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Note: Stijn’s final performance as Billy was on 11-Jul-2015 at the AFAS Circus Theatre in The Hague.
Debut: 8-Nov-2014 (The Netherlands)
Total Performances: 44.5 (Includes 1 partial show credited @ .5)
Stijn was 13-years-old (D.O.B = 16-Sep-2001) upon his debut as Billy and is from Amsterdam. Of the original Billys, he had the most experience as a performer of the first Billy group prior to the Billy Elliot The Musical production in The Netherlands (BETMNL).
He’s done some of his dance training at The National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam.
His previous theatre experience includes playing the role of Michael Banks in Mary Poppins in the 2010/2011 season. In 2013/1014, he took on the role of the dying boy (Mickey) in the show Little Blonde Death. Reviews of the latter show gave Stijn very high marks for his acting and singing. A representative sample can be found here and here (note the reviews are in Dutch).
You can get an idea of Stijn’s performing skills from this video taken of the first rehearsal of The Little Blonde Dead . Stijn and fellow cast member William Spaaij sing Pies Song.
http://https://youtu.be/UmABYx-mU_8
Credit: Video by Musical Vibes
Stijn also has experience acting in front of a camera.
For the 2012 Cinekid Filmfestival, he participated in the 48 Hour Film Project, in which a team created a movie in 48 hours. He played the part of ‘Prins’ in the short movie Prince and His Parents (Prins en zijn Ouders). For his performance, Stijn won the Best Actor Award of the festival. You can see his wonderful performance by viewing the movie (7:34), which includes an English description here.
Stijn has also filmed an episode of On the Floor (jr.) (De Vloer Op Jr) which is a Dutch Public Broadcasting (Humanist Network) TV program in which child actors improvise scenes. The episode he’s in will air on 26-Oct-2014. The sketch he’s in is called “But you’re dead, right?”
“I like everything in the show, but if I had to pick what I like the best I think it is tap and ballet. Ballet because I have done that before, and tap because it is completely new for me but also because it is a lot of fun because you make sounds but it still is a way of dancing.”
With regard to the tap dancing, Stijn relates that when they starting the training “I had never tap danced before. We started with the basics, so we got to know the technique really well. The last few months they quickened the pace and we got to do real choreography.”
On 7-Nov-2014, Tydo and Stijn appeared on the popular Dutch TV program De wereld draait door. Here’s a video clip of that interview (Note: it’s in Dutch):
Here’s a video from the official BETMNL website. It’s an introduction of Stijn and it’s in Dutch. But for those who don’t speak the language, it has English subtitles.
http://https://youtu.be/Trkxc8zWFXc
Credit: Video by Billy Elliot Holland
Stijn was nominated for a Musical Award in the category Best Young Talent. The nomination was in recognition of his performance in Little Blonde Death. Two fellow Billy castmates were also nominated: Carlos Puts (Billy) and Noah de Vos (Michael). At the annual gala ceremony, he learned that Carlos won for his premiere night performance in BETM.
Once it was known that Stijn’s last show was approaching, BETMNL produced a video of one of his last days in the show. Viewing it, one is impressed with the closeness of the BETMNL cast and crew and how loved Stijn has been to them.
Credit: Video by Bram van der Ende
Stijn’s last show was on Saturday, July 11, 2015. He had done 44.5 (includes one partial show credited at .5) over his eight months in the role.
With his considerable talents, there’s no doubt we’ll be hearing a lot more from this young man in the future.
For more information on Stijn visit:
Billy Elliot the Forum, BETMNL Website, BETMNL Facebook Page
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