Parents are gardeners. We don't always know what seeds we're planting. We just know we need to nurture those seeds and help them grow towards the light. After talking to the four remarkable teens who are coming to The AT&T Performing Arts Center's Lexus Broadway series to alternate in the title role of Billy Elliot The Musical, a story of a boy who has to dance, I was thinking about their terrific parents. It's not easy in our society to be a boy who loves to dance, but it helps if a parent is encouraging you to look past the taunts to pursue your dream.

Lex Ishimoto, 13, from Irvine, California, told me about the bullying and then said he doesn't know if he would have persevered without that encouragement. "My mom and my sister kept inspiring me to keep going, and that motivated me and made me more and more excited to dance."

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