A UNIVERSITY graduate is dancing for joy after beating off hundreds of competitors for a coveted place at the UK Fame school.

Stephen Uppal, from Middlesbrough, starts a diploma course in musical theatre at the Arts Educational Institute in Chiswick in September - spending his final year performing on stage in the capital's theatre land. There were 400 applications and only 40 places on offer at the institute, where Pop Idol winner Will Young was a student.

Mr Uppal, 23, who has a degree in English studies gained at the University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, was bitten by the performing bug at 14 when studying GCSE drama at Nunthorpe School, which led to acting classes at the Cleveland Theatre School, Billingham.

"Previously I was only interested in acting. I was quite closed-minded about dance.

But the dance classes at Cleveland Theatre School opened up a whole new world of stamina and precision."

He said: "That's why I chose the course at Chiswick, as it combines theatre act- ing, dance and singing."

Mr Uppal's audition started with ballet and jazz dancing, followed by two acting pieces, one from Shakespeare's Hamlet, the other from Willy Russell's musical, Blood Brothers.

For the singing section, Mr Uppal sang a piece from Miss Saigon and Ronan Keating's 2000 chart topper, Life is a Roller Coaster.