Article by:
Hannah Furness
The "Billy Elliot effect" is a myth, a star of the Royal Ballet has claimed, as he insists the much-lauded film did not persuade working-class parents to send their boys to dance class.
Eric Underwood, a soloist at the company, suggested the film connected only with middle-class parents who already loved ballet and could afford private lessons.
Instead, he said, there is still "no established path into ballet for boys from non-privileged backgrounds", with a "lingering stigma about boys dancing".
The Billy Elliot effect has often been credited with turning more boys onto ballet dancing, cited by the likes of Darcey Bussell.
There have been more boys than girls at the Royal Ballet School since 2010, after a significant rise in the number of applications.
He added: "When you talk to most male ballet dancers, you discover the family was always into ballet.
"Many of my colleagues at the Royal Ballet, for example, will say something like 'My sister danced and I had to wait for her to finish a class, so I joined in' or 'my parents went to the ballet and used to take us'.
"But, of course, a particular kind of parent takes their child to the ballet."
In order to redress the balance, he suggested more dance at school to introduce everyone to the art form equally.
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