Young dancers heading for the stage in London are appealing to local firms to help them look the business.

A team of street dancers from KC's School of Dance have been training every day at the Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre for a performance at the London Palladium.

About 25 dancers, aged seven to 19, will be on stage with 15 other groups from across the country in January - but they have nothing to wear.

Dancing coach Kelly Chandler, 31, said: "Nothing like this has ever been done before. We will be up with some massive dance schools and we don't want to look like we don't know what we're doing.

"This means everything to them. We don't want to go out on stage in a mish mash of outfits and not looking the part.

"It's for such a good cause. We are from a council estate and these kids are really working hard - every day of the week - so the costumes would be an extra special Christmas present."

Street Dancing is a fast-growing sport, which originated in America and takes many of its moves from body-popping and breakdancing.

The youngsters will be up against some of the best street dancers in the country, including a dance school coached by TV's Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman.

They hope to raise enough money to buy 25 costumes including red boiler suits, black tutus and leotards.

So far the leisure centre and local businesses have donated £240 which is enough to pay for the leotards.

The parents of the 25 youngsters are funding their travel and accommodation to the Streets Ahead! event and have sent letters to local businesses asking for help.

The Blackbird Leys team includes Elise Claire, 11, of Field Avenue, who came in the top 100 in the world when she represented Great Britain in the international street dancing championships in Germany in September.