TWINKLE-toed youngsters Samantha Allen and Katie Moss have danced their way into a prestigious production with the English Youth Ballet.

And organisers revealed today that Lancashire is full of budding Billy Elliots, the fictional boy who became an unlikely dancing star.

Samantha and Katie, who are both pupils at Our Lady and St John RC High School, have landed parts in Coppellia when it comes to the Charter Theatre, in Preston, in September.

Between now and then the dancing duo face a gruelling schedule of 11 rehearsal sessions -- at around six hours a time -- two stage rehearsals and the three performances themselves.

Head of dance at their North Road school, in Blackburn, the aptly named Caroline Swan took the girls to the audition in Preston last month and said it was fantastic.

She said: "It was a big, professional audition and was quite amazing really.

"The girls had to dance on the big stage and there were so many girls there. Samantha and Katie have done really well."

The show will be directed and choreographed by Janet Lewis, a former dancer with the Royal Ballet and Bridget Hearne of the English Youth Ballet said it was a great honour to be chosen.

She said: "We do six productions around all different parts of England and advertise for children to audition. We get hundreds and it is very intensive. It certainly is prestigious to get chosen and anybody that does has done extremely well."

The girls are among less than a hundred who got chosen for the production, which plays over two night on September 28 and 29, and Bridget revealed a lot of them were boys.

She said: "We chose 16 boys which is fantastic. We hardly ever get boys to the auditions, we were in Southend previous and we only got one there. I don't know why Lancashire had so many but it is great."

Our Lady and St John has paid the £230 each required to join the production. The fee covers teachers fees, travel, costume and production costs.