Dance
Talented boy shows up to win with amazing Lion King inspired performance
It's hard to believe this level of dedication and fire is coming out of a 10-year-old. All I can say is wow.
Jaclyn Abergas
05.03.22

Britain’s Got Talent has been discovering new talents for 15 years since 2007.

They’ve had memorable auditions for both good and bad reasons. Of course, we’re not going to share the bad auditions here but we’ll highlight the unforgettably good ones instead.

And one unforgettable audition is by a 10-year-old shy schoolboy from Thomas Jolyffe Primary School in Stratford.

His name is Yakub.

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Raw talent

He’s only been dancing for two years at the Mezzo Dance Company (MDC), but his dedication and passion for dance have helped him grow much faster as a dancer.

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“When Yakub first started with us he was such a shy boy he was so, so quiet, but he’s really come out of himself through dance. When you first saw him walk out on that huge stage, in front of all those people you could see that shy boy, but once he started dancing we saw the Yakub we know. He just doesn’t realize how amazing he is,” MDC co-founder and coach Kirsty Nichols shared about Yakub.

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Even her co-founder, Adam Nightingale, agreed.

“Yakub has always had that spark, he just needed to believe in himself a bit more, to be ten-years-old and to have that much talent is just incredible, seeing someone being able to show that talent is the most rewarding part of my job,” Adam said. “We just kept on rewinding and re-watching his performance over and over again. We believe he can go all the way in this process, he’s the hardest working little lad.”

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And when he stepped out onto the stage, you could immediately sense his humility and sincerity.

He had no frills.

No fuss and he looked like he just wanted to dance. He wanted to inspire people to express themselves and he did it through dance.

And he owned the stage with his performance.

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A post shared by Yakub (@yakub_bgt_official)

It was like day and night.

He roared so loud with his dancing. Where was the shy boy that was just on stage a few seconds ago?

“I have so much fun when I’m dancing,” Yakub shared with Stratford Herald. “I chose the Lion King because that was the first live show that I ever saw, it’s one of my favorites.”

He came to the audition with his foster carer, former Stratford mayor Juliet Short.

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“We started fostering Yakub about two-and-a-half years ago, dancing has been a lifeline for him really and he’s made incredible progress, he clearly had a natural talent for it, but he puts a huge amount of hard work into it as well, he dances 12 hours a week,” Julie said. “The show was nerve-wracking for him, you could tell that when he first went on stage. Yakub has performed in competition before, but this was such a different type of event, in front of so many people. It was an emotional experience for me watching him, I’m so proud of him.”

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An inspiring performance

The judges and the audience were so awed by his performance.

Everyone stood up to give him a standing ovation when he finished. And his facial expression showed he was clearly not expecting it!

“I can’t get over it, so good. It was like watching a leaf being tossed in the wind all over the stage,” Amanda gushed.

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Want to know what the other judges said about Yakub’s performance?

See just how inspired he left them in the video below!

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