People have realised that male dancers can be equally stunning to watch

Gailene Stock, Royal Ballet

Billy Elliot was set in a northern town during the 1984 miners' strike.

It told the story of a young working class boy who chose not to follow his widowed father's instructions that he should train to be a boxer.

The BBC-backed film was a box office hit on both sides of the Atlantic and star Jamie Bell earned a Bafta award for his performance.

Gailene Stock, director of the Royal Ballet School, said the increase in boys taking up ballet was down to the movie.

She said: "There has been a significant increase in the number of boys who want full-time training and are willing to take on ballet as a vocation.

'Stunning'

"A number of boys at the school have said that Billy Elliot made them feel more comfortable about telling people they are ballet dancers."

She said stars such as Rudolf Nureyev and all-male versions of ballets such as Swan Lake proved male dancers were more than mere "porteurs" (carriers) for ballerinas.

Julie Walters was Oscar-nominated

"People have realised that male dancers can be equally stunning to watch," she told the paper.

John Bottomley, 12, in his first year at the Royal Ballet School, told the newspaper the film had a powerful effect on him.

He said: "Up until that film came out many boys had this view of a male dancer which was wrong.

"I love football and rugby but when I started doing ballet I realised that doing it was more masculine than anything else."