing to be involved but it may be more than the family budget can bear.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring them, they can contact Sarah Challice at Devizes School of Dance on (01225) 793619.

The shortage of boy dancers is not confined to Devizes. Kazia Rudewicz, principal of the the Classical Ballet Centre in Chippenham, said she had only one boy student amongst a total of 250 pupils in the school and he is only four and the son of one of her teachers.

"I think it is perceived as something just girls do," she said. "Sometimes boys do join a class, often because a sister is doing it. But as soon as they start school and their friends find out they do ballet, they stop coming."

Miss Rudewicz, who runs the school in the Sheldon School dance studio, said it would be nice to have more boy students but appreciated it was difficult for them.

"Teachers get to do slightly different work with boys, with more strengthening exercises to build up strength in the legs and feet," she said.

She said the school had one promising boy student between 1995 and 1997 and they were disappointed when he decided to give up. "He did show a lot of promise, and his parents were behind him. His mother said ballet had helped him in other sports, but he did not want to do it any more, his enthusiasm just fizzled out," she said.

Indeed the stigma attached to teenage dancers could be so difficult Miss Rudewicz suggested any boy who stuck out the early years and showed promise would probably have to attend a vocational school.

She said: "I can understand why most boys wouldn't be interested. They have to really want to do it. Most boys would prefer to do football and I can totally understand that," she said. "Some fathers aren't happy with their sons wanting to do ballet. But it takes a great deal of strength and hard work to succeed."