A nice story

I find this story very uplifting but at the same time incredibly sad. A very talented young Tim who was almost ashamed of his talent. Hopefully he is of a new generation without prejudice:



ASK your average football fan about a Plié or an Arabesque and they’re likely to assume you are referring to an up-and-coming player from the continent soon to burst on to the world stage. Ask Jamie Reid, however, and he’d know exactly what you mean.

The 19-year-old is no ordinary Celtic supporter as, despite growing up in the shadow of Paradise, the Gallowgate Bhoy has been named as the first Glaswegian, and only the second Scot, to be included in the Scottish Ballet.

In footballing terms, it’s the equivalent of signing for Celtic, scoring on your debut and being picked for Scotland all rolled into one.

His achievements so far are impressive but questions are often raised as to how a football-daft East End Bhoy end up swapping the football field for the stage.

“One of the main reasons was that I wasn’t exactly the best at football," Jamie told the Celtic View. “I never wanted to do ballet in the first place but the more I did it, the more I realised how much I was enjoying it. I got better the more I did it and my interest grew.

“You’re always pushing your body to get to the limits and even now, there is a debate at the moment about whether ballet dancers should be classed as athletes. It’s just the sheer athleticism of it all.

“I’m from Glasgow and this is the national company I’m representing, so it is a very proud moment."

Reid’s talent as a dancer was first spotted as a 13-year-old when he gave ballet a try alongside his acting and musical theatre classes at his local theatre school.

From there he made the grade to join the associate programme of the Scottish Ballet before progressing to a full-time position with The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where his graduation performance caught the eye of the artistic director of the Scottish Ballet.

Despite his steady progression and talent as a dancer, Reid was still keen to keep his ballet abilities quiet from his friends. However, he also believes that the apparent stigma surrounding male ballet dancers is changing.

He said: “I think recently ballet has been getting the respect it deserves. For example, Rio Ferdinand used to do it. He went to a ballet school in London and graduated and look what that did for him.

“There are also a lot of really good Scottish dancers out there and now they don’t have to go down south so that keeps the talent up here.

“My family have always been incredibly supportive of it all but I had to keep it quiet from my friends. It was mainly going to school and stuff like that - I didn’t want to take any chances. It didn’t really become public knowledge until I appeared in the newspaper that I was joining Scottish Ballet.

“I had a friend that I grew up with who called me and said he was proud of me, so it was good that one of my genuine friends was so happy for me and supportive all the time."

While ballet is now his sole focus, Reid admits football will always be his first love. Growing up in a Celtic-daft family near Celtic Park meant there was never any room for debate over what team he would support.

“My whole family are Celtic fans," he explained. “Growing up, I had Larsson on the back of my top and I’ve still got him on my wall at home. Going to the games was great and I think my first one was a league game against Livingston.

“Of course my favourite game was the Barcelona game which was the longest 90 minutes of my life but Henrik Larsson is still my favourite player of all time because he was just world-class and he played football because he loved the game.

“He is the perfect role model because even people who didn’t really like football, liked him. As a kid you’d try and replicate that.

“This season, we have to go for the treble. We were unlucky last year but I think we’ve learned from it and we can do it this year."