One of the island’s biggest dance schools is hoping that they will be able to stage their grand show at the third time of trying.

The Christine Wild Dance School Rachel Wild’s Performers Studio have announced the new set of dates for their production of ’The Wizard of Oz’, which is set to take place at the Gaiety Theatre.

The new rescheduled dates will see the show open on Monday, March 29 and run for eight shows until Sunday, April 4.

The show, a large scale and ambitious production of the RSC musical version of the famous film, was an early casualty of the recent lockdown.

It was initially hoped that the show would open at the Gaiety at the end of January.

Those dates themselves had already been rescheduled from an original opening date of July 5, 2020.

This means that the 250-strong cast of dancers, aged from five years old through to dancers in their 40s, have been waiting for more than a year to bring the show to the stage.

’We actually started rehearsing last January,’ said director and musical director Rachel Wild, who is working alongside producer and choreographer Christine Wild.

’So by the time we finally manage to open it will be about 15 months after we first started to learn our steps.

’The cast have been amazing but when you think about some of the ages of some of the little kids, they have spent a fifth of their life learning this show. ’For them it’s hard, as they know their steps and they have been ready to go twice now.

’We have been rehearsing over Zoom during the lockdown for the first time,’ she added.

’It went OK, but it was difficult with the big dance numbers, as people are practicing their routines on their own in their lounges, dancing around the coffee table, or in their kitchens with stuff everywhere.

’So it has been hard. It is also tricky rehearsing the big dance numbers with lots of people as I can only see small images of each kid on the screen.

’It will feel amazing to finally get on to the stage and everyone is very excited. Hopefully we will get there this time.’

The first performance of ’The Wizard of Oz’ takes place at 7.30pm.

Tickets are available, priced between £20 and £25 for adults, with concessions from £18 available, online from villagaiety.com