Two ballerinas from Ilkley, who have been learning to dance since the age of three, are to perform in Paris.

Daisy Gomersall and Emma Birch will make a guest appearance at Disneyland Paris and other venues in the capital as part of the award-winning Northern Lights theatre group.

The pair have attended Ilkley Dance Centre for 15 years and have passed all their exams with distinction. They both hope to go to university in September, Emma, who has studied modern, tap, jazz and folk dancing as well as ballet, said she didn’t realise how important dance was to her until the age of 11.

She said: “It is a massive part of my life and I just couldn’t imagine for a second not dancing. I never danced just so I could reach a high standard – for me dancing is a way of escaping from everything.”

Daisy, who has danced in London and Bradford and venues across Europe, said: “Although I am not planning to become a dancer, I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given to develop my skills in a wide range of styles and I am dreading the day when I will have to stop.”

Amy Addison, of Ilkley Dance Centre, said all 35 children in the school who had taken exams had passed with distinction, with one five-year-old gaining 92 per cent.

She said: “We are thrilled to bits with the children’s recent outstanding successes, and with older students too, with three of them gaining their Intermediate which is a professional level usually taken by full time students at vocational colleges.”