Even In 2024, Boys Struggle To Dance Without Judgment

Phoenix Boys on mission to change outdated view the sport is one for girls

- NIA DALTON

It may have been 24 years since the film Billy Elliot first tried to shatter prejudices around boy dancers but 16-year-old Tyler Vandevelde knows full well they still exist.

He was practising his somersaults in his local park one day when he was attacked by a gang of teenage thugs.

"They threw a beer can filled with urine at my head," said Tyler. "All because I was dancing. It was horrible."

Tyler had tried every sport going before discovering dance at the age of 13 and knew he'd found his passion.

"You need to be much stronger to dance than play football," he said. "For footballers, it's all in the legs but dancers need upper body and core strength and stamina to lift their bodies off the floor."

Sadly, all 37 members of the Phoenix Boys, a specialist school for boys aged seven to 17, have been verbally and physically assaulted because of their love of dance.

"We've all been called spiteful names or picked on," said Tyler, Bournemouth. "But of we come together and it makes us stronger as a group."

They're hoping that same resilience will see them triumph tonight on ITV's Britain's Got Talent Live Semi-Final - after winning judge Bruno Tonioli's Golden Buzzer with their emotional first audition.

The Strictly stalwart and professional choreographer loved them so much he even broke the buzzer.