Note: Alessandro’s final show as Billy in the Italian Tour production of the show was on 7-Feb-2016.
Debut: May 5, 2015 (Rome, Italy)
Total Performances as Billy: 102.5 (Includes one partial show credited @ .5)
Alessandro Frola was 15 years old (D.O.B. = 9-Mar-2000) upon his debut on 5-May-2015. He is from the Italian city of Parma and was the 96th actor to professionally debut in the role world-wide. In Parma, Alessandro lives with his mom and dad, Lucia and Francesco, and his older siblings — sister Zarah and brother Lorenzo.
Alessandro began studying dance at the age of three at the school Professione Danza Parma, which is directed by his parents.
Since 2010, Alessandro has received professional training in acting, singing, and dance (contemporary, jazz, ballet, etc) and also acrobatics.
In 2008, at only eight years old, he won his first dance competition and was recognized as Best Male Dancer. Since 2009, Alessandro has won scholarships to attend classes at the summer school of the Royal Ballet School in London.
In 2012, he won the semi-finals of the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) as a soloist and as a partner and, in the process, won a scholarship to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of the American Ballet Theatre in New York.
Credit: Video by Professione Danza Parma
In 2013, he again won at the YAGP in New York and was invited to dance the pas de deux in Giselle at a gala called The Stars of Today Meet The Stars of Tomorrow. In that same year, he won first prize in the Alassio dance competition and an invitation to perform at Danzainfiera, Italy’s largest dance festival.
In 2014 he won various national competitions, including the Grand Prix “Ciudad de Barcelona”. On that occasion sculptor Richard Macdonald dedicated a statue of him, giving it to the city of Barcelona in memory of his performance.
In 2015, Alessandro won the third prize in the pas de deux, in the Tanzolymp Berlin competition, where he was also awarded scholarships to study at the English National Ballet in London and Staatsballet in Berlin.
In February of 2015 he was invited to dance in the Fille Mal Gardee at the Gaudeamus gala in Maribor Slovenia against participants from some of the best dance schools in Europe.
After more than a month and a half of casting of children between 8 and 14 years old, including about 1,200 aspiring Billys, Alessandro was asked to attend a call back audition for the role of Billy Elliot. After this, he was named to play the lead role in the Italian version of the show produced by PeepArrow Entertainment and The Sistine Theatre.
When he debuted on May 5, 2015, he became the 96th boy in the world to play Billy Elliot in the musical in a professional, regional or community theatre production of the show.
Besides his good technique, Alessandro’s dance teachers have always appreciated and noticed his ability to convey happiness and serenity while dancing. At the gala in Slovenia, superb Kirov Ballet dancer Yelena Pankova complimented Alessandro’s performance telling him his happiness and enjoyment at being on stage was so obvious. In an interview with Spanish television during a competition in Barcelona, he was asked: “Why do you dance?” And he replied, “Because when I dance I’m happy.”
On 9-July-2015, it was announced that Alessandro was the recipient of the 2015 Fliano Prize for his interpretation of the role of Billy Elliot. The award was presented to Alessandro at the Arena Theatre “Gabriele D’Annunzio” of Pescara on Sunday 12-Jul-2015. The awards committee related that the prize was being presented to Alessandro for his “moving portrayal” of Billy Elliot.
On 10-Jul-2015, Alessandro appeared on an Italian TV show called l nostri angeli performing Electricity for an appreciative studio and home viewing audience:
https://youtu.be/vcAQ2GkOSkQ
Credit: Video by PartiallyGeorge
During the 2015-16 Italian tour of BETM, Alessandro performed the lead role of Billy up to seven times per week, an incredibly difficult schedule for such a demanding role. After nine months of touring and over 100 performances as Billy, Alessandro took the stage in the title role for the last time on 7-Feb-2016.
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Life After Billy
- 2016 – After BETM, Alessandro danced the role of “Siegfried” in Swan Lake for Professione Danza Parma Dance School in Italy. He competed at 15 years of age in Youth American Grand Prix (YAGP) in 2016 in New York where he won scholarships to National Ballet of Canada, Houston Ballet Texas, Dutch National Ballet Amsterdam. He also played the “Doll” and “Russian Dancer” in The Nutcracker for Fomento Artistico Cordobes in Veracruz, Mexico.
- 2017 – In February of 2017, at age 16, Alessandro won eight scholarships as a finalist with Prix de Lausanne. In this video clip, he performs a classical number as one of his finalist dances.
Credit: Video by Prix de Lausanne
Alessandro chose a scholarship won at the Prix de Lausanne to attend the School of the Hamburg Ballet in Germany, where he began studying in August 2017.
- 2018 – While training at the Hamburg Ballet School, Alessandro performed in Suite Bach 2 in Hamburg and on tour in Berlin and Tokyo, Japan. In March, he was interviewed by Michele Olivieri in Sipario Magazine.
- 2019 – After graduating from the Hamburg Ballet School, Alessandro joined the Hamburg Ballet as a dancer in the company. 2019 turned out to be a very busy year for Alessandro. He danced with the Hamburg Ballet as Apprentice in Beethoven (a new creation), and Aspirant. Alessandro performed in Anna Karenina, Nijinsky, The Lady of the Camellias, and Shakespeare Sonette (a new creation). He was Lysander in Midsummer Night’s Dream in September, proclaimed the “youngest Lysander of all time” by the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier Blog. He was in Bernstein Dances, All Our Yesterdays, and The Glass Menagerie (new creation). In December, Alessandro performed in The Nutcracker, Beethoven Project II in Hamburg and Baden, Germany, and Orphee et Eurydice. Alessandro says Christmas Oratorio I through VI was his most memorable performance.
- 2020 & Beyond – In 2020, Alessandro danced in the Corps de Ballet with the Hamburg Ballet Company in Ghost Light (a new creation).
On 27-Dec-2020 Alessandro performed a dance to the Swan Lake Suite, a piece of music that was very familiar to him from his Billy days. It was shown on the Italian TV network Rai 3:
For more information about Alessandro visit:
Billy Elliot the Forum, Facebook, Instagram
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