A TALENTED teenager from Chepstow has won a place at a top vocational dance school to train to be a professional dancer.

Elisha Burke, 17, will start her training in September at one of the UK’s most respected Dance Colleges, K S Dance in Warrington, Cheshire. The college is run by Kate Simmons who has danced with many top ballet companies over the years.

Elisha, a former student at Wyedean School, started dancing at the age of three years. She has trained at Allsteps Dance Academy in Lydney under the guidance of Lisa Rafferty and for the last two years she has also attended the Gemini school of Dance in Pontypool. She is also an associate with the Ballet Cymru ballet company from Newport.

Elisha has also danced a season in 2014 with the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain and the English Youth Ballet. She is also a talented gymnast and trains and coaches at Kestrel Gymnastics Club, representing Wales in the semi-finals in tumbling last year.

The course starts this September and will run for three years and will see Elisha become a professional dancer with a teaching qualification.

Elisha is very excited and can’t wait to start in September. She would also like to thank her ballet teachers and gymnastic coaches for all their training and encouragement getting her to this level.

Photo by Sian Trenberth photography