After six years of tap dance training and nine months performing with the Glee-like musical theatre group ShowStoppers, Aldergrove teen Patrick Arnott is more confident than ever on stage.

"If you're going to go up there and possibly make a big fool of yourself, be a huge fool, make it big, don't look like you don't know what you're doing," said Arnott at the Young At Arts dance studio in Langley ahead of seven hours of voice and dance training. "Be confident, even if you're confident in making mistakes."

Confidence exudes from Arnott as he speaks of his favourite ShowStoppers song, Sir Duke and his "coolest" performance, I Am Aldolpho.

Last September, Arnott transferred from Aldergrove Community Secondary School to Langley Fine Arts, majoring in dance. About that time, he was asked to join Vancouver-based singers and dancers, ShowStoppers, led by director Perry Ehrlich. It allowed him to grow as a performer, he said.

"You're always adapting, you're always changing things around, so it really keeps you on your toes," Arnott said. "I think it's just being able to get out there and perform for so many different kinds of crowds... It's really cool, because you never know who you're going to be performing for."

About 26 youth, ranging in age from 15 to early 20s, rehearse two hours every Sunday night, and perform everywhere from the Cloverdale Rodeo to the Vancouver Convention Centre.

When Arnott isn't learning new choreography for ShowStoppers, he's developing his skills: "I'm definitely working on my dance, because I don't believe I have enough dance to get where I want yet, but I'm certainly working toward it" Arnott said, "and then I have my voice coach, who will come to the studio and I'll get lessons from her, and then the acting I just get from electives at school."

While Arnott sees room for growth, he believes in his skills as a performer, and is passionate about achieving his goals.

"I would like to say my strength is more on the actual performance," Arnott said. "I do well with a song where I can give it some sort of character."

"My life goal is to go to New York [City] and be on Broadway," he said.

Meanwhile, Arnott said he works hard for good grades in school, to be eligible for scholarships at musical theatre schools like Toronto's Sheridan College or the Oklahoma City University when he finishes high school.

Arnott's passion for the performing arts began around age 9, when he attended his older sister's dance competition and watched a young man perform a tap dance solo.

"I thought that was really cool that a guy could do that, so I started dancing here [at Young At Arts]," Arnott said. From there he began singing as well, and auditioned for a local pantomime with the Fraser Valley Gilbert and Sullivan Society.

Since then, Arnott has drawn inspiration from the television show Glee, because it has brought musical theatre much more into the mainstream, but he is also inspired by some great entertainers of the past.

"My main inspiration, to be honest, is Gene Kelly," Arnott said. "Just people who would be in these movies, like Singing In The Rain, and they'd just go up there and sing and dance, and it was just such a cool idea that you could do that in so many different ways."

Up next for Arnott is a busy summer at Ehrlich's Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! camp in Vancouver, which involves two three-week sessions culminating in a big end-of-summer show. And in the fall, Arnott said, he will "definitely" be returning for another season of performing with ShowStoppers.