IT HAS been one of the surprise TV hits of the summer.

Ballroom dancing may not seem the coolest way of catching Saturday night viewers, but add a generous helping of TV celebs, a panel of not always kind judges and a chance for audiences to vote for their favourites and you can turn out a show that will hook millions.

That certainly happened when BBC Breakfast's Natasha Kaplinksy and her Kiwi dance partner Brendan Cole were crowned winners of the Strictly Come Dancing series which has had millions glued to their sets over the last six weekends.

News that the BBC is already planning a second series should prove that as well as raising money for Sports Relief, the show reawakened interest in getting out there on the dance floor.

A group of young Colne Valley dancers don't need encouraging. They are already wound up with excitement at moving out of the dance studio and into the spotlight.

This week, eight youngsters from Danielle Lockwood's dancing school in Slaithwaite will be on stage at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in a show called, Ballroom.

They've been recruited to appear in six performances of this new piece by John Retallack, a familiar name to LBT regulars from visits with his previous company, Oxford Stage Company.

While it doesn't have the glamour of Strictly Come Dancing, his show, Ballroom has the power of a series of very human stories.

John was inspired to write Ballroom by the stories of a lively group of tea-dancers at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea. He has set the show in a half empty dance hall where a quartet of characters take their first steps towards a new phase in their lives. When they arrive, they know no-one. Two hours later, they have tangoed, waltzed and cha cha cha'd their way through their past and into the future.

And so have their audiences. Expect humour, a few tears, some up-tempo dance sequences and the sound of a big band.

For the children from Danielle's dance classes, it's also proving a big adventure. Danielle started learning to dance when she was 11 at Charles Frost's school in Huddersfield. Now, 18 years on, she's living in Cowlersley and running her own dance classes at the Conservative Club in Slaithwaite. That's when she's not working at her day job at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

So far, her dance lessons are for youngsters (Saturdays) and for team formation (Thursdays) but she hopes to provide classes for adults soon. The group appearing at the LBT this week are aged from five to 14 and with half a dozen performances plus a clutch of technical and dress rehearsals, they are in for a busy time.

See John Retallack's Ballroom sparkle at the LBT this week. Performances begin tomorrow and run all week, evenings at 7.30pm and with a matinee on Saturday (2pm).

Box office on 01484 430528.