Soon he is shyly joining her class, the only boy in a crowd of tutus.īilly's father equates male ballet dancers with homosexuality, but Billy doesn't seem to be gay, a fact he discovers to his sudden embarrassment during a pillow fight with his friend Debbie (Nicola Blackwell). One day, at the other end of the village hall, he sees ballet lessons being taught by a chain-smoking disciplinarian ( Julie Walters), and his eyes grow large.
Life at home is tense because his father ( Gary Lewis) and brother Tony ( Jamie Draven) are striking miners.
#Billy elliot ballet dancer movie#
To learn more about or buy tickets to Theatre Calgary’s production of Billy Elliot, running in Calgary from April 9 - May 12, please visit their website.The movie takes place in a British coal mining town, where Billy ( Jamie Bell) trudges off to boxing lessons for which he is ill-equipped.
#Billy elliot ballet dancer professional#
We are fortunate to have a school of this calibre in this province that is able to produce world-class dancers.”įor more information on professional and recreational classes at Alberta Ballet School, please visit. “I am grateful to be teaching at Alberta Ballet School. “It’s very rewarding to watch your students go on to reach their goals,” Murray said. She’s performed alongside the Alberta Ballet Company in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Our Canada. Robyn, who’s danced for 11 years, is also a member of the elite dance team, YYC Dance Project. The actor who appears as the older Billy at the end of the film, performing in the all-male version of Swan Lake, was also a Royal Ballet student trained by Murray.Īlberta Ballet School professional division student, Robyn Neumann is performing in the Theatre Calgary production of Billy Elliot as Angela, a Ballet Girl. This boy isn’t the only connection Murray has to the Billy Elliot story.
Nancy has retired, but Murray continues to train young dancers today. They returned to Canada together and became teachers with Alberta Ballet School. His wife Nancy also danced with the National Ballet of Canada and taught at the Royal Ballet. He danced with the Royal Ballet in London for 10 years and then taught at the Royal Ballet School for another nine. Murray started dancing at a young age, and danced with the National Ballet of Canada before moving to the U.K. “He had this in him and that helped to develop himself as a dancer.” “In students, you hope that you see that energy and enthusiasm because that is what is going to help drive them forward,” he said. Something that was portrayed very accurately in the film and on stage though was his overwhelming love of dance. In real life, Murray said, Billy was a twin whose brother was the boxer. In the movie, Billy’s father makes him take boxing lessons, but he secretly takes ballet instead. It was a combination of his musicality and his enthusiasm that drew you to him,” said Murray who taught the student at both the junior and senior schools of London’s Royal Ballet in the mid-80’s. “He was just a nice young lad, he was very musical, and was always very polite and always seemed to be happy. (Out of consideration for this student’s privacy, we won’t use his real name, so for the purposes of this article, we will call him Billy.) Alberta Ballet School teacher Murray Kilgour has taught hundreds of aspiring young dancers in his ballet career, but only one has had a successful theatre production and a film made about his life.Īlberta Ballet School is proud to partner with Theatre Calgary for their presentation of Billy Elliot, a heartwarming story of a young British boy who had a natural passion for dance that ran so deeply, even his instructors knew he was special from the moment they met him.
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