A TEENAGER from Holmfirth is on the brink of a top career as a dancer.

Ryan Hamer enjoyed rave reviews last month after landing the lead role in Manchester City Ballet’s production of Coppélia.

And next month Ryan will fly out to Berlin to audition for a place with the city’s prestigious ballet company.

Ryan, 19, from Netherthong, is a former pupil of Holmfirth High School and is now a third-year graduate student of the Northern Ballet School (NBS) in Manchester.

He is also a member of the Manchester City Ballet Company and was chosen to dance the male lead role of ‘Franz’ in their annual December ballet production, Coppélia.

The ballet was staged at the Dancehouse Theatre, Oxford Road, Manchester.

Ryan has been dancing since the age of seven and was trained at Huddersfield School of Theatre Dance in Armitage Bridge and the Dorothy Stevens Dance School in Lightcliffe, Halifax.

He is currently studying at the Northern Ballet School for a degree equivalent in ballet, jazz dance, musical theatre and tap.

He has been involved in various prestigious ballet productions throughout his short career so far. In 2003, at the age of 10, he was involved in the Northern Ballet Theatre’s A Christmas Carol at the Leeds Grand Theatre and then in 2004-5 he was a member of the Yorkshire Youth Ballet company which produced a version of The Nutcracker at the Bradford Alhambra.

Also in 2006, Ryan was chosen to take part in The Russian Classical Ballet Theatre’s production of Coppélia and later auditioned for and won a place in the English Youth Ballet company and took part in their own production of Coppélia, staged at the Charter Theatre in Preston in 2007.

Three years ago he was awarded a full scholarship to the Northern Ballet School in Manchester and auditioned in October 2012 for the part of Franz with the four other hopefuls deemed talented enough to be considered.

Despite the stiff competition, Ryan was chosen for his outstanding ballet technique and stagecraft skills.

This year, Ryan will be busy auditioning with dance companies worldwide for a permanent position as well as continuing his NBS course and rehearsing for the two remaining NBS productions, before graduation in July.

It will hopefully mark the beginning of what he hopes will be a highly successful career in the world of dance.

His proud mum and dad, Linda and John, live in St Mary’s Rise.

Mr Hamer said: “It’s what he has wanted since the age of seven or eight.

“I don’t know where it comes from, although his great grandparents did have a dance school in Cheshire 100 years ago.

“It is a very hard life. They say a sportsman’s life is difficult, but it is nothing compared to the physical demands of being a dancer.”