Amiruddin Shah.

The idea of a welder’s son pirouetting gracefully on one toe to classical strains from Italian Renaissance courts may sound far-fetched, but not to 15-year-old Amiruddin Shah — or Amir as he prefers to be called. Amir (in picture) is all set to put India on the global ballet map as one of India’s first professional male dancers, who has recently earned a berth at the American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in New York City for a one-year pre-professional course.

Dancing since he was six, Amir was raised in a low-income locality in Vashi, Navi Mumbai and had been training in the hip-hop style when Israeli ballet master Yehuda Maor spotted him one day at Mumbai's Danceworx Academy . The 73-year-old ballet teacher of several top dance companies in the world offered him a place in his ballet class in Bandra.

For me it was like winning the lottery to have Amir as a student. He learnt the language very naturally and when he does variations so beautifully today, he brings tears to my eyes. He's my baby!" says Maor, in a video that he created in trying to crowdfund Amir's journey on Go Fund Me.

This year, an enthused Maor decided to aim higher. He filmed a pirouetting Amir at his studio and sent the audition tape to the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (JKO) School. Before long, the invitation arrived. Amir, who until two years ago knew absolutely nothing of ballet, has been accepted by what is a globally renowned academy, students of which have gone on to become principal dancers at some of the world's well-reputed balletcompanies. It's an amazing opportunity for Amir, the son of Jalaluddin Shah, a welder, and Jannatunisha, a homemaker, who lives in Sanpada with his parents, four brothers and two sisters.

But he wll first have to raise the total cost of his year-long stay in New York, estimated at US $29,000 or Rs 18.80 lakh, to take care of his tuition fees, residential fees, health insurance for the year, ballet attire, and other living costs. Amir has already received a generous contribution from the Yusuf and Farida Hameid Foundation that will cover tuition and residence costs at JKO and $6,551 from 120 people in 22 days.

