Talented Aberdeen teenager heads off to leading London ballet school

HIS first experience of dancing was when performing a hip hop routine at the age of nine.

Now teenager Alfie McPherson is joining one of Britain’s leading dance schools to hone his ballet skills.

His ballet journey has seen him perform three times at the Royal Albert Hall and star as one of the 24 successful boys in Matthew Bourne’s adaptation of Lord of the Flies.

Now Alfie, 17, a pupil at St Machar Academy, Aberdeen, has been awarded a place at the prestigious Central School of Ballet in London.

He said: “It’s the biggest thing I care about and I have wanted to do it for a number of years now.

“I got a bit of stick at school, just the usual stuff about boys doing ballet but none of it got to me.

“It shouldn’t be seen as an alien world. It should be seen as normal for a boy to dance. My inspiration came from the older boys at my school and watching professional performances in theatre because seeing a man do ballet broke the idea of what I thought men did in ballet.

“They are more manly, strong and powerful than you would presume at first.

“I’m sure there are a lot more boys dancing now than when my dad was my age. My dad would never have had the opportunity to do this.”

Alfie’s dancing dream has not come cheap for dad Neil, 54, a farm trader and mum Dianne, a retail assistant. In the last year, Alfie has had to make more than 30 flights to London for workshops and auditions.

Neil said: “We are not big earners but have managed to fund Alfie’s dancing. If Alfie was his older brother Daniel this wouldn’t be happening because we couldn’t justify spending so much money on one and not on the other. Thankfully there is a 10-year age gap.

“There is funding available but the cut-off point to access it is so low.

“I have tried to get access to funding and it’s almost impossible.”

Neil praised his son’s determination, saying: “He has worked long and hard for it.

“It’s an extremely cut-throat industry and there are no second places. You are picked or you’re not.”

Alfie, the youngest of three, will be studying a BA Hons in Modern Ballet this September.