Yahoo News Cheshire dancer, 16, in Britain's Got Talent semi-finals as 'golden buzzer breaks'
Teenager Oliver Edwards is set to appear in the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent after a ‘golden buzzer’ performance. And the 16-year-old, along with his dance troupe Phoenix Boys, impressed judge Bruno Tonioli so much that the judge broken the golden buzzer as he struck it - sending the boys straight through to next week’s semi-finals.
Oliver, from Wistaston, Crewe, has been dancing since age 3. The Sandbach School pupil and his fellow dancers moved judge Bruno to tears in the audition at the London Palladium.
The talented teenager, who trains at Crewe’s Aspire Dance and Theatre Academy and LS gymnastics, as well as with the national Phoenix Boys group, said the experience was ‘surreal’. He said: “It’s something that will never happen again. It was quite surprising because we were the second act to be filmed on the very first show, so it was pretty unlikely that we were going to get the golden buzzer.
“Little did we know that Bruno would end up in tears and actually break the golden buzzer. It is something that will stay with me for quite a while.”
A tearful Bruno embraced the boys after telling fellow judge Amanda Holden the group reminded him of himself. Congratulating the boys, Bruno said: “People don’t really understand how hard it is to succeed as a dancer.
“The work that goes into it, and the passion — and you literally do it for nothing, you do it for love. I felt that.”
Oliver said performing on the Palladium stage made him “feel small.” He said: “You could see every audience member, but it’s not the 4,000 people in the audience that’s the issue, it’s the millions watching on a screen.”
Oliver’s proud mum, Rhoda Edwards, aged 52, said: “You hope for it, but you know it probably won’t happen. Deep down we all knew it was a long shot. We all thought we might get three or four ‘yeses’, but certainly not the golden buzzer. We were all shocked.”
Oliver's journey into dancing has seen him follow in the footsteps of big sister Beth Edwards, aged 23. He has danced in predominantly female dance troupes until finding Phoenix Boys, an all-male group, who he has danced with for almost five years.
He said: “You won’t see an all-boys dance group anywhere. Male dancers spend their lives dancing with female dancers, learning female technique, which is different to male technique in dance. The way the body works is entirely different, and being able to train with boys from all across the UK and with male teachers has that extra push towards male dancers.”
Oliver’s dancing talents are plain to see, but he says he aspires to a backstage career. He said: “I’m not going into a career of dance, and that’s something that will shock a lot of people. I’m interested in going backstage and doing stage lighting.”
Oliver will next appear with Phoenix Boys in the Britain’s Got Talent semi-final at Hammersmith Apollo, due to be broadcast on ITV 1 on Sunday, June 2, at 7.30pm.
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