Amy wins top dancing job in America

6:01pm Sunday 6th April 2008

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A DANCER from York will be working alongside Madonna after winning a TV talent contest.

Amy Boyes, 21, of Haxby, was one of eight young women competing against eight men in Living TV's Dirty Dancing for a coveted place at Los Angele's top dance agency, Bloc - and she won.

Now she will hotfoot it straight to the top of the industry and work with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Madonna and the Spice Girls.

To begin with, Amy will be working with the assistant choreographer for a Madonna tour in the US and says she cannot wait to get on the plane and start her new life.

Amy said: "I have got a three- year working visa for the States and had to wait a while for it to come through, but now I have it I can't wait to go.

"I'm a bit apprehensive but, really, I just want to get out there."

The Dirty Dancing show invited the contestants to re-enact iconic dance scenes from the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, starring Patrick Swayze, as sexy dance tutor Jonny, and Jennifer Grey, as teen holidaymaker Baby.

Amy, who graduated from the Northern Ballet School, in Manchester, last year, started dancing when she was three and when the family moved to York when she was seven she joined the city's Red Shoes Dance Studio.

Among the dance challenges the contestants had to face were recreations of the log-dancing scene, where Baby has to dance on some timber to learn about balance.

Amy said the competition was fierce.

"I knew there were going to be some really great dancers there," she said.

"One girl had been a dancer for Kylie Minogue. The standard was really high."

Amy is leaving to work in LA on Thursday just ahead of Red Shoes production of La Fille Mal Gardee and Red Hot Shoes goes out on Friday and Saturday at the Grand Opera House.

She said: "I'd like to wish everyone in the show good luck.

"The leading part in the show is a girl I used to teach there, so it makes me think how far I have come and what opportunities are out there if you aim high."