A TREMENDOUS troupe from Halesowen melted the hearts of superstar judges on Simon Cowell’s latest talent show The Greatest Dancer.

Last weekend’s second episode of the new BBC series featured the JSD Minis – a group of youngsters aged 7-11 from the Halesowen-based Jordon School of Dance and Performing Arts.

Their high-kicking, high-tempo, high-quality routine astounded the judging line-up of former Girls Aloud megastar Cheryl, Broadway star Matthew Morrison and professional dancer Oti Mubase.

The girls’ set – to the tune of Tina Turner’s Rolling on the River – elicited whoops of delight from Cheryl and a standing ovation from the studio crowd at the ICC in Birmingham.

Starting their performance behind a mirrored wall, the girls needed less than a minute to get the 75 per cent of audience votes needed to raise the wall and dance in front of the judges.

Their talent bowled over The Greatest Dancer presenter and former Strictly Come Dancing winner and judge Alesha Dixon (pictured below).

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She purred to fellow presenter Ashley Banjo: “See, that’s the kind of group I would love my little girl to be in. I would love it!”

“That was incredible,” said judge and former Glee star Morrison. “That was so lovely. Thank you so much. You should be so proud of yourselves because you guys are exceptional.”

Fellow judge Cheryl added: “Honestly girls, the joy on your faces, the expressions, the arms, everything was absolutely brilliant from the start.

“There’s no insecurity, it’s naïve, pure, raw, innocent talent.”

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The show’s third judge, Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse, added: “I see myself in you guys. I started dancing when I was young.

“I loved it – you did cartwheels, you did split jumps and you kept the personality and the formation. You have me! You have all of me!”

The girls – Lola May O’Sullivan-Millichamp, Aimee Rowe, Connie Dawson, Niamh Crowley, Erin Jones, Olivia Brown, Alisha Beckford, Daisy Egerton, Arianne Marquis, Lily Hill and Connie Cleary – rushed into the crowd to hug dance teachers Joanne and Donna May afterwards.

Sisters Joanne and Donna have grown the school – which runs classes four nights a week at Leasowes High School – from six pupils when it started to a current crop of 120.

The school is no stranger to success – it has world champions in its ranks, children with West End credits to their names and has represented England for three years running at the World Cup.

Joanne said: “They are so used to performing so we were really confident they would do well but the reaction they got was something like you can only imagine.”

This weekend’s episode will feature another JSD dancer, seven-year-old Shyla-Blue Stewart, as she hopes to impress the judges with her solo routine.

Keep tuning in to see if the youngsters make it to the ‘Captain’s Picks’ stage where the three judges each pick three acts to mentor in the live challenge shows.

Jordon School of Dance and Performing Arts takes children aged from two-and-a-half to 18. Find them on Facebook or email jordonschoolofdance@hotmail.co.uk