Billy Elliot's Final Scene

[LoveNDino]

[+ azdr0710]

though not really into dancing, love dramatic scenes like that...especially with the booming, rising music!....thanks @LoveNDino

[LoveNDino]

though not really into dancing, love dramatic scenes like that...especially with the booming, rising music!....thanks @LoveNDino

You're welcome - not into dancing, eh? What about the dancers @azdr0710?

[bostonman]

I assume that this was posted for the shirtless dancers, lol.

 

But - having just done a production of the musical, I can't help but mention the very different, and very moving way this scene was changed to fit into the show version (the script adapted by the film's screenwriter, Lee Hall). Instead of watching Older Billy in Swan Lake some years later, the dance is moved earlier, to the moment before Jackie (Billy's father) finally realizes that he must swallow his own pride and encourage his son's talent. In this version, Billy starts dancing, alone in the room, to the music of Swan Lake on a boombox - but he is joined by a vision of his older self. The two dance together as if perfect partners, sometimes as echoes of each other, but sometimes consciously as a team. (Whether one sees homoeroticism in this, or just more of an older/younger brother vibe, I'll leave to you.) Midway through, it turns into a flying sequence, Older Billy helping his younger counterpart soar through the air. (Billy sings later, in his song "Electricity," adapted from dialogue in the film, that he feels like he's flying as he dances.) Finally, the two of them end by pirouetting off in opposite directions (if you watch carefully, you can see them give each other one quick direct look before they spin off). And then we're back in reality, and Billy find himself right in front of his dad, who has been watching. Jackie, in the moment, can only admonish "go home, Billy - go home" - but he is already realizing he must now help his son.

 

Since the Swan Lake music is prerecorded, (one of the few times I understand and agree with that being done in an otherwise live musical) and I didn't have to play or conduct anything, it was the one musical scene I could really fully watch each performance. I have to admit I always had tears in my eyes. And yes, the wires and flying harness were very visible (and always are in any production) - but it just dosen't matter. The moment is so beautiful, you buy into it anyway.

 

This video is from the London HDcast that was done in 2014.

 

Just really wanted to share.

 

[+ purplekow]

I assume that this was posted for the shirtless dancers, lol.

 

But - having just done a production of the musical, I can't help but mention the very different, and very moving way this scene was changed to fit into the show version (the script adapted by the film's screenwriter, Lee Hall). Instead of watching Older Billy in Swan Lake some years later, the dance is moved earlier, to the moment before Jackie (Billy's father) finally realizes that he must swallow his own pride and encourage his son's talent. In this version, Billy starts dancing, alone in the room, to the music of Swan Lake on a boombox - but he is joined by a vision of his older self. The two dance together as if perfect partners, sometimes as echoes of each other, but sometimes consciously as a team. (Whether one sees homoeroticism in this, or just more of an older/younger brother vibe, I'll leave to you.) Midway through, it turns into a flying sequence, Older Billy helping his younger counterpart soar through the air. (Billy sings later, in his song "Electricity," adapted from dialogue in the film, that he feels like he's flying as he dances.) Finally, the two of them end by pirouetting off in opposite directions (if you watch carefully, you can see them give each other one quick direct look before they spin off). And then we're back in reality, and Billy find himself right in front of his dad, who has been watching. Jackie, in the moment, can only admonish "go home, Billy - go home" - but he is already realizing he must now help his son.

 

Since the Swan Lake music is prerecorded, (one of the few times I understand and agree with that being done in an otherwise live musical) and I didn't have to play or conduct anything, it was the one musical scene I could really fully watch each performance. I have to admit I always had tears in my eyes. And yes, the wires and flying harness were very visible (and always are in any production) - but it just dosen't matter. The moment is so beautiful, you buy into it anyway.

 

This video is from the London HDcast that was done in 2014.

 

Just really wanted to share.

 

What intriguing to me about that scene is the harnessing. Not the visibility of the harnessing rather the dancing done before the flying. Billy must have been dancing with a harness in place and yet it did not seem to impede the flow of the dance. The attachment of the wire to the harness was fluid and though you see the wires, he is still flying.

[Chad Constantine]

This was my all time favorite movie not only because it contains music from Swan Lake but because it was a mixture of life's playful and yet arduous aspects. Still get the feels just watching clips.