By chance, one family in the UK found themselves in a whole new world. The parents said that they hadn’t previously considered ballet for their oldest son, Oscar, when he was invited to audition for the Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) at the age of 6. They now have three sons who are active dancers, and Oscar continued being awarded scholarships to further his ballet education.
A letter accompanied the boy home from school after being selected by a scout for the BRB. As part of an outreach program, the ballet company actively recruits students who may have not have otherwise exposure or opportunity to dance classes. Equal numbers of boys and girls are selected to audition and 80 are offered free weekly lessons taught by their staff.
In addition to ballet, the boys are competitive BMX racers. Their father told the Independent that dancing helps them to be better athletes overall “…you can see that their ballet helps them in terms of their balance, strength and stamina”
Photo credit and Original Story From the Independent: Our band of Billy Elliots: Why our boys do ballet
