AS Billy Elliot hits the West End this month, France's real-life Billy Elliot comes Wycombe Swan.

Mourad Merzouki, the artistic director for Compagnie Kafig, is bringing his current UK tour, Corps est Graphique, to the town.

But rather than pirouetting across the stage in points, the show sees Mourad's dancers combine hip-hop with stylised French, North African and Andalucian choreography.

"I think it's good when hip-hop meets other styles because it's good for evolution," says Mourad with an accent as strong as Gauloises cigarettes.

The 32-year-old is an expert in the urban dance style of hip-hop and has been dancing since he was just seven years old.

"I learned how to dance on the street," says Mourad, "because back then you had to as no schools taught that type of dance."

But, just like the way in which Billy Elliot's father first objected to his son's dancing, Mourad's parents were none too pleased when they first learned about his passion for movement.

"At first I did not tell them about my dancing," says Mourad.

"They wanted me to get a proper' job, but I would think about my dance more than my lessons at school. Many dancers have the same problem with their parents."

Mourad grew up in a suburb near the French town of Lyon, and from a young age he developed an interest in physical movement and the visual images that dance creates.

"I particularly like break dancing because it's a very visual dance," he says.

His show, Corps est Graphique combining the two elements of vision and movement, sees his eight dancers dress up in all manner of costumes, dancing amid vivid video projections and props.

"Choreography is not just about working with the dancers. It's about working with all of the other mediums you can use on stage," he admits.

But it has taken decades of determination for Mourad to get this far.

Despite objections from his family, he learned martial arts and acrobatics as a boy before becoming fascinated with hip-hop as a teenager.

Since then, Mourad's determination has seen him make a career out of his passion, setting up Kafig in the mid 1990s.

"I am very happy because when we dance in a country for the first time we do not know the audience but I think the UK audience likes it very much because after the show we speak to people from the audience and they tell me so."

Mourad is pleased that schools are accepting dance as part of the curriculum.

"It means that we have more respect for our bodies. We are more aware of what our bodies can do and how important it is to keep fit and have a healthy diet," he says.

And with his shows hitting the headlines across the globe, even his parents admit that bringing dance to the world is a proper job.' "Now they can read about what I'm doing in the newspapers and they think: ok it's a job.'"

Corps est Graphique comes to Wycombe Swan on May 27 and 28 at 7.30pm. Tickets: 01494 512000