Dance duo tiptoe their way to stage success (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Dance duo tiptoe their way to stage success

11:10am Friday 2nd February 2007

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Two young starlets have pirouetted their way to the West End, with a little help from their mums.

The two 11 year olds, Rosie Knox and Gabriela Gregorian, had their dreams come true after being selected to perform in the hit musical Billy Elliot at London's Victoria Palace.

The girls, who have danced since they were toddlers, took part in a gruelling two-hour audition before being told they had been selected and were on the first steps to a glittering career as ballerinas.

Billy Elliot was a huge hit at movie box offices after being adapted from Melvin Burgess' book and theatre bosses have leapt on to the bandwagon.

The show opened in the West End in March two years ago to extraordinary critical acclaim and the show has won honours including Best Musical at the Olivier Awards.

Billy Elliot tells the story of a young lad who wants to dance, growing up in a tough northern town where men box and work in the mines.

Dancing is for girls and boys don't dream of attending the Royal Ballet School. But Billy fights for the right to jetée, even though he knows his coal-miner dad would not approve.

Rosie and Gaby alternate in the role of Keeley Gibson, one of the girls in Billy's secret dance classes, and perform in two to three shows a week. The dancing duo were put forward for the role by their teacher at the Landon Jennings Dance Studio in Brentford after receiving a call asking for children of a certain height and dance standard.

After that, it was down to Rosie from Isleworth and Gaby from Brentford to impress the judges against 40 other hopefuls.

Their years of training and persistence obviously paid off, and now they're performing in one of the best shows in London.

Both mums were over the moon when their daughters were picked and Gaby's mother Amanda praised their commitment as "fantastic". They spend hours rehearsing and travelling to and from the theatre and they have to give up a lot of things to be able to do the show.

Gaby from Little Ealing school added: "We did seven weeks of rehearsals together, including Saturdays. It's much better than going to school, although we still have to do all our homework too."

Even the late nights, long hours and extra homework hasn't dampened their spirits.

If anything, the taste of stardom has given Rosie and Gaby the ambition to turn their hobby into a career. Gaby said: "We'd love to be on the stage in the future. We're going to apply to various dance colleges and hopefully get a scholarship."

Rosie's mother Sandra was thrilled for the girls. She said: "They had a lot of knockbacks but finally got their break. We're ballet mums and we love it. It's really great socially too. Their pay may not be great, but the experience is priceless. Rosie can't believe she actually gets paid for doing a job she loves."

But is being on stage their dream?

A simultaneous and emphatic "yes" from both girls was the answer, with their mums nodding approvingly.

The girls contract is up at the end of May but they would love to carry on till the end of the year, even though the rules are quite strict. Sandra said: "We have to agree that we won't let the girls do any dangerous activities like horse riding or ice skating just in case they get injured."

Rosie, who attends the Blue School in Isleworth, would love to do the show for at least a year but it does restrict what they can do as a family because they're constantly on call: "We have to sign a contract saying that we'll always be within an hours drive of the theatre, just in case someone is ill we have to step in, which makes holidays quite difficult."

For such young girls, they seem to have their feet firmly on the ground, apart from when they're dancing, but had no hesitation taking up the demanding role.

According to Gaby it was a very "simple decision" and Rosie added: "It's a one-in-a-million chance that we might not get again.""

"We'll find out in February if the theatre want the girls to do it for another six months.

"We'd support them if they do, but it's good to try other things too. Plus they've got to think about senior school in September," added Sandra.

Any aspiring dancers who want to follow in Rosie and Gaby's tiptoe steps will have to put in the hard work, says Amanda. "We don't get home until about 11pm so they can get quite grumpy in the morning, especially Gabriela. It can be quite hard for them getting to sleep because they come back from performing in front of 1,500 people and they're still buzzing."

It's now seven years since Billy Elliott came out on cinema screens, but has it encouraged boys to take up the noble discipline of ballet?

Not according to Gaby: "No, I'm afraid most of the boys in our school wouldn't do ballet - it's simply just too girly for them."

You can see the girls performing between 5pm to 11pm, Monday to Saturday at the Victoria Palace Theatre.

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