Six months of preparation drew to a close yesterday as students of English National Ballet School completed a final dress rehearsal at the Royal Festival Hall before the school’s 20th anniversary performance at the Southbank venue tomorrow.

It will be the first time the school has performed at the prestigious London venue, which has a seating capacity of almost 3,000. The school’s 70 students will dance excerpts from Frederick Ashton’s The Dream, Swan Lake and the classical Russian ballet, Raymonda.

A spokeswoman for the school said that the dancers, aged between 16 and 19, were “nervous but incredibly excited”. “The audience will be full of important talent scouts,” she said. “It’s a huge opportunity.”

Five of the students have already been offered places at the Royal National Ballet after their graduation from the Kensington-based school this summer. Two other students will join the Leipzig Ballet and the City Ballet in São Paulo.

“If you think about how difficult it is to get there, if you think about all the kids out playing football on a Sunday morning, being picked for the Royal National Ballet is like being picked to play for Manchester United,” the spokeswoman said. “It’s getting towards David Beckham-level.”

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