City performance for young ballet star from Bedford

Kate Emerson, 12, a pupil at Bedford Girls School who lives in Husborne Crawley, has been selected by English Youth Ballet (EYB) and is in rehearsals for a professional production of Swan Lake for performances in August at the New Wimbledon Theatre, to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

The ballet will star international principal dancers, Philipp Bolloev, Samantha Camejo, Clair Corruble, Oliver Speers, Monica Tapiador, Philip Tunstall, Steven Wheeler and Trevor Wood.

All the soloist and corps de ballet roles in the production will be performed by 100 of the finest dancers, aged 8 to 18, from London and South East England, including Kate.

EYB held auditions for the ballet at the New Wimbledon Theatre in February when almost 300 young hopeful dancers turned up. The lucky dancers heard they had been accepted on the day.

Monica Tapiador is one of EYB’s principal dancers and she is coaching the young dancers as they have just 10 days of rehearsals for the production

She said: “The young dancers are treated like professional dancers during rehearsals – we work them hard but the results are fantastic! They learn what the life of a professional dancer is like. They are living their dream and they just love it.”

Performances of Swan Lake will be given on Friday, August 24 at 7.30pm and Saturday, August 25 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.atgtickets.com/wimbledon or by calling 0844 871 7646.