A BALLERINA from north Durham has won a place at a prestigious dance school.

Somer Hook, 14, from Consett , now spends Saturday mornings training at Yorkshire Ballet Scholarship Centre in York.

She also attends The Pauline Cook School of Dancing, which is based in Consett. Pauline Cook said: “What is so exceptional about Somer is that she had very little technical dance training, until she joined the school two years ago.

“Since then, as well as studying all the core dance subjects she has powered through her Royal Academy of Dance Ballet Examinations from grades two to six, passing all with distinction the latest with a 92 per cent pass mark.”

Somer, a pupil at St Bede’s in Lanchester , has been chosen to appear in productions of Coppelia and Swan Lake with the English National Youth Ballet Company and last week was a winner at the Royal Academy of Dance, Northern Area Scholarships.

Somer’s mother, Wendy, said: “All she wants to do it become a principal ballerina and this is pushing her further towards that dream.

“She is very determined and we are very proud of her.”