Musicals: Broadway Show Billy Elliot

[calamitous]

One of the boys at DD's school starts rehearsing for Billy on broadway in July. DD has known him since he was about 4 when she, older sister and a neighbor would make up dancing for him to do on the front lawn. He is not new to broadway but this will obviously be his biggest part. We may have to make a fall trip to NYC to see him.

[pianolady]

My 6 year old son is a huge fan of Billy Elliot the musical. He will ask me to play the videos from youtube everyday and would try to emulate the movements done by the Billy Boys.

 

What sort of exercises my son can do to accommodate his aspiration of jumping and pirouetting like the billy elliot dance? My son is currently doing Pre Primary RAD level but it seems lacking in jumping and turning that my son want to do. Will it be OK if i let him do jumping and turning like in the video or should i restrict him in doing pre-primary exercises? Or is there suitable exercises for small boy to accommodate his aspiration?

[Mel Johnson]

Let him play. While it's a good thing to start with pre-primary ballet, he can find things to do for himself that will help him now far better than having to systematize at 6 years old! A lot of the choreography for Billy is adapted free play, so it almost seems like a natural vocabulary.