Dozens of ten-year-olds will be doing the fox-trot, rumba and tango in a ballroom "dance off" at Birmingham’s Tower Ballroom.  

The competition follows three months of training under Pierre Dulaine, who portrayed by Antonio Banderas in the hit movie Take the Lead.

Pierre has worked with four Birmingham primary schools to show how ballroom dancing can help young people gain a sense of self-respect, pride and elegance.  

His Dancing Classrooms programme is also the subject of an award-winning documentary, Mad Hot Ballroom, which follows a group of inner city children from New York as they learn to dance.  

More than 70 year five primary school pupils have been on a similar journey in Birmingham and will take part in a Grand Final at the Tower Ballroom on July 8 to show off their new skills.  

Pierre decided to bring Dancing Classrooms to Birmingham as a "gift" to the city where he spent much of his childhood.  

"The children who took part in Birmingham have been on an amazing journey and have transformed into fantastic dancers," he said.  "Dancing Classrooms is designed to teach life lessons to young people through ballroom dancing.  

"It is a dance form that inspires respect, confidence, elegance and co-operation in young people.  It teaches them how to behave like ladies and gentlemen and all the evidence suggests this also has a positive impact on attainment."

Pierre, who has inspired schoolchildren all over the world with his programme, added: "I am very proud of the Birmingham pupils and can’t wait to see them perform in what promises to be a spectacular finale at the Tower Ballroom."  

Year five pupils from Turves Green Primary in Northfield, Chad Vale and St George’s in Edgbaston and Chandos Primary in Highgate took part in the 10-week programme.  

Teams of six girls and six boys from each school will compete in the final championship on July 8th.  

Pierre, who currently lives in New York, moved to Birmingham when he was 13 and his love of ballroom dancing flourished.  

A successful career followed that took him all over the world and saw him appear on Broadway and the West End.

After experiencing the benefits of ballroom dancing personally, he decided it could be used to teach vital life lessons to children in some of the most challenging inner city areas and set up Dancing Classrooms to work in schools.  

The dance programme is now taught in more than 400 schools in five countries and 23 cities.