RISING ballet star Harriet Sanderson has danced her way into a part in a top London show.

The ten-year-old from Basingstoke beat off hundreds of other budding dancers to win a part in the West End show Billy Elliot.

Harriet, a pupil at Hatch Warren Junior School, will play one of ten would-be ballet dancers who have lessons alongside the show’s young star.

For the series of auditions in London, Harriet had to perform a set routine in front of a panel of judges.

Only 30 places were available in the show for the 300 young girls who auditioned.

The successful girls will be split into groups of ten, each performing in the show on two days each week.

Delighted mum Jane Sanderson, of Neville Close, said: “We are very proud. Harriet worked really hard for the auditions – she loves dancing and is very good at it. She is very excited about getting a part in the show.

“She is rehearsing for eight weeks from April, and then she will be performing in two shows a week, so she will have to have some time off school.”

Harriet, a member of the Basingstoke Academy of Dancing, will be performing in Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London on two days of every week, from June until November.