A country teenager who took up dancing on the advice of his singing teacher has stunned some of the biggest names in ballet.
Joshua Green, from Wollongbar in the Northern Rivers district of NSW, is flying to Germany to pursue a professional career after just two years' training.
After years actively avoiding the barre, the 17-year-old finally gave ballet a go after he was told it was a must if he wanted to work in musical theatre.
"I would not step into a studio. It was not something I wanted to do at all," he said.
"But I wanted to do musical theatre and my singing teacher said 'If you want to do this, you need to dance'."
Ballet teacher Karen Ireland recalled a shy and nervous boy coming into her Lismore studio.
"You could see he had the talent. It was already there — like just pointing his foot," she said.
His teachers say his achievements so far have been remarkable.
Last month, Joshua won gold at the international ballet competition, The Genee, in Hong Kong and followed that with a win in Australia's biggest ballet competition, the Sydney Eisteddfod.
Queensland Ballet artistic director Li Cunxin, was one of the judges alongside three others, including The Australian Ballet's David McAllister.
"We just watched him with disbelief thinking 'that's not possible', to have trained for only two years and really obtain that kind of skill set," Li said, adding that Joshua's self-choreographed solo was impressive.
"That takes natural talent. Not everybody has that gift."
So does the boy from Wollongbar have the potential to be a star?
"I think he does," Li said.
"If he continues to improve like what he has already in the last two years, the sky will be the limit for him."
"I think he'll be a principal by the age of 25," Ireland said, as she farewelled her student who has won a scholarship at the John Cranko school at Stuttgart in Germany.
And Green had a parting message for local kids.
"Bullying is intense and it's rough. That's what stopped me for so long. And it's my biggest regret looking back. I wish someone had told me not to care what other people thought.
"I want boys to know that it is OK to dance and it's a wonderful thing to be a part of. You shouldn't be ashamed of wanting to be a dancer."
Li agrees.
"We need more boys in ballet. They are some of the most elite athletes in the world and they happen to be ballet dancers."
