Dame Arlene Phillips (born 22 May 1943)
Early life
Phillips was born on 22 May 1943 in
Prestwich,
Lancashire.
She has a brother, Ian and a sister, Karen. She attended Broughton Preparatory School,
Cheetham Hill, Manchester;
Beaver Road Primary School,
Didsbury;
and Manchester Central High School for Girls
after passing the eleven plus exam.
When Phillips was 15, her mother, who had been suffering from
leukaemia, died aged 43 just before Phillips was due to take her exams.
Phillips originally wanted to be a ballet dancer and began dance classes at the age of three, receiving a grant from the local council to study ballet and tap dance at the Muriel Tweedy School in Manchester after leaving school at 16.
Professional career
Phillips is internationally renowned as a choreographer and director of West End and Broadway musicals, but has many other professional credits.
In her mid-teens, Phillips moved to London.
where she developed her own style of jazz dance, strongly influenced by
Jazz dance dance popular in London at that time.
She went on to teach her style of jazz dance at The Dance Centre, later named Pineapple Dance Studios in
Covent Garden,
and at the Italia Conti Stage School,
so establishing herself as a successful teacher and choreographer.
Phillips was assistant choreographer on the 1982 film Annie
Phillips choreographed the 2002 Commonwealth Games opening and closing ceremonies
From 2004 to 2008, she was a judge on the BBC One show Strictly Come Dancing,
Following Phillips's appearance on Your Country Needs You, she choreographed the performance of the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.
In March 2013, Arlene appeared on Let's Dance For Comic Relief in the Dance Judge Panel with Greg James and Lee Mack.
Hot Gossip
In Britain, Phillips first became a
Celebrity as the director and choreographer of
Hot Gossip, a British dance troupe which she formed in 1974.
The group's performances were considered risqué at the time.
Hot Gossip spent two years performing in a London night club where Phillips and her manager developed the group's dance act.
Strictly Come Dancing
Phillips was a member of the inaugural judging panel between 2004 and 2008 for the
BBC television series
Strictly Come Dancing, alongside fellow judges
Len Goodman, Craig Revel Horwood, and
Bruno Tonioli.
In 2005 and 2006, Phillips was a judge for the spin-off series Strictly Dance Fever, which was also created by the BBC to seek dancers wishing to join the chorus of a West End musical.
Departure from Strictly Come Dancing
After the close of the 2008 series of
Strictly Come Dancing, the BBC announced that several changes would be made to refresh the show in 2009.
This led to a great deal of speculation in the media that Phillips might be dropped from the judging panel, but the BBC refused to respond to reports. They finally confirmed the news at the launch of their autumn schedule on 9 July 2009:
she was replaced by former Strictly winner
Alesha Dixon.
The news led to much criticism being directed towards the BBC for its apparent discrimination against older women on television; the BBC, however, strongly denied this.
The replacement of Phillips led to an unprecedented intervention from the then Minister for Women and Equality, Harriet Harman.
Later activities
In October 2009, Phillips appeared on the first episode of the 38th series of the satirical show
Have I Got News for You.
Between April and July 2010, she made nine guest panellist appearances on ITV's flagship show
Loose Women.
Britannia High
In 2007, Phillips became the Executive Producer and Creative Director for the ITV television series
Britannia High. The show was a fictional drama about the lives of six students at a London performing arts school. Based on an idea by Phillips and West End producer
David Ian, the series was marketed as the UK's answer to
Disney's
High School Musical. The show's music was created and written by hit songwriter, and
Take That frontman,
Gary Barlow.
So You Think You Can Dance?
Phillips has also been a judge on the UK version of
So You Think You Can Dance?. The show's original creator
Nigel Lythgoe is head judge on the series, and Phillips is joined on the panel by pop singer
Louise Redknapp, and dancer and choreographer
Sisco Gomez. Phillips's appointment as judge for the series came soon after the controversy over her departure from
Strictly Come Dancing. The first episode aired on
BBC One in January 2010, and a second series in 2011.
Gala for Grenfell
In July 2017, Phillips announced a dance gala to raise funds for those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.
The Gala for Grenfell took place on 30 July 2017 at the
Adelphi Theatre, London and included stars from
Strictly Come Dancing, The Royal Ballet and Sir
Matthew Bourne's New Adventures company. Phillips said of the dancers taking part "They’re just doing it as themselves because each of the dancers is giving a gift and I want you to see them, and that they’re doing it for the love".
The proceeds from the event went to the Kensington & Chelsea Foundation, the charity running the Grenfell Tower Fund.
Spoken word tour
In 2017, Phillips embarked on a UK-wide spoken word tour, in conversation with Jacquie Storey.
Holding Back the Years
In 2017, Phillips was a presenter on the
BBC One series
Holding Back the Years.
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
In November 2021, Phillips at the age of 78 became the oldest ever contestant to appear on ITV's
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.
The record was formerly held by Stanley Johnson who took part in the 17th series of the show at the age of 77.
Phillips participated in series 21 of the show and was the first celebrity eliminated.
Dancing on Ice
On 20 February 2022, Phillips joined ITV's
Dancing on Ice as a guest Judge for Musicals week.
Toys the Musical
On 10 October 2024, Phillips joined Toys
as the executive co-producer.
Phillips said at the time "I’ve been involved with Toys for many years, with the super talented and much missed Phil Edwards. I am delighted that Paul Morrissey and I can start the adventure of Toys coming to life and I’m thrilled to be producing this show with him." Toys only played for a short period with one reviewer writing "Although the story is a bit challenging to follow and there is lots of exposition to digest, there’s also lots of heart and thoughtful life lessons about the value of toys as therapeutic tools as well as playthings."
Honours
Phillips was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2001 Birthday Honours, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to dance and charity,
and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to dance and charity.
Personal life
Phillips has been in a relationship with Angus Ion, a set builder, since 1985. The couple first met on the set of the music video for the
Freddie Mercury song "I Was Born to Love You".
Alana Dancing Star books
In 2010, Phillips wrote a series of children's fiction books.
Alana Dancing Star is a series of six books, in which the title character explores different genres of dance. The series covers
ballroom dance,
samba,
hip-hop,
Bollywood, Broadway, and tango. In summer 2011, one of the books,
Viennese Waltz, was selected to be part of Richard and Judy's Summer Children's Reading List.
Discography
|
|
| 1982 | Keep in Shape System with Arlene Phillips | No. 41 |
| 1984 | Keep in Shape System Volume 2 | No. 100 |
Theatre credits
-
Starlight Express – Apollo Victoria Theatre, 1984; Broadway, 1987
-
– Barbican Centre for the Royal Shakespeare Company, 1990
-
Matador – Sondheim Theatre, 1991
-
Grease – Dominion Theatre and Cambridge Theatre, 1993
-
Saturday Night Fever – London Palladium, 1998
-
We Will Rock You – Dominion Theatre, 2002
-
The Sound of Music – London, 2006; Canada, 2008
-
Flashdance – 2008;
-
The Wizard of Oz – London Palladium, 2011
-
Allelujah! – Bridge Theatre, 2018
-
A Midsummer Night's Dream – Bridge Theatre, 2019
-
What's New Pussycat? – Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 2021
-
The Cher Show – UK & Ireland Tour, 2022 (director)
-
Guys and Dolls – Bridge Theatre, 2023
Film credits
-
1982: Annie
-
1983: ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
-
1984: "Private Dancer" (Tina Turner music video)
-
1985: Legend
-
1988: It Couldn't Happen Here
-
1988: Salome's Last Dance
-
1990: White Hunter Black Heart
-
1980: Can't Stop the Music
-
1996: The Wind in the Willows
-
1979: Escape to Athena
-
1981: The Fan
Awards and nominations
|
| 1987 | 41st Tony Awards | Best Choreography | Starlight Express Broadway | | |
| 1994 | 1994 Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Theatre Choreographer | Grease (musical) Dominion Theatre | | |
| 1999 | 1999 Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Theatre Choreographer | Saturday Night Fever (musical) London Palladium | | |
| 2006 | The Theatre Carl Alan Awards | Outstanding Services Award | Career achievement | | |
| 2023 | 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards | Best Choreography | Grease, Dominion Theatre | | |
| 2023 | 2023 Laurence Olivier Awards | Special Recognition award | Career achievement | | |
| 2024 | 2024 Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Theatre Choreographer | Guys and Dolls (2023), Bridge Theatre | | |
|
See also
External links
