Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey teamed up with a host of exuberant creatives for a new short film inspired by the pure joy of dance originally captured in the 2000 movie, Billy Elliot. The 15-year-old film’s opening sequence of a boy jumping on his bed as a turntable played T Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer” got Bailey’s British cast into a carefree mood for the project. A grinning Romeo Beckham takes flight to open the Burberry film, and his athletic leaps are followed by more demure hops made by Naomi Campbell, Michelle Dockery, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. But the thrill of jumping is infectious, and soon even these poised women can be seen leaping across the screen.

Stephen Daldry’s original feature film, about a boy in north-eastern England who is sent to the gym to learn boxing but instead trains in ballet, captures the thrill of landing jumps and mastering the complicated choreography of dance. It also celebrates the childhood joy of springing into the air aided by a mattress and some box springs, or a newly-polished gym floor. Burberry added scarves and trench coats as costumes for its dancers, and lensman Mario Testino captured still shots for the British brand’s holiday campaign. Leapers, including musicians James Bay, George Ezra, and Sir Elton John, as well as James Corden, and actress Julie Walters (who played the ballet teacher in the original film), round out the inventive project. Might as well jump.

Pictured: A behind-the-scenes shot of Michelle Dockery in Burberry’s Festive Film based on the opening sequence of Billy Elliott.
Photo by Zoe Lower

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