TWO young dancers from Lydney have been accepted into two of the foremost ballet and dance schools in the country.

Charles Heaman, 10, has been accepted into the prestigious Royal Ballet School's associate programme which aims to nurture young and talented students.

Meanwhile, Bryony Mortimer, 9, has been accepted at Elmhurst which offers the highest standard of dance training.

It is a double triumph for Lisa Rafferty who runs the Allsteps Dance Academy in the heart of Lydney.

"To be accepted shows that they both show huge potential and talent for the future. They've got real promise."

Charles and Bryony, both pupils at Primrose Hill School, follow in the footsteps of other notable successes from Allsteps.

"It can be quite hard being a quite a small regional dance school," says Lisa. "But we're really doing extraordinarily well. Former pupil, Gareth Haw, presently attends the Royal Ballet Lower School at White Lodge while Edward Reeks and and Rebecca Haw have attended at Elmhurst."

• To find out more about Allsteps Dance Academy, go to http://www.allsteps.co.uk">www.allsteps.co.uk or telephone 01594 810849.