Contract zaps tots’ ‘Potter’ project

There’ll be no wave of the magic Harry Potter wand for the 3-year-old students of a ballet school in southern England.

Choreographer Valerie Le Serve said Monday that she was forced to change a 10-minute segment based on the adventures of the boy wizard after author J.K. Rowling’s agent pointed out a contract with movie giant Warner Bros. that bans rival productions.

Le Serve said she wrote to Rowling’s London-based agent, Christopher Little, as a courtesy and was surprised to receive a letter banning her from going ahead with the amateur event in Worthing, West Sussex.

Warner Bros., which produces the hit “Harry Potter” movies based on the books, has rights over any live theatrical or musical production until 2007.

“Sadly the position is that contractually we are precluded from granting the type of rights requested by the Worthing dance school unless Warner Bros. relent and waive their rights,” said Neil Blair, a spokesman for Little. “It is simply not possible for us to pick and choose however worthy the cause, which in this particular case was clearly most worthy.”

Le Serve’s production was scheduled as part of a variety show in November to raise money for London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for children.

Le Serve said she was flattered to be considered such a threat and agreed to adapt the costumes of black cats, owls and wand-carrying street traders to another story line.