Debonair Dance Academy in Cradley Heath is celebrating as the schools third male student goes forward to the Royal Ballet.

Carter Mundon aged 10 from Netherton has successfully auditioned for a much sought after place on the Royal Ballet Associates course.

The Associate Programme, created in 1948 by Founder, Dame Ninette de Valois, nurtures young, talented students between the ages of eight and 17 in pursuit of excellence in pre-vocational classical ballet training.

Based in centres across the UK, the course is designed to augment an individual’s current training while introducing them to The Royal Ballet School’s System of Training alongside other gifted children who aspire to a career in dance.

The programme takes place in the Midlands at Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Carter becomes the third student from Debonair Dance Academy to earn a place on the Royal Ballet course, following in the footsteps of Ben Brown from Amblecote who is now a professional dancer with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures since 2017, touring all over the world in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Edward Scissorhands and Romeo & Juliet.

Debonair’s second student James Garrington, also from Netherton, is now a professional dancer with Scottish Ballet since 2022 and recently performed principal roles with the company across Scotland, Newcastle upon Tyne and at London’s renowned ‘home of dance’ Sadlers Wells theatre.

It takes immense talent and many years of training to achieve what Ben and James have and those foundations laid at Debonair Dance Academy mean the school is proudly one of the Midlands’ highest achieving dance schools.

Debonair has many other students who have gone on to work in the West End, for Disney, in film, televsion and in shows around the world. Carter’s recent success is sign of Debonair’s continued legacy of nurturing top talent.

Principal of Debonair Dance Academy, Debbie Baggott said: “Carter is a very talented young man and has shown outstanding potential in class for ballet so I decided to put him forward for the audition.

“Carter is related to the fabulous Black Country comedian Tommy Mundon, so theatrics are definitely in his genes. He has shown incredible technique his dance classes and, in our shows, I am thrilled that he passed his audition and will continue on a path that has a proven track record for creating professional dancers from our pupils here at Debonair. We all wish him the best of luck going forward in September.”

For more information on Debonair Dance Academy, their classes, shows and worldwide performance experiences, you can contact Debbie Baggott on 07743 181 754 or message on Facebook.