By Anna Burdett

Last updated at 12:58, Monday, 17 September 2012

With eyes shining and smiles wide, youngsters from Carlisle and beyond hoped to find a little magic during auditions for the Christmas panto.

The auditions at The Sands

More than 150 hopefuls showed off their dance moves at The Sands Centre on Sunday in front of director Guy Pascall from Chartered Entertainment, the company behind the production of Aladdin.

He was looking for 24 children aged eight to 14 to perform in the dancing chorus on stage. Three teams of eight children will start rehearsals in November and appear in several productions each.

Mr Pascall said: “There is a lot of dance and we’re looking for jazz technique and there’s maybe some ballet in there with the princess.

“We’re looking for all-round dance ability. We had a great response and I’m very confident we’ll find what we need.

“The standard has been fantastically high.”

There will be more auditions for the production next month as the search begins for a young adult from the area to play the princess.

Most of the youngsters waiting to audition at the weekend were calm and confident, although nerves started to show as their turn approached.

“Some of the children are nervy,” added Mr Pascall. “Which is why we decided hold workshops instead of ‘X-Factor-style’ auditions.

“A lot of the dancers I saw were natural performers. Most had dance experience but there were some who had none and wanted to have a try.

“Hopefully the auditions will have inspired them to take up dancing.”

The lucky few to be selected will play alongside Lloyd Warbey, from Disney’s Art Attack, as Aladdin, Chris Stanton, from CBBC, who will be Abanazar, and CFM’s Robbie Dee as Widow Twankey.

Alice Bingham, 13, from Morton, was among those auditioning. She has no formal training as a dancer but discovered a love for it when she appeared in a school musical.

She said: “I love singing and drama and I want to do dancing in the future. I’m a bit nervous but I’ve managed to stay quite calm.”

Her friend Alex Baugh, from Dalston, attends a dance school and has performed at The Sands Centre before.

She said: “It’s a wonderful opportunity and it will involve a lot of hard work. I’d love to get in because I love dancing.”

Aladdin runs from December 14 to 31 with matinee and evening performances.

First published at 11:26, Monday, 17 September 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk