AN eight-year-old girl is celebrating after being accepted into the prestigious Royal Ballet School.

Emily Rolfe, from Oswaldtwistle, was the only girl from her dance school to be accepted into the school’s junior associates programme.

Emily, who dances six days out of seven, will attend a three-hour lesson in Manchester every week with a Royal Ballet School tutor, starting from September.

Her proud teacher mum, Charlotte, described the moment Emily found out she had been accepted.

She said: “We could not believe it when we saw the letter. She was amazed and her dad and grandad both cried.”

The Royal Ballet School trains and educates ‘outstanding classical ballet dancers for The Royal Ballet and other top international dance companies’.

More than 900 children were selected to audition for a place and Emily was one of the 10 to 15 per cent who have been accepted because they showed great promise.

“Emily might be picked to take part in shows,” Charlotte said. “She will be taught the discipline and the way of dance they conform to. They are very strict and controlled. We have had to provide a report from school to show she behaves there too – they care about discipline.”

Emily started dancing at the age of two and takes part in modern dance, tap and ballet lessons – with the rhythm and sense of dance ‘coming from Grandma’, Charlotee said.

“She also attends extra lessons with children four years older than her and does pantomime at Christmas too. She loves it. I’m so really, really proud.”

Emily’s dance teacher, Zoe Taylor said: “We are thrilled to bits that Emily has been accepted. It’s such an honour for the academy, Emily and her parents, and the experience she will receive will be invaluable.

“It’s a very select group of children who will be selected every year. To even audition you have to be special.”

The Royal Ballet School is the associate school of the Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in London.

The school said its mission is ‘to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers for The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and other top international dance companies’.