Joshua Fedrick
Joshua Fedrick (born 14 March 1994) is an English dancer and actor who played the lead in the London cast of Billy Elliot the MusicAL. He made his debut in the role on 12 November 2007. He made his last appearance in the role on 27 September 2008.
Biography
Fedrick was born in Saltash, Cornwall, UK to Liz and Lee Fedrick. He has two brothers, Lewis (2 years older), and Kieran (2 years younger). He also has pets, a dog named Twiggy (Lab/Collie cross).
Career
Almost as soon as he could walk, Fedrick was doing cartwheels and acrobatics. Recognising his ability, his grandfather, Derek, suggested that Fedrick should try Gymnastics. His parents took him to a local centre where he was spotted by the gymnastics coach of the Plymouth Swallows.
Fedrick started gymnastics at the age of three and quickly moved up through the grades, taking part in many competitions, achieving good result and obtaining many medals. At the age of ten, he won a gold medal with the South West team in the British gymnastics finals. Unfortunately, the coach that Fedrick had trained with for many years left and his interest in gymnastics waned. This resulted in him giving up the sport. However, at that time, his cousin wanted to take up dance lessons, but did not want to go alone. Fedrick offered to go with her to keep her company. His cousin only went for a few weeks, but he enjoyed the lessons and continued to attend. Eventually, he switched dance instructors and came under the tutelage of Deborah BOND. During this time, he entered many exams and achieved very high grades.
In 2005, he entered the Janet Cram dance competition, dancing to T-Rex’s Born to Boogie as featured in the movie Billy Elliot. He managed to reach the finals in London.
Stage Performances
Fedrick was invited to audition for Billy Elliot the Musical and was successful. He then started the lengthy process of training including the summer intensives. Prior to commencing his training, he entered the Janet Cram Competition for the second time and again reached the finals in London. This time round, he was awarded the title for Most Outstanding Dance. The adjudicator was so impressed by his performance that she took his dance teacher to one side and suggested that he should audition for Billy Elliot the Musical. His dance teacher was delighted to be able to respond that he was going to be Billy Elliot.
Billy Elliot was not Josh’s first stage performance. Fedrick first performed on stage with the Young Stagers Theatre Group in Saltash, Cornwall. He made his debut in Time Walk 2000. He has done a solo tap to the song Mammy and even danced dressed as Elvis. He did several more shows with the group before moving on to an amateur dramatics group in Plymouth called Touchwood. Under the stewardship of its Chairman, David Bailey, he went on to perform in many roles including Tiny Tim in Scrooge and one of the urchins in Oliver. At Touchwood, Fedrick became friends and gained inspiration from Gavin Eden who is currently touring in The Nutcracker. Gavin persuaded him to try ballet lessons and as a result, he became a Junior associate of the Royal Ballet School at the age of ten. At the age of twelve, he became a Mid Associate. Despite having a 5 hour round trip every other Saturday to attend the Associate programme, he never lost his enthusiasm. He was even chosen from hundreds of applicants to attend the Royal Ballet School summer school in Richmond.
Fedrick made his debut in the London production of Billy Elliot on 12 November 2007. His one regret is that his grandfathers never got to see what he has achieved. Fedrick made his final appearance as Billy on 27 September 2008 after a total of 93 performances as Billy and 1 as Tall Boy.
Fedrick appeared on the show "Happy Birthday Brucie", which is celebrating the skills that Bruce Forsyth had for his 80th Birthday. The part that he took part on was a tap-dancing "competition" with Forsyth with a short comedy routine. They were seeing who could be more impressive with their routines, following Bruce claiming that anything Fedrick could do, he could do as well. Fedrick started off with easy moves, seeing that Forsyth was sat on a chair because "he broke his zimoframe". Soon, he began to do more advanced steps, such as jumping, and doing the spilts, so they did a tiny bit of a routine together, alongside the joke that Fedrick should call Bruce "Mr. Forsyth".