He has been dancing since his early childhood, and now Tom Withington has set up his own dance academy on the north Norfolk coast.

Mr Withington, 26, has just launched TW Performing Arts in Cromer Road, Sheringham, the town where he is originally from.

He said he was delighted to be able to share his love of dance and pass on the skills he has learned with the next generation of dancers since launching the academy earlier in October.

Mr Withington said: "It's been going great so far and the feedback has been incredible. I'm very much aware that it's a new concept for the area.

"I know from growing up in Sheringham that there's a massive need for something like this, and that was part of my motivation. I wanted to do something bold and fresh, with new ideas."

Mr Withington's school teaches children and young people aged three to 19. Classes include commercial jazz, ballet, contemporary, creative dance and conditioning for dance.

He said: "There's a huge variety for the kids to attend.

"It's also different in that we are training in a more intensive day, rather than having the lessons spread out over a week, and we don't do syllabus work."

Mr Withington also works as a freelance lecturer in dance and performing arts at City College Norwich and other performing arts institutions.

He said he benefitted from the tuition of a talented local dance teacher, Siobhan Webster, when he was young, which led to performance opportunities at Cromer Pier, Sheringham Little Theatre and Great Yarmouth's Hippodrome. He also attended Aylsham High School, London Contemporary Dance School and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London.

He also took part in a DanceEast Centre for Advanced Training programme (CAT Scheme) in Ipswich, which has bursaries for talented youngsters.

While giving the lessons himself, Mr Withington said he had the support of three 'student ambassadors' - Bethany Pratt, Caitlin Campbell and Lucas Blair - who supported lessons and acted as teaching assistants and role models.

Visit www.twperformingarts.co.uk for more information.