SIX young talents have been selected to join a national dance organisation.

The National Youth Dance Company (NYDC) has named half a dozen Sussex dancers in the most recent intake.

The six are among just 28 from across the whole country.

They are sixteen-year-olds Maia Faulker and Ethan Hurip and Florence Lennon, 17, from Brighton, as well as Mathilde Mellor, 16, from Lewes, Millie Smith-Hashim, also 16, from Saltdean and Erin Dallas, 17, from East Grinstead, are the latest Sussex contingent to join the dance company.

They join second year students Lola Evans and Esme Tothill as Sussex residents in the NYDC, which is based in London and creates “influential and innovative” dance.

The new cohort, the seventh the company has taken, will be working on a new show called Madhead, a piece designed specifically for the company.

Under guest artistic director Botis Seva, the company will launch Madhead in Ipswich on April 20.

And there will be a special homecoming for the Sussex dancers when the show comes to Brighton Dome on July 15.

Mathilde Mellor said: “I feel incredibly honoured to have this amazing opportunity and I can’t wait for what the future holds.”

Millie Smith-Hashim said: “It’s a great opportunity and I feel proud to be part of such a talented company.”

Florence Lennon said: “It’s going to be like nothing I’ve experienced before.

“I’m excited to perform a piece I’m proud of to a

range of people across the country.”