Teen dancer from Norfolk wins title role in London musical
There’s no clear path from obscurity to a spotlight in world-class theater.
Yet Tanner Pflueger of Norfolk, Neb., has arrived at age 13.
Tanner snagged the title role in a London musical, “Billy Elliot.” Based on a 2000 movie, with music by Elton John, it’s the story of a British boy from a coal-mining family who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes.
Tanner opens Sept. 29 at the Victoria Palace Theatre in the West End, London’s equivalent to Broadway.
“It’s so hard to find boys capable of doing this role,” said Jessica Ronane, London casting director of “Billy Elliot.” “They’re like gold dust.”
The role requires difficult ballet and tap steps, gymnastics and a British dialect, “an awful lot to learn at that age,” said Nora Brennan, the New York casting director who found Tanner in a nationwide search.
Tanner was up for it, his teachers say. He has a strong work ethic, a perfectionist nature and the ability to pick things up quickly.
The story of how Tanner blossomed as a dancer, and how London found him, beats fantastic odds.
It starts with a shy kid who clung to his mother’s hand at his first dance lesson six years ago.
He’s the second son of Marty Pflueger, a steel machinist, and wife Jan, a nurse. Neither is particularly musical, but Tanner took to piano, singing and saxophone along with gymnastics.
“He had a tape recorder he would sing and dance to when he was a toddler,” his mother said.
At age 6, Tanner went to cousin Brandi Roeber’s dance recital. Soon after, he had a surprise for her.
“He’d made up his own dance to the song I had danced to,” said Roeber, a pediatric dentist in Omaha. “He watched the recital tape over and over to learn.”
Soon after, he started lessons in Wisner, Neb.
“At first I was scared, and I didn’t want to do it,” Tanner said recently from London. “But I finally started to enjoy it, and I let go of Mom’s hand.”
Soon he was under the wing of tap teacher Kathy Morrison. When a job opened at Nebraska Dance in Omaha, Morrison took it. Her star pupil followed her.
Thus began four years of commuting, three times a week, 100 miles one way.
“We were willing to make that sacrifice because he loved it,” Jan Pflueger said. “When he got into the car, he’d eat a packed lunch and start his homework. He and his dad would listen to ‘Jeopardy’ on the radio. We did a lot of talking, too, bonding time.”
At Nebraska Dance, Tricia Lovejoy, Sally Banghart and Sarah Koenig taught Tanner ballet, skills that turned out to be key in landing the role. From Lovejoy, Tanner said, he learned the importance of ballet as the basis of all dance.
“And she was the first person to get me to wear tights. Tights aren’t one of the first things I’d choose to put on.”
Tanner drew attention at the 2007 Youth American Grand Prix, an annual ballet competition known around the world. Soon after, Brennan called Nebraska Dance to ask if he’d like to audition for “Billy Elliot.”
After four rounds of auditions over 14 months, Tanner was offered the role in early May.
“That first audition, I remember very distinctly just being blown away by him,” Brennan said. “He was a phenomenal tapper, and he had a really high level of skill — a beautiful, lyrical, well-rounded dancer. He’s sort of a quiet boy, but he’s amazing.”
The London offer brought a dilemma: Should his parents let him go? Tanner had never been away from them for longer than a weekend with nearby grandparents.
Jan Pflueger, who admitted shedding more than a few tears of both pride and concern, said it was a tough decision.
“He told me, ‘Mom, you can’t keep me home just ’cause you’re gonna miss me. You have to give me a very good reason.’
“I didn’t have a good reason.”
Tanner’s parents prayed about it, checked out the supervised living arrangements and tutoring in London, and decided that it was the chance of a lifetime.
“This wasn’t something we went looking for or were pursuing for him,” his mother said. “God was telling us we needed to give him that chance.”
Since Tanner arrived in London on June 13, his parents have visited monthly. He calls his mom two or three times a day, starting at 3 a.m. — which is 9 a.m. in London.
“My wife said I’d have to take that first call,” Marty Pflueger said, laughing. “But I have yet to. She grabs the phone immediately.”
Tanner says he’s having the time of his life. He’ll perform at least through May — unless a dreaded growth spurt or homesickness arrives first.
He does miss his family members. “It’s hard not being with them, but I just really enjoy it,” he said of performing.
“I’ve always dreamed of being a pro dancer. I sorta am right now, and I just want to keep it going as I get older. They say I’m doing well, and I’ll be completely ready for my opening night.”
His parents and grandmother will be in the audience Monday to see it.
Once nervous that he’d be sick to his stomach before going on, Tanner now loves to perform.
“It’s just the music, and letting go, and forgetting about everything else. And just having fun.”
Source: Omaha World Herald
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