The finale of a brand new BBC entertainment show will be filmed in York later this week.
As many as 500 dancers from across the region will descend on the city to be a part of a spectacular, seven-minute choreographed dance routine.
It will mark the culmination of a new series with the working title Yorkshire Pride.
Made by Twenty Twenty Productions Ltd, part of the Warner Bros Television Production company, it is due to be screened on BBC2.
The show is presented by Steve Elias, an actor and choreographer known to younger audiences as toyshop owner Mr Whoops in CBeebies show Grandpa In My Pocket.
The team have already filmed in Huddersfield, Barnsley and Skipton before the show comes to York this week.
A spokesman for the production company said:
Yorkshire has a unique identity and heritage and has been at the heart of the great changes in the industrial and cultural demographics that have shaped modern Britain.
This new series is looking to pay tribute to, and bring together, whole communities in towns across England’s largest county.
The series is fronted by new presenter, Steve Elias, whose ambition is to work with the communities and uncover what makes them unique.
He’ll use what he’s learned to help them create a one-off spectacle that unites Yorkshire’s residents and showcases their towns and the county to the viewing public.
Road closures
The York dance finale will be filmed on Sunday (August 21).
Producers aim to film the dancing in one shot, and will need three or four takes to capture what they need.
To prepare there will be technical rehearsals on Tuesday (August 16).
This will see the following road closures on both Tuesday from 6pm-10pm and Sunday from 7am to 12.30pm.
- High Petergate
- Duncombe Place
- St Helen’s Square (pedestrianised anyway but part of the performing route)
- Lendal
- Museum Street (this will not be permanently closed – vehicles will be managed on a stop and start basis)
Fantastic privilege
Some people who know all about the Yorkshire Pride show are the team who run En Pointe Classical Dance School.
The producers were first filming at the school, based in Rose Avenue, York, back in July. And they returned there on Saturday (August 13).
Principal of En Pointe Donya Keys said:
It is a fantastic privilege to be part of something like a national TV documentary.
No date is scheduled for the broadcast of the show as yet.