SHE'S been dancing since she was a tiny tot in her Hedge End home.

Now a professional ballerina, Kate Lyons returns to her home town next week to perform on the Mayflower stage in Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty.

"I've always danced for as long as I can remember," says Kate, who trained at Emjay School of Dance in Swaythling.

"When I was tiny, I would perform to the British Airways advert in my Mum's living room!

"I'd borrow my Mum's George Michael records, shut myself away and just dance, dance, dance!"

Former Kings Copse and King Edwards pupil Kate, now aged 31, trained at the Central School of Ballet in London and has performed across the world, including stints on Broadway, in Australia and in Germany. But she's never performed professionally in her home town.

"I left Southampton 15 years ago to go to ballet school. It's going to be amazing to come back and finally perform in my home town! I'm so excited. It's will be great to see family and friends and everyone from my old ballet school in the audience."

Audiences are in for a treat from the show, a gothic romance and new classic, which tells the tale of Sleeping Beauty's reawakening from a 100 year slumber with new twists.

Kate continues: "As with all of Matthew's shows, it's all about the storytelling. It's dramatic, it's romantic. There's quite a strong gothic element to it, which everyone seems to love.

"It's very different to the original ballet, there's a lot more to it story wise. I love it, it's such a great show.

"I love working for Matt. We get to experiment a bit more and there's acting, drama and storytelling. It's not just all standing around in a line!"

Kate plays the role of two of the fairy godparents Ardor/Hiberna and understudies the lead role of Aurora in the show.

She joined the company New Adventures in 2010 and has performed in Cinderella, Nutcracker and Swan Lake, among others.

Sleeping Beauty runs from Tuesday to Saturday.

Tickets: 023 8071 1811 or mayflower.org.uk