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Billy's mom dies
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The beginning of the book
Billy is 10 years old and he's very upset about the death of his mother. He lives in Everington, Durham with his father Jackie Elliot, brother Tony Elliot and his Nan. Nan is almost 80 years old. His brother and father work in the mines. But there were strikes at that time. Because the miners wanted a higher salary. But the government refused it. -
Billy starts with dancing
BiIlly discovers dancing because the ballet class is next to his boxing lessons. He thinks it must be amazing to dance. At home he was already dancing in the bathroom, in the living room with his Nan and on the street. Jackie Elliot thought it was weird, but Billy was always a special boy. Billy tried ballet once and since then he went dancing instead of boxing. His father didn't know. He could almost kill him if he'd found out. -
When his father finds out.............
Billy's teacher boxing said to his father that he wasn't seeing much of Billy. Jackie went to the boxing hall and he saw Billy dancing. He was shocked when he saw that. He was so mad that he said nothing on the way home and Jackie forbid Billy to dance and to box. Billy was mad at his dad. -
But Billy doesn't give up
Billy loves dancing. So he went to his teacher; Mrs Wilkinson. She was really kind and also a special person for him. Mrs Wilkinson thought Billy was so good that he could audition for the Royal Ballet school. So they made a date for the next Saturday. -
Tony's arrest
Tony joined the strike and he protested to the police. Most of the time nobody was arrested by the police but Tony had bad luck. Billy and Jackie needed to pick Tony up at the police station and the bailed him out. Billy missed his audition. -
There is still a chance
Even after he had missed out on the audition, he goes on with ballet. When is father catches him dancing with Micheal, it gets him thinking. Jackie thought about his wife Sarah. "She wouldn't destroy Billy's dream, she would say: Go for it Billy! and support him anyway. " So Jackie went to Miss Wilkinson's house and talked to her. "How much does the Royal Ballet school costs??" asked Jackie. -
Michael tells his "girly" secret
Michael is Billy's best friends. He is a bit of a poof, but he was nice to Billy. Michael knew about Billy's secret. He respected the way how he was because he was wearing dresses and make-up from his sisters. Billy doesn't care and that means lot to Michael. -
Billy's audition in London
When BIlly had is audition he felt terrible. He thought the audition was terrible.
"What do you feel when you are dancing?" the jury asks at last.
"I don't know." It was quiet. Then Billy said:
"It feels like I am flying and I forget everything. Yeh, it feels like I'm flying."
Then Billy and his father go home and Billy feels terrible about his audition. -
The letter of the academy
After months of silence a letter came in the mailbox. Billy opened it and he couldn't believe it. His father came into the room. Billy was crying. He said: "I'm in"
Jackie was so proud of his son. He yelled so loud that the hole neighborhood could hear him. But when he told it to his friends they were not so enthusiastic. "Haven't you heard?? We've lost the strike. We have to go back to work on Monday." -
The Ballet performance
It's a couple years later and Billy has a leading role in the Swan Lake, that's a famous dance story. Tony, Jackie and Micheal come to the performance and when Billy came up, he smiled at them like they were the only audience in the room.
