The dancers who turned out to the Victoria Theatre, Hali-fax, had only one thing on their mind – netting a place on stage in this year's Christmas show.

Around 100 children, aged between six and 12, flocked to the morning session to battle it out for a place in Jack and the Beanstalk.

In the afternoon about 40 teenage and adult performers were put through their paces to find the chorus for the panto, which runs from December 15 to January 3.

The auditions are held every year by Hamm-ond Productions, which are back at the Victoria Theatre for its 12th panto.

Juvenile co-ordinator Janette Morley, who has worked on the Halifax show for around 16 years, said this year there was a real focus on finding local people to star in the show.

"We have some really strong actors and dancers around here and we want to show them off.

"The standard has been very high, as usual, so it was hard to choose our dancers."

Sue Russell, production manager from Hammond Productions, said: "They will do every show, sometimes up to three a day, so they need to be strong dancers."

Auditions for the principal characters also took place on Friday and the theatre is expected to announce the cast next week.