FOUR students had the opportunity of a lifetime when they got the chance to dance on stage with Katy Perry and Bob Marley’s grandson at the Brit Awards.

Kieran Papworth, Ty-Reece Stewart, Curtis Holder and Jake Page, who all attend South Essex College, dance to Katy’s track Chained to the Rhythm with Skip Marley, in front of an enormous audience of A-list celebrities during a performance which was broadcast on national television.

The dancers, who are all part of the college’s Dimensions Dance Company and are studying the Level 3 Performing Arts (Dance) course at the Southend campus, donned huge house costumes for the performance.

Ty-Reece, 16, said: “All four of us got an email from our tutor saying she had a brilliant opportunity for us to dance at the Brit Awards with Katy Perry and we all accepted.

“We had a rehearsal where we met the director and the choreographer and found out what we would be doing, then the day before the performance we started learning the choreography.

“It was really surreal as we are just normal college dancers who have aspirations of being professional dancers - and we were able to be professional dancers for the day. It felt really weird - but in a good way. I come from a performing arts background and have been on a lot of stages, but there was no comparison to that one - it was just huge.

Ty-Reece, from Chelmsford, added: “It lived up to my expectations and was absolutely amazing.”

Kieran, 18, from Eastwood, said: “We had to dance with the miniature house props which were quite heavy. Katy Perry was very nice and we all loved Skip Marley.

“We got to meet loads of celebrities like Ed Sheeran. We shook hands with Dermot O’Leary, he was so polite and friendly.”

Jake, 16, from Basildon, said: “We were a bit shocked when they told us what we would have to do in the boxes but once we got into them and rehearsed it was better. We got to have a rehearsal with Katy Perry; she was very nice and kind.

“She realised dancing in the house costumes was tiring so would give us a break before we had to get back into the boxes. Hearing the crowd cheering was the most exciting part.

“In the future we would all like to dance for big artists on sell-out tours or some of us even have ambitions of being the artist.

“Opportunities like this are really important, they let us put skills into practice in an industry environment.”

“The whole process showed us how rehearsals work and gave us an understanding of industry expectations.”

Curtis, 16, from Upminster, added: “We got to watch the show from behind the scenes. Bruno Mars was insane! Being a part of Dimensions has taught us everything we need to know to succeed in this industry.”