Four Naperville girls are shining on stage in the cast of Billy Elliot, in their Paramount Theatre debut.
Sixth grader Nina Poulimas and eighth graders Kavia Suri Kakodkar, Willa Zatzenbloom, and Piper Sobel play ballet girls. They’re in the on-stage class where 11-year-old English boy Billy Elliot discovers his love and talent for dance.
“My character is Susan Parks, and she’s kind of silly,” said Kavia. “She’s a little she thinks she’s really good, but she’s not very good. And she kind of she gives it her all, always. She puts a lot of effort in and she might not be the best, but she definitely tries.”
“I play Margaret Gormley and she’s kind of snarky, kind of sassy,” said Willa. “She’s the one who like she tries to not pay Miss Wilkinson for her lesson. She’s like trying to get away with things. She’s a little sneaky, but she loves dance and she’s always trying her hardest.”
“My character is Tracey Atkinson and she loves pie,” said Piper. “That’s their main thing, I guess she gets very annoyed with Miss Wilkinson about always making her put the pie away.”
“I’m Angela Robson, she thinks she’s very cocky,” said Nina. “She thinks she’s better than everybody, even then better than Billy. But she’s not at all not better than Billy.”
Changing up the tempo for Billy Elliot
Having to play a bad dancer isn’t always easy, especially for some of the girls who’ve been taking lessons for years.
“It’s definitely a lot harder because I’ve been training to be the best dancer I can be,” said Nina. “And then you just have to be like, wait, I can’t point my toes, I can’t do any of that stuff.”
“It’s really fun. It’s – being bad on purpose is so fun,” said Kavia.
Being part of a professional show
All four come to the show as seasoned performers. Nina got her start in dance, Piper in short films, and Willa and Kavia through community and school productions. But being on the Paramount stage is a special thrill for them all.
“Honestly, it’s it’s crazy,” said Kavia. “I never thought I would be doing this like, a couple of years ago. I never thought I’d do anything like this big or do anything professional, but here I am.”
“I mean, the first time we walked on, it was it was like really surreal because I thought to myself, like, my gosh, this is amazing,” said Willa.
Especially considering the scope of this particular production, with its multi-level moving set.
“When we first walked into like the first tech rehearsal, we saw the stage was like, I didn’t know the set was that big “As we came in were like, my goodness, it’s crazy! Like seeing from the rehearsal space to the stage and just like how it all came together, That was probably like one of my favorite parts of being in the show,” said Piper.
Another favorite part? Seeing the crowd react to their performance.
“After the show, they always come up to you, say, good job, congrats. Like, it’s just so amazing seeing all those people who you’ve influenced with your dancing and acting and singing,” said Nina.
Doing a show at their age requires a careful balance of schoolwork and scene work, but the four say they’re up to the task. They’ll soon be back to their normal routines with the show ending its run on March 24. But before it does, they invite all to…
“Come see Billy Elliot!”
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