Ballet dancer Hudson Miller from near Bury St Edmunds earns coveted place at Royal Ballet School White Lodge

“I did it! I did it!” said 10-year-old Hudson Miller as he cried ‘happy tears’ over the opportunity of a lifetime.

The youngster from Barrow, near Bury St Edmunds, had just found out he had earned a place at the world-renowned Royal Ballet’s training school White Lodge, at Richmond Park, in Surrey.

SuffolkNews covered Hudson’s story last year when he was accepted on to the Royal Ballet School’s Junior Associate training programme. Last year he also stepped out on to the Royal Opera House stage for the first time, as part of a Crystal Pite world premiere.

Dad Ian Miller, 39, an ex-professional footballer, said they filmed the moment he and wife Vicki, a dance teacher, broke the news to Hudson of his place at White Lodge from September.

“When we told him, he literally just broke down into tears saying ‘I did it! I did it!” said Ian, who runs 442 Football Academy.

To emphasise Hudson’s achievement, he said about 1,400 people world-wide auditioned for White Lodge, but he thinks no more than 30 are accepted for Year 7, across both boys and girls.

White Lodge is a boarding school where full-time classical ballet training runs alongside the students’ academic classes. To get in, Hudson successfully sailed through two rounds of auditions.

Speaking of what the future holds for Hudson, Ian said: “He wants to dance. From those first auditions and performances on the [Royal] Opera House stage when he did Crystal Pite, he was like ‘I’m dancing with people and this is their job – not just because they enjoy it, they are getting paid to dance’.

“I think he would love to do that as a job. That’s great. He’s 10 years old and he’s got a dream and at the moment he’s living that dream. I was similar at 17/18. I wanted to be a footballer and I was given that chance. Now the hard work starts.”

He said as a family they were ‘so proud’ of Hudson – who is currently in Cinderella at the Royal Opera House – with his success showing to others that ‘the impossible is possible’.

Barrow-based Ann Holland School of Theatre Dance had given Hudson an ‘unbelievable foundation’, Ian said, adding that his son loved going on stage and worked hard.

“He’s so lovely and polite and so driven to what he wants to achieve –and that’s testament to him,” he said.

Hudson is guaranteed three years at White Lodge.

• Find Ann Holland School of Theatre Dance on Facebook.