Meet York’s Britain’s Got Talent hopefuls – including a magician, a young dancer and two rappers

These are the talented York folk who could be facing Simon Cowell on your TV screens next year.

York Barbican hosted an audition showcase for the next series of ITV’s hit talent show today (Wednesday 18 September). At this early stage the auditionees met with a couple of producers from the show.

YorkMix went along to meet a few of the city’s BGT show hopefuls.

Dancer Leonie

Leonie Hellman, aged 11, and her supportive mum Amanda, arrived ready to perform an amazing dance routine. While waiting to be called, Leonie practiced some twirls and very impressive flips and jumps in her glittery costume.

Leonie tells Mix that she’s been dancing pretty much all her life.

• I’ve been a dancer since I was three, so for eight years.

  When I’m older I want to be a Rockette, and I want to be a choreographer.
  

Her hopes for Britain’s Got Talent are “to be on television and see Simon Cowell” she says, with a huge smile.

Steve the magician

First to audition this morning was Steve Jackson, a magician. He brought with him a mysterious box filled with tricks and props, and said:

• Usually I’m a close up magician for things like weddings and private parties and that sort of thing.

  That’s where you walk around tables and show people magic tricks really close up so they can see what you’re doing and wonder ‘how on earth have you done that?’

  This is a bit of a departure for me because I do do stand up which is where you come and stand in front of a group of people and show them magic but I’ve not really done a stage type before.
  

What is he hoping for today? “Magicians seem to do fairly well on this. I wouldn’t mind progressing to the television stage but who knows?

“I’m a newbie to the talent show world so who knows, you never know.”

Musician James

Friends James Beresford and Kye Huggins, both 33, arrive at auditions together. They met last year at an Open Mic UK competition. They’re seperate acts but are very supportive of each other.

James is a big Britain’s Got Talent fan. “I watch it every year. It’s awesome.

“It’s a great show and it’s mind-blowing some of the stuff you see, and they’re always coming out with new content – that’s what makes it so special and so good.”

He’s a rapper and singer and produces his own original songs, focusing on mental health in a positive way to help people. He said:

• I focus on making people feel better about themselves and I have positive affirmations in my lyrics.

  You could associate with me people like Savage Garden but more of a funky version. I do it for the pure love of it and I would never stop doing it.
  

James hopes to help and inspire more people through BGT. “Inspiring people is the main thing for me, to inspire people and be like ‘Look, you can be what you want to be’.

“People have inspired me through music and I want to do the same for other people.”

Rapper Kye

Kye is also a rapper. “I’m what you would consider a conscious rapper, I talk a lot about real issues.

“The song I’m doing today is all about how we’re wrecking the planet.”

For Kye, music was a way to cope with his own personal problems and issues in his life, to try and understand why he was feeling anger and hurt. He said:

• A motto that I live by is ‘music’s my religion’ because it kind of saved my life.

  Because of the way I was feeling if I hadn’t have found a venting station to get all my issues out then I wouldn’t know what I would be doing right now.
  

He has been doing a lot of open mics around York and has also performed at the O2 in London. “I got through to the finals of Open Mic UK and I got to play in London at the O2 Arena, so that was pretty cool,” he said.

Kye also goes by the stage name Vokaholik and you can find his Facebook page here.

 

People may not have been queueing out the door to audition, but the camaraderie between the few auditionees was lovely and demonstrates that York not only has talent but a friendly, supportive and passionate community too.

They will hear from the producers in due course if they are to be invited to the next round of auditions.

If you couldn’t attend these auditions, you can still apply to audition for the upcoming series of Britain’s Got Talent by heading to itv.com/talent.