Joe Birtles Clarke during his first performance LIKE most 15-year-olds, Joe Birtles Clarke, has spent the Christmas holidays revising for his mock GCSEs and ‘messing about’ on his phone with his mates. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Joe has also been preparing for auditions for senior ballet schools throughout the world to attend in September. He said: “I always loved dancing but it was a teacher at my school who asked my mum if I could start lessons.” In 2015 when he was ten, Joe started at the the June Rendell Academy of Dance in Barrington Road. Altrincham. “I was very excited,” said Joe. “My mum booked me a private lesson so that I wasn’t in a huge class of people who knew what to do.”