A TEENAGE dancer from York has taken part in a masterclass in the home of British musical theatre.

Joshua Pinchon-Jones, who is 14, has danced for the last three years with Starbrite Dance Centre in York and Market Weighton, and is studying GCSE Drama and Dance at Manor School.

Joshua, from Acomb, has trained in jazz, ballet, tap and freestyle dance, and taken in part in many local dance competitions, winning several trophies from bronze to gold.

This summer, he and his family travelled to London so he could take part in auditions for an ongoing stage school scheme - the West End Master Class, Elite Dance School, hoping to win the chance to train with some of the country's best performers.

His mother Ginny said: "Joshua recently did a show at Starbrite in which he played a wizard. My husband and I knew after we saw this show he was going to be on the stage. His dream is to be on the West End so I put him forward for a few auditions including Billy Elliot in London.

"We attended a masterclass audition in London for elite dancers, singers and actors in July, which I didn't think he would get as the competition was extremely high, but we thought 'let's give it a try for the audition experience'."

Joshua's audition was a success and he was selected to continue in the class, bringing his hopes of West End stardom even closer.

Ginny said: "I feel Joshua has worked so hard for this. We are extremely proud.

"We will be travelling to London every week by train for Josh to attend the school. He will be taught by some very prestigious people in the industry and also West End talent scouts will be searching for new talent, so we're very hopeful."