The dancing talents of schoolgirl Sophie Towers have won her a scholarship at a prestigious ballet school. She spoke to JENNY SCOTT

SOPHIE Towers will always remember the first time she went to see the Royal Ballet perform in London.

Not only was she enthralled by the dancing, but she also managed to accomplish a spectacular move of her own in the interval, tripping down the steep flight of stairs in the "gods" and being caught at the bottom by her ballet teacher.

Usually, however, Sophie is much more graceful on her feet, to the extent that she has become one of a handful of students to win a scholarship to the Northern Ballet School in Manchester at the age of just 15.

"I feel really excited and happy," enthused Sophie from her home at Moorhouse, near Samlesbury Airfield, in Blackburn.

"I've always wanted to dance, even at school. I didn't like school very much -- my teachers used to say to me, 'You'll need to know all this', but I didn't always agree!'"

Having spent the past two years precariously balancing the demands of her GCSEs with her exacting dance schedule, you can forgive Sophie her relief at finding she can, at long last, concentrate on her first love -- ballet.

She will live in Manchester for the duration of her three-year course at the Northern Ballet School, after which she hopes to audition for either the Northern Ballet company or the American Ballet Theatre.

"In the first year at ballet school they teach you a range of things, like singing, classical ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap and theatre skills," explained Sophie.

"In second year you split into classes and study either jazz or classical and then in the third year you focus on pas de deux work with the boys.

"I hope to move into classical ballet and I'm looking forward to being able to focus on what I love doing. I won't have to divide my time between ballet and school work."

This particular conflict has dogged Sophie throughout her recent exams and she has had to prove herself more nimble-footed than usual by rushing straight out of Walshaw High in Burnley along to the East Lancashire School of Dancing most weeknights, even fitting in Saturday classes from the Northern Ballet Theatre in Leeds.

"It was hard to fit in all the work for my GCSEs," said Sophie. "I was sometimes dancing until 9.30 at night. One of my GCSEs was art, which had loads of coursework and a 10 hour exam at the end. But somehow I managed to get everything done."

Aside from her exams, Sophie has faced a testing time on the audition front, having won places at the Rambert School and the Hammond School in London.

However, with the cost of such courses reaching up to £20,000, compounded with the difficulties of moving to London at such a young age, Sophie decided to think again and instead set her heart on getting through the Northern Ballet School auditions. She turned up on Northern Ballet's doorstep on January and found herself in a class of 20 other hopefuls, with hundreds of others having already trooped through the school's audition process.

Sophie said: "We had to do a jazz routine and a ballet class, which involved bar work, exercises and jumps.

"We were watched by the school principal, the ballet teacher, a physio and a jazz teacher. Some of them wandered round the room and asked to see plies and turn outs.

"I wasn't nervous, though. Ever since I was little and I used to go on stage, I've never got nervous. If you get nervous you just end up messing things up."

Sophie's lack of nerves may also have been founded on a justifiable confidence in her ability.

The hundreds of medals and trophies displayed around her house testify to her talent, as do her performances in several prestigious productions and even an appearance on Blue Peter.

Sophie said: "I won the Gradison Clarke National Dance competition in London when I was about 11 and got to perform on Blue Peter and meet the presenters.

"I've also danced in a National Youth Ballet production of Cinderella in London and my mum and dad came down to see me in that. Jennifer Ellison, from Brookside, was Cinderella. She was really good."

Dancing is obviously a talent that runs in the family, with Sophie's mum having been a dancer and her grandmother been a professional ice-skater.

Sophie took her first class at the age of four and has grown up with a love of dance, reflected in her avid reading of ballet books and her love of the film Centre Stage. Although she loves classical ballet, she likes to see it performed with an imaginative, modern twist.

"Last week I was in an East Lancashire Ballet School production called Inspirations at Burnley Mechanics.

"Five of us performed a computer chatroom ballet, which used lots of strobe lights. It was really good.

"I like the way that classical ballet is moving into modern. It's more interesting for people to watch and, because it's got a storyline, you get people coming to watch who otherwise wouldn't."

With such experience to set her in good stead, Sophie is looking forward to taking up her place in Manchester and even to facing the traumas of living in student accommodation.

"I can't cook, though," she laughs. "I'll probably end up living on cheese toasties!"