Note: Nikita’s final performance as Billy in the Village Theatre (Issaquah & Everett, WA) production of Billy Elliot The Musical (BETM) was at the Everett Performing Arts Center on July 31, 2016.
Debut: May 26, 2016 (Village Theatre – Issaquah, WA)
Total Performances as Billy: 13 (No partial shows)
Nikita Baryshnikov was 13-years-old upon his debut in the Village Theatre production of BETM. Nikita attends the Redmond Middle School where he is an 8th Grader.
Nikita’s dance training has been at the International Ballet Academy, which is the official academy of the International Ballet Theatre (IBT) located in Kirkland, WA. Over the past several years, he has appeared in several IBT productions. In the picture to the right, Nikita, performed in its production of The Nutcracker in 2011.
Though his main focus has been ballet, Nikita has studied many dance forms. For example, in 2013 he began studying character dance, described as a representation of traditional dances from other countries. It’s the exploration of other cultures, and the ability to break away from traditional dance he normally does, that has caused it to become his favorite class at the academy other than ballet. “I love character dance because I’m able to learn about dances from different countries, and it allows me to constantly switch things up,” Nikita said.
Nikita related, when asked what his favorite thing about the nine months of training was, “I would say the most interesting thing for me would be the dialect training. You have these sounds and you have to work them into your speech to make it sound right. I really like that.”
In an interview in his local newspaper, The Kirkland Reporter, Nikita said he “hopes to be a professional dancer, and is often told that he has a big name to live up to. He shares a last name with famous Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, and despite the fact there is no known relation, he hopes to follow in his talented footsteps.”
When Nikita performed the role of Billy for the first time on 26-May-2016, he became the 141st Billy in the world.
For more information about Nikita visit:
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