Sligo answer to ‘Billy Elliot’ is hoping his appearence on Ireland’s Got Talent will reduce the stigma that ‘boys don’t dance’.
Fionn McMorrow, 10, from Sligo, was slagged and bullied at school for his love of dance in the past.
And despite winning every dance contest he has entered since the age of six, his change in popularity only came this week.
Ahead of his live semi-final performance this weekend, his dad, Jason told Irish Daily Mirror: “He was getting a bit of stick at home because he was dancing. But he has turned all those people, they all want to be his best friend now.
“It is amazing how the tables turn isn’t it?"
Opening up about the affect the bullies had on him as a parent, he added: “It is hard, but at the end of the day kids are kids but being a parent you have to understand kids will fall in and fall out.
“But now in the past few days he has been dancing around all the schools in Sligo and all the kids who thought he was uncool, now think he is very cool.
“And it has changed a lot of the kids attitudes towards dancing.
“A lot of boys now want to get into dancing because they see Fionn.”
“So he is kind of inspiring boys to dance. Fionn has a great saying #BoysCanDanceToo.”
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Fionn, who is known as ‘the Billy Elliot of Sligo’ missed out on both The Greatest Dancer and Ireland’s Got Talent when he entered last year.
And while the knock-backs and bullies didn’t faze him, Jason admitted as a parent, he was nervous to allow his child to try again this year.
He said: “We were very[nervous], especially my wife Noelle, she was getting that ill-feeling in her stomach.
“But he was determined to go and he kept at it that he wanted to do it and he didn’t want to shatter his dreams so we just went for it and we said we would go one more time and see how he gets on and we brought him and he really excelled.
“My wife does nearly be getting sick, but its different for Fionn.
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“Fionn gets nervous before he goes on, but when he gets on stage and hears the music it is just like he is dancing in the living room, he is at home and adrenaline takes place.
“As Fionn always says, as Billy Elliot always says, It’s like an electricity goes through his body that he just has to go with it.”
The proud dad added: “We are behind him. Fionn is the baby of the family and his sisters support him so much but he has grown in so much confidence.
“When you see Fionn on stage, everyone says it to me, the hairs stand on the back of your neck. He can really tell a story through a song.”
• Saturday night will see the third semi-final of the season on Virgin Media One at 7.30pm, followed by the Grand Final on Sunday.
