A DEDICATED schoolboy has won a top prize at an international dance competition.
Jack Smith, 15, a pupil at Gemma's Dance Academy, off Holderness Road, came third in the World Freestyle Dance Championships at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
The Hull College student competed for two days against more than 1,400 dancers from 147 dance schools across the world to claim third place in the fast category and he was also awarded a fourth place in the slow category.
Jack, who has been dancing since he was eight, said it was nerve-wracking performing in front of 30 judges, but he managed to have fun.
He said: "I was a bit nervous. The place was so packed and it was so noisy, but people were also very welcoming."
It is not the first time Jack has competed at an international dance contest. In 2012, he came runner-up at South African Dance Idol, where he represented Great Britain.
His dance teacher Gemma Connell said: "To be named third and fourth best dancer in the world is such a big achievement. It was a really brilliant event and the trophy is a whopper.
"He works so hard at it. He used to come in every day, but now he has more commitments at school and works at a hair salon part-time, but he still comes in to practise three times a week."
Jack won his first competition at the age of eight, when he had only been dancing for a few months.
The student made his TV debut the same year when he appeared as a contestant on the first series of Britain's Got Talent as part of the popular Hull dance troupe eXposure.
Looking to the future, Jack says he would like to become a dance teacher one day, but he is not done with competitions just yet.
He said: "I might consider training to be a dance teacher when I'm about 17 or 18, but I want to see how far I can go before then.
"I've got another competition on Sunday in Manchester and then I'll be working towards the UK Championships in October.
"Doing regular competitions is great because it makes you work harder, you have something to work towards."
Jack is also studying drama and hairdressing at Hull College but he says dancing is where his real passion lies.
"I like everything about dancing, it's a lot of hard work, but I love it. I take dancing more seriously than I do anything else," he said.
Jack will next be on stage in Hull at Tribfest next month when eXposure will be one of the acts opening the festival.
Zoe Harvey, Jack's mum, is thrilled with what her son has achieved so far.
She said: "I'm very proud of him and very thankful for all the great support he gets from Gemma and the rest of the dance academy."
