COMEDY veteran Ronnie Corbett will star in an evening of song and dance in aid of the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars at the Grand Opera House, York, on July 26.

Marguerite Porter, a former Royal Ballet principal ballerina, has assembled a 7.30pm bill that will combine a new generation of stars from the Royal Ballet with Corbett and fellow guest performers Sir Derek Jacobi, Wayne Sleep, Samantha Bond, The Ballet Boys and Martin Harvey.

Students from the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School, where Marguerite teaches, also will perform in the show directed by singer Richard Clifford.

Marguerite has twice before presented a gala at the Grand Opera House. In July 2005, Simon Callow, Bonnie Langford, Antone du Beke, Jason Connery and Anita Harris were among the guest performers; in July 2007, Sir Derek, Sleep and Bond took part alongside Sir Anthony Dowell and Nicky Henson.

“I’m passionate about giving underprivileged children who have talent a chance to fulfil their ambition,” says Marguerite, as she assembles her fund-raising troupers for a third time.

Born in Doncaster, she travelled twice a week to attend ballet classes before being offered a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School at the age of 15. She arrived in London with a broad Yorkshire accent and bottom of the class but, by the end of the year, she was promoted to the graduate class taught by the school’s founder, the great Dame Ninette De Valois. A year later she joined the Royal Ballet.

Tickets for the Summer Gala Evening cost £15 to £37.50 on 0844 847 2322 or online at grandoperahouseyork.org.uk