2 Year Old Takes Over Dance Floor With Adorable Jailhouse Rock Routine

A filmed performance from March 2012 put two-year-old William Stokkebroe at the center of a widely viewed online moment. Dancing to “Jailhouse Rock,” he took possession of the floor with a strut and movements that prompted comparisons with Elvis Presley. The video subsequently accumulated millions of views. William’s age, his range of moves and his willingness to perform made the clip a notable showcase for a toddler who already appeared comfortable presenting a routine.

Dancing was already central to William’s family. His mother and father, Kristina and Peter Stokkebroe, are Danish professional dancers. In 2010, they won a world championship in Latin dance. Two years later, their son demonstrated an apparent wish to follow the example set by his parents. His appearance on the floor offered an early display of what the source describes as natural talent, connecting the toddler’s performance with the professional dancing practiced by both Kristina and Peter.

The routine was framed not merely as a child moving along to a record, but as a performance with recognizable Presley characteristics. William walked, strutted and swiveled his hips around the dance floor while “Jailhouse Rock” played. Those gestures led observers to associate his manner with the artist who performed the song. Although he was only two, William supplied both movement and showmanship, the qualities behind the suggestion that he could become another Elvis Presley.

That resemblance also played a part in the recording’s online circulation. The Elvis Presley fan club repeatedly posted the video across the internet, responding to how closely the little dancer seemed to imitate Presley’s style. Its distribution helped William reach an audience measured in millions of views. The central event nevertheless remained simple: a very young boy entered the dance floor in March 2012 and performed to an Elvis Presley number while displaying the influence of the dancing world in which his parents worked.

Watch the full performance on page two