WANTED! One hundred Yorkshire boys and girls aged eight to 18 are needed for roles in English Youth Ballet’s production of Coppelia in York.

Director and choreographer Janet Lewis, who formed EYB in 1998 to provide professional performance experience to young dancers, is keen for dancers and their parents to be aware of the opportunity to audition on Tuesday.

The auditions for the June production at the Grand Opera House will be held at the Cumberland Street theatre. “We’re looking for 100 young dancers to perform the corps de ballet and soloist roles in our humorous production on our return to York for the first time since 2005,” says company manger Ben Garner.

Auditions for dancers aged eight to 11 will start on the Opera House stage at 4.30pm; auditions for older dancers, aged 12 to 18, will follow from 6.45pm. Applicants will be restricted to a 60-mile radius around York.

All the dancers will take part in a 90-minute ballet class on the stage and their parents are invited to watch from the auditorium.

“The audition is just a taste of what is to come,” says Janet. “Dancing with EYB is all about performance experience.

“After a casting day, where we have them altogether for two-and-a-half hours, the successful dancers will join EYB for the Coppelia project and be treated like young professionals, doing company ballet classes at the start of each day of intensive rehearsals.”

The opportunity is unique, Janet says. “The young dancers are coached by and then will perform alongside seven international professional principal artists, and the large cast ensures that each ballet is performed with the scale and grandeur which was originally intended.”

English Youth Ballet will hire a York school for the rehearsals. “Each day we have three rehearsals all running at the same time, otherwise we couldn’t put it all together in time,” says Janet. “It will take ten days to rehearse in the main hall, gym and dance studio, with my eight staff all helping to prepare the production over the six-hour rehearsal sessions each day.

“The dancers have to learn to concentrate and attend to the details and they respond brilliantly to that requirement.”

In her performing days, Janet danced with the Royal Ballet Company and was as a soloist ballerina with the English National Ballet, where she danced with Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn.

She was awarded an MBE in 2009 for her services to young people and dance, and remains as passionate as ever about what EYB can provide.

“English Youth Ballet is almost like an extra layer, an extra dimension, from their dance school exams, taking the dancers into a more professional setting,” she says.

“All are costumes and scenery are made for West End productions, so that makes our productions look different from smaller companies, too.”

Coppelia in York will be one of eight English Youth Ballet projects this year.

Choreographed by Janet and her assistant, Dominic Marshall, Coppelia’s tale of eccentric doll maker Dr Coppelius’s attempts to bring favourite doll Coppelia to life will feature Amy Drew as Swanilda and Brenden Bratulic as Franz in performances at 7.30pm on June 7 and 2.30pm and 7.30pm on June 8. The dress rehearsal will be open to York dance schools by private invitation.

As always, Janet cannot wait to begin working with her next intake of young Yorkshire talent. “What is so amazing is seeing them starting out at the beginning of the rehearsals and then observing the fruition of all their work,” she says. “Often it is those that start tentatively that really blossom, which is lovely to watch.”

And as always, Janet retains her belief in the joy of dance. “It’s self-expression to beautiful music, certainly in ballet and on Strictly Come Dancing. The rhythm! The pulse!” she says.

Box office for Coppelia tickets: 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york

• Please note, it is advisable to pre-register for the English Youth Ballet audition to avoid queues, although it will be possible to register on the day. For more information and to register for Tuesday’s audition, phone Miss Janet Lewis on 01689 856747, email misslewis@englishyouthballet.co.uk or visit englishyouthballet.co.uk