Young dancer bids to win £250,000

SHE might only be ten years old but little Tamara Robertson has already impressed the likes of Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt with her moves on the dancefloor.

Now, the budding dancer is in with the chance of winning a 250,000 prize after reaching the live semi-finals of Sky1 show, Got To Dance.

Tamara, who lives in Musselburgh, was one of 28 people selected from around 2300 applicants after dazzling Wyatt and fellow judges, Adam Garcia and Diversity star Ashley Banjo, with her twinkle toes.

The promising youngster has won scores of awards since she started dancing at the age of three and said it would be a dream come true to win the competition.

She said: "It's really exciting. I think I have got a good chance of winning because I rehearse every day and train my hardest. If I won the competition, it would be the best thing that's ever happened to me in my whole entire life." Tamara said if she was to win, she would spend the prize money taking her family, friends and dance teachers to Disneyland Paris, and would also like to see a show on Broadway.

"I would save the rest of the money for my dancing career so my mum doesn't have to work as hard to pay for taking me to competitions," Tamara added.

The P6 pupil at Newcraighall Primary, who does freestyle, ballet and jazz, has been a member of the Quilietti School of Dance in Edinburgh since she was just three years old.

She was dubbed "mini Lady Gaga" after her Glasgow audition earlier this month on Got To Dance, in which she danced to Queen's Who Wants to Live Forever in a costume consiting of a black sparkly leotard and orange ruffle collar, as well as a wig of bleached blonde hair and huge eyelashes.

The judges said she was a "serious contender" and were amazed at how supple she was.

Mum Mairi, 40, who works for a credit company in Edinburgh and also has a few cleaning jobs, said her daughter had been dressing like Lady Gaga years before the American singer hit our screens.

Tamara has already done better than many of the 2300 applicants by getting three gold stars from the judges - the most any performer can achieve - after her audition.

The judges announced the final 28 contestants on last night's show, with the first of four live semi-finals set to get under way on Sunday. Only four people will make it through to the live final on February 27.

Mrs Robertson and husband Philip, 46, a stone restorer, have spent "tens of thousands" helping Tamara achieve her dream.

Tamara, who would like to be a professional dancer on Broadway when she grows up, trains five days a week, racking up 30 hours on the dancefloor, sometimes more. For the past four years she has won the UK, European and world disco dancing championships for her age group.

Mrs Robertson said: "We could be having dinner and Tamara will be sitting with her legs wrapped around her head. Or we'll be at the supermarket and she'll be doing back-flips down the aisles."