Dame Arlene PhillipsDBE (born 22 May 1943)[1] is an English choreographer, talent scout, television judge and presenter, theatre director, and former dancer, who has worked in many fields of entertainment.
For many years, she was most noted as the choreographer of numerous West End and Broadway musicals, films, and television shows, but she later achieved mainstream fame as a judge on television talent shows including Strictly Come Dancing and So You Think You Can Dance.
Phillips originally wanted to be a ballet dancer and began dance classes at the age of three, studying ballet and tap dance at the Muriel Tweedy School in Manchester after leaving school at 16.[3] Her mother had always expressed a desire to dance, which inspired Phillips into pursuing dance professionally.[3]
Professional career
Phillips is internationally renowned as a choreographer and director of West End and Broadway musicals, but has many other professional credits.[3] In her mid-teens, Phillips moved to London.[4] where she developed her own style of jazz dance, strongly influenced by American Modern Jazz dance popular in London at that time.[4] She went on to teach her style of jazz dance at The Dance Centre, later named Pineapple Dance Studios in Covent Garden,[4] and at the Italia Conti Stage School,[4] so establishing herself as a successful teacher and choreographer.[4]
In Britain, Phillips first became a household name as the director and choreographer of Hot Gossip, a British dance troupe which she formed in 1974,[3] using students she was teaching 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.[3]
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.[4] Later in 2007, she created and judged another BBC dance series, DanceX, a show formed to find a new commercial dance act. After the initial audition process, the competitors were split into two troupes of dancers, with Phillips mentoring one troupe and the other being mentored by her fellow Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli. The two troupes competed live on television each week, with Tonioli's troupe being the eventual winners.[4]
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.[11] 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:[11] she was replaced by former Strictly winner Alesha Dixon.[11] 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.[11][12]
The replacement of Phillips led to an unprecedented intervention from the then Minister for Women and Equality, Harriet Harman.[12] During a session in the House of Commons, Harman responded to questions stating that she believed the decision to drop Arlene Phillips was motivated by age discrimination, and called on the BBC to ensure that she would be taking part in the new series.[12] The BBC did not formally respond to Harman's request, but repeated its comments that the decision was not due to age.[12]
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.[10] Between April and July 2010, she made nine guest panellist appearances on ITV's flagship show Loose Women.[10]
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.[5]
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 there have been two further series.[10]
Gala for Grenfell
In July 2017, Phillips announced a dance gala to raise funds for those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.[13] 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".[14] The proceeds from the event went to the Kensington & Chelsea Foundation, the charity running the Grenfell Tower Fund.[14]
Spoken word tour
In 2017, Phillips embarked on a UK-wide spoken word tour, in conversation with Jacquie Storey.[15]
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".[10]
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.[3]