BALLET prodigy Charlotte Andrews from Lacock will realise a dream this weekend when she takes part in her first professional ballet production.

Charlotte, 10, will play one of the four cygnets in the performance of Swan Lake by the English Youth Ballet at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury on Friday evening before two performances on Saturday.

Charlotte, who attends Lacock Primary School, has been dancing since she was four and recently been accepted to Tring Park School of Performing Arts in Hertfordshire in September following a successful audition and academic exam.

From September she will be boarding at the specialist performing arts school, splitting her time between academic studies and dance.

Her mother, Clare Boldon, said: “It’s her first professional ballet performance so it will stand her in good stead for her new school.

“She was delighted when she found out; it’s all she has wanted to do since she was 4. She’s been living this dream for so long.

“I’m so excited to see her perform, I am very nervous about September but I know it’s what she wants.

“She’s happy to give up parties in preference for dancing; she will always choose that over anything else. I don’t know where she has got it from because I’ve never danced in my life.”

Charlotte completed two auditions to earn her part in famous ballet with the EYB, standing on stage with over 100 dancers before being invited to return for casting and earning the cygnet role she desperately wanted.

She trains six days a week at the Dance Academy in Chippenham, who encouraged her to audition for the role in Swan Lake, and has completed 10 days of intensive six-hour rehearsals at the Aylesbury Vale Academy in Buckinghamshire alongside 105 other young dancers aged eight to 18.

During rehearsals, the EYB took over three of the biggest rooms in the school to run practice sessions simultaneously. At the end of each day the whole cast comes together in the largest space to share what had been learnt that day.

Director and founder of the EYB, Janet Lewis, said: “English Youth Ballet is all about providing extra performance experience to young dancers. We saw a very pleasing standard at the audition and it was lovely to see lots of enthusiasm.”