Campsie dancer is just tutu talented

A Campsie Glen-born dancer is starring in a royal ballet production of Coppelia at Edinburgh this week.

Rory Mackay, whose family still live locally, playsDr Coppelia in the Birmingham Royal Ballet show at the Festival Theatre, which runs until Saturday.

Rory (38) has been dancing since he was six-years-old, along with younger brother Iain (34) who tagged along to Rory’s class when he was aged just two and is now also a top ballet dancer. Both boys attended Lennoxtown Primary School.

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Dad John, who retired in October from his job as a teacher at Merkland School, said: “It all started when Rory watched the TV show Fame. He saw Leroy, one of the characters do the splits and told us he wanted to do that.

“We took him to the Mary Darke School of Dancing in a hall Bearsden. He was the only boy, so we took Iain along too and both of them got the bug.”

The Mackay brothers moved from local ballet school to the Scottish Ballet Junior Associates programme. From there it was on to the Dance School of Scotland at Knightswood Secondary in Glasgow, along with summer and Easter residentials with the Royal Ballet.

The two brothers have now both been dancing for over a decade with Birmingham Royal Ballet, one of Britain’s premiere ballet companies.

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