TALENTED young dancers from Bridport have been selected to be showcased at a national festival next week.

Dancers from Bridport Youth Dance Company have been chosen from hundreds of entries to perform at the 2021 U.Dance National Festival.

Following a regional selection process in the spring, just 40 youth dance groups nationwide have been picked to represent their home region at the festival.

The Bridport-based dance group will form part of the programme which will involve some of the biggest names in dance, including Darcey Bussell DBE, Strictly Come Dancing's Karen Hauer, renowned choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne and former U.Dance champion Joanne Clifton.

Upon hearing of their selection, a spokesperson for the group, said: “We are delighted and excited to be selected for the U.Dance National Festival as it proves that even within a small, rural setting great things can happen.”

U.Dance is a national programme of events offering high quality dance opportunities to young people. Presented by One Dance UK, the national body for dance, the U.Dance National Festival invites groups selected from U.Dance Regional Platforms to experience a summer celebration of dance.

This year's event will take place online from Friday, July 16 to Sunday, July 18 and is open to all dancers aged 11-19, or up to 25 with a disability.

Bridport Youth Dance's short dance film 'The Dance Weavers - Emerging' will also be shown during the festival.

The Dance Weavers was filmed last July and focuses on the young dancers reconnecting with each other and with the beautiful West Dorset countryside.

Eype beach, Charmouth, Symondsbury Estate, Lewesdon and Allington Hill provide the backdrop - whilst dancers George Green, Chiara Sidebotham, Similce Jacobson, Rory Armstrong, Louis Donovan, Reuben Squirrell, Elfin Bonome and Connie Vicary perform.