A GUINNESS world record breaking dance performance which wowed crowds at The Olympics is to be recreated in a Yorkshire Dales town during its arts festival at the weekend.

The Dales Festival of Arts has this year pulled out all the stops as it prepares for the global attention brought by the Tour de France's Grand Depart visiting Yorkshire in July.

The festival was only launched last year in Leyburn and in 2013 involved exhibitions by local art groups and have-a-go workshops in crafts such as candle-making and printing.

But this year’s line-up of events involves an impressive array of national acts alongside a showcase of local artistic talent.

One of the main highlights of the three day festival, which begins on Saturday, May 3 is set to be a Guinness world-record breaking dance performance which impressed crowds at the London Olympics.

The Dance we Made holds the world record for the most choreographers for a single dance, as well as being performed in London and New York and at other major events.

The main choreographer, Tim Casson, will bring the spectacle to Leyburn on Sunday, May 4 and Monday, May 5 and with help from members of the audience will perform a brand new Leyburn Dance to profile alongside the previous New York Dance, the London Dance, the Edinburgh Dance and the Glastonbury Dance.

There will be an array of other free activities involving more than 60 artists over the festival, which runs from Saturday, May 3 until Monday, May 5.

They include stories and music by actors from The Letter Room, who have performed to great acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and other festivals, puppet workshops by the Odd Doll Puppet Theatre and Mr Doom and Mrs Bloom’s Story Emporium, where stories will be told around the market place on Saturday, May 3.

The Bare Toed Dance Company will be performing an aerial dance at the festival and holding trapeze workshops for children and their families.

The three day event, held by Richmondshire District Council, ties in with the hugely-successful Dales Festival of Food and Drink, which also takes place in Leyburn on May Bank Holiday weekend.

Kate Loughlin, Business and Community Officer at Richmondshire District Council, said: “This year we are delighted to welcome a number of high profile acts to the Dales Festival of Art and am sure this will help to raise the profile of the creative industries.”

There will be free parking in the town centre and a free shuttle bus between the food and drink festival and the market place.

More information can be found at; www.artydales.org, Twitter: @artydales and on Facebook.