Two brothers, Flynn and Patrick Humphreys, who both attend Bolton School, are rehearsing hard ahead of performing with their dance school at Euro Disney this August.
Flynn, a Y4 pupil at the Junior Boys’ School, was recently awarded Honours after successfully completing the British Theatre Dance Association exam in primary ballet.
Asked what made him take up dancing, he said: ‘I got into dancing because I saw a video of Wigan Warriors rugby league team dancing. I liked it because most of the time you see a lot of females dancing and it was nice to see males dancing.’
Considering how difficult it is, Flynn thought: ‘I think jazz is the hardest because you need to be really flexible to do some of the stuff and I am not the most flexible person in the world but I can now nearly do the splits. I prefer ballet to jazz because I think it is more elegant and graceful. I like tap because it’s loud and rhythmical.
‘I enjoy it because it’s a good hobby and also it might come in useful with my sport,’ he added.
Asked whether he had been inspired by his older brother Patrick, who is in Y9 and also dances, Flynn was quick to respond: ‘My older brother was inspired by me! My brother was watching my first dance and he liked it and wanted to do it as well.’
Patrick agreed: ‘I went to one of my brother’s shows and all the dancers and the performance inspired me to get into it. I’ve found it to be lots of fun and different to most other sports and I’ve made a lot of friends whilst doing it. I don’t mind that I’m the only boy in my age group, I get included in everything and Miss Anna has to remember that I have different positions in ballet to the girls! This is so when we dance together we don’t get tangled. In the last show I had a lift. I was nervous but when I did it the audience clapped really loudly and I was relieved.'
Reflecting on the difficulty on dancing, he said: ‘It’s not hard but it takes a lot of practise to get the steps right. Mum always tells me off for tap dancing around the kitchen. I don’t really keep still much.’
The boys’ mum, Anne Humphreys, said: ‘Flynn was always very active and he saw a programme about the local rugby team and that they were doing ballet for fitness and balance. Flynn asked if he could do it so I took him along to the Anna Shimmin Academy of Dance and he loved it. He has performed in four shows at St Helens Theatre Royal and Patrick has performed in three. Both have been very lucky to have also performed on the Liverpool Empire stage before the pandemic. They have both taken many exams with the British Theatre Dance Association, Flynn most recently gaining a Primary Ballet with honours award and Patrick Level 3 Tap. Exams are ongoing over the next few months. They are also rehearsing for their Euro Disney performance. This involves a performance on one of the stages as well as participating in the Main Street parade with the Disney characters.
Both boys are very shy so for them to not only put themselves in a position where they are the only boys performing on the stage we are unbelievably proud of them.
They are both also members of cricket, football and hockey teams and their dancing has definitely benefited their performance in each sport.
Photo credit J Rowlands photography
