CHIPPENHAM dancer Joe Picter has made it through the first of the 12 live shows in BBC TV’s Greatest Dancer series with the Bristol-based Dark Angels team.

The 21-year-old is a former pupil of The Emily Alner Academy of Dance in Chippenham and sailed through the first of the Greatest Dancer live shows which aired on BBC 1 yesterday evening.

It's the start of the spectacular live shows, where the final 12 acts dance to stay in the competition.

Dancers perform to a live audience behind a mirror which only opens if enough people vote for them.

The dance talent show sees dancers of any age and dance style compete to win £50,000 and a chance to perform on BBC’s popular Strictly Come Dancing series.

Joe’s proud mum Julie Picter, 50, who also dances with The Emily Alner Academy, said: " “Oh my gosh, we are absolutely ecstatic. We are so happy for them. They did brilliantly.

“We’re really proud of him and them,” said Mrs Picter, who watched the show with husband Rod, 50, Joe’s elder brother Ryan, 23, and youngster sister Beth, 17.

“We thought it was a really fantastic dance. It was brilliant.”

She added: “I have never felt so sick waiting for the results. It was just the waiting to see what happened. Fortunately, Oti’s team were one of the first to go through so we didn’t have to wait too long.”

The Greatest Dancer judges are Cheryl Cole, Matthew Morrison, Oti Mabuse and Todrick Hall. The show is presented by Alesha Dixon and Jordan Banjo.

Oti's last group Dark Angels were given the tricky challenge of House of Commons, which is a far cry from their usual style of hip hop dance. However, their risky challenge pulled off as they achieved 92.1 per cent.

But Matthew didn't appear entirely happy with the performance as he told them they started with a bang but didn't manage to hold it throughout the performance.

Todrick added that he felt a bit lost during the performance but admitted it might be a cultural thing, while Cheryl added that the music and costume didn't fit the theme.

Cheryl's group The Queens and Todrick's act Ryan were the first two acts were the first to be eliminated from the Greatest Dancer on Saturday night.

Mrs Picter said she had disagreed with the judges’ comments, adding: “Joe was the Speaker of the House of Commons and I though they put it across really well. Everybody has their own opinions.”

Joe, a former King’s Lodge primary and Abbeyfield secondary school pupil, started in Hip Hop at the age of ten but Emily Alner noticed he was capable of more and in no time was doing everything.

He stayed with her academy learning all styles of dance and competing in cheer and dance competitions for six years until he moved on to the Wilkes Academy of Performing Arts in Swindon at the age of 16.

Mrs Picter said: "On leaving there he was asked to audition for an academy in Bristol called Angels Dance Academy, who were taking some teams to the biggest cheer and dance event in the world, Dance Worlds America in Florida, USA.

"Joe got onto their contemporary team called Virtues, who came 10th out there which was amazing.

“Their all-girl Hip Hop received silver and also their elite Hip Hop team called Dark Angels that Joe was on won gold out there. He has also made it onto Team England Hip Hop as well."

Mrs Picter said she watched the Greatest Dancer audition show at home with family and friends, but Joe had watched the show at the ADA in Bristol.

She added: “We are so excited, the mirror opened and not only that but they got judges’ choice, so they are through to the live shows on Oti’s team.

“We are so proud of them all, they have been working so hard, training for the Worlds in April and training for the live shows.

“We are so thankful to Charlie Bedford, director of ADA, and choreographer and coach of Dark Angels, he gives his all to his athletes.

“He has an amazing team of teachers at ADA all striving to make everyone the best they can be and more, giving them fantastic opportunities to showcase their talents.

“Joe has only been with them for 18 months and in that time has achieved so much and learnt so much and we are extremely proud and grateful to the ADA family.

“Thank you to everyone for their messages and support, it’s been overwhelming. We can’t wait to see what Dark Angels bring to the floor next. Please vote, we want you to see more of them."