A DUO who have been dance partners for a decade will perform alongside Strictly Come Dancing stars at the Royal Albert Hall.

Courtney George, from Shepley, and Connor McLeod, from Skelmanthorpe, will take to the floor at next month’s Dance Proms.

Courtney, 17, and Connor, 18, set themselves apart from hundreds of dance acts who auditioned for a place to perform at the London festival, with their modern dance performance of Just the Way You Are by pop star Bruno Mars.

The teenagers are pupils at the Georgie School of Theatre Arts, in Shelley, and have been dancing together for 10 years.

Courtney is doing her A-Levels at Shelley College and Connor, who was also a pupil at Shelley, now studies at a dance school in London.

A coach-load of friends from school will be heading down to London on November 13 to cheer them on.

The pair will be realising their dream of performing at the Royal Albert Hall – and are excited about performing alongside Strictly Come Dancing celebrities Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova.

Courtney’s mum Donna, who runs the Georgie School of Theatre Arts, said: “They have become really good friends through their dancing and have been dancing together for 10 years now. The first time they danced together they did a funny comedy-type dance which was really cute.

“Connor has just left for London so they have basically hung up their caps as dance partners so this is nice that they will be dancing together again.

“It will be like their final dance together – their swan dance.

“They both want to dance as a profession and both want to perform in the West End.”

The Dance Proms were launched in February 2011 to find the UK’s most talented dance students in all dance genres – from ballet to ballroom, salsa to street dance and jive to jazz dance.

The 24 dance acts – involving over 450 dancers – were selected to perform from over 300 entries.

Donna, a mother of two added: “Georgie School of Theatre Arts is thrilled to be taking part in Dance Proms and very proud of our staff and students for all their hard work in making this possible. We do hope the public enjoys the performance.”

The event, on Sunday, November 13, is open to the public and tickets are on sale through the Royal Albert Hall Box Office and website www.royalalberthall.com