A dance school which provides low-cost tuition for children in inner-city areas will fold if the Priestley Centre closes.

The JW School of Dance is now offering the troubled theatre help with a business plan to try to secure its future.

Members of the school, pictured, use the Priestley for productions, and director Josie Flavius said there was nowhere else it could afford.

"If the Priestley closes we are finished," she said. "We've been using it for 18 months and it's the only place big enough for our productions which we can afford.

"It would cost us a fortune to hire other places in Bradford, and we have to be in the city centre to be accessible for the children.

"The Priestley charges us £960 to put on a show - for that price we get the theatre and its facilities for a week. But they said our summer show would cost nearly £2,000 - that's a big leap. It's not the Priestley's fault, they need the money. They let groups like us use it at low cost because they care about the community. It's more than just a theatre - it's a community centre."

Josie started as a mum teaching dance to a few youngsters. Now she has learned vital business skills and has managed to persuade several Bradford companies to donate cash and equipment to her school. She is using her expertise to try to save the Priestley.

"It needs a business plan, it needs skills for things like making complicated grant applications. I can help with that. I'm determined this theatre will not close!"

The JW School is based in Little Germany's Design Exchange - a stone's throw from the Priestley. Josie's office is full of brightly coloured costumes she is busy making for the group's Christmas show, Best of the Best - celebrating its third anniversary. If the Priestley is forced to close by the end of October, the curtain will fall on the production.

"The Priestley is a home from home," said Josie. "Everyone helps us out, it's a real family atmosphere. I'm so upset that it could close. It shocks me that such a valuable part of Bradford's history - a vital community asset - can be allowed to slip away. I dread seeing the children's faces if I have to tell them the Priestley is closing."

Josie, a PE teacher and fitness instructor, set up the dance school three years ago after her daughter was in a production which only featured three black children.

"They were all shoved at the back and I was appalled. I decided to set up my own group. It started off with a handful of kids, now there are nearly 50, aged eight to 16."

The school provides singing and dance training for children, many of whom are from low income families.

"Performing arts works wonders for their confidence and motivation. These are kids from multicultural backgrounds who are being given opportunities they wouldn't normally have. Their parents say they live for this - but if the Priestley goes we go. Where does that leave these children?"