Two young dancers from the IW are to perform in the English Youth Ballet (EYB) production of Swan Lake, at Portsmouth's Kings Theatre.

Nine-year-old Emma Willey, from Fusion Arts Academy, will join the cast as a cygnet, having impressed at the auditions.

Meanwhile MLD Studio and Joel Morris Dance Academy student, Poppy Arnold, 11, will dance alongside her. 

They are among around 80 young dancers, each selected for their skill and potential, who will be joined on stage by international principals.

Auditions were held in January and around 160 young people tried out.

The EYB’s version of this classic ballet is set in 1895 Imperial Russia and tells of love, rivalry, greed and murder.

The action takes place in the Mariinsky Theatre - where the Mariinsky Ballet are preparing for a production of Swan Lake - and the sumptuous Royal Palace of the Tsar. 

Two unlikely lovers meet Odette, a dancer with the Mariinsky Ballet and Prince Sergei, son to the Tsar.

The Tsar must ensure that Prince Sergei does not marry beneath his station but the tyrannical Baron Von Rothbart would do anything to secure a royal patronage for his ballet company. 

He would even manipulate his own daughter.

Kings Theatre artistic director, Jack Edwards, said: "It is an absolute pleasure to have the English Youth Ballet perform on our stage - the cream of the next generation of ballet dancers.

"It is even more rewarding knowing that we have some incredible local dancers as part of the cast.

"They are being given a well-earned opportunity to perform as part of a prestigious company and I am sure this will be invaluable to them moving forward, as well as very exciting in the moment."