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It’s A Tough Life
Being A Dancer…Says Flick
I first came in to dance on Top of the Pops back in 1968. Wow,
doesn’t that make me sound old?
We called ourselves Pan’s People and there were six of us. All girls. As well
as me, there was Ruth (Pearson), Dee Dee (Wilde), Louise (Clarke), Andy
(Andrea Rutherford) and Babs (Barbara Lord).
Then, after a few years, I quit dancing and took over solely as choreographer
for the troupe. And Cherry (Gillespie) came in to take over from me as a
dancer.
Now, Ruth Pearson is my partner. She looks after all the business side of
Legs & Co, while I do the choreography.
In between Pan’s People bowing out and Legs & Co coming in, we had a
spell with a group called Ruby Flipper. Remember? That was a mixed group,
with guys and girls.
We hit on Ruby Flipper when all that John Travolta stuff was around. But
after a short while, the producers didn’t think it was quite right for Top of the Pops, so we then formed the new group, Legs & Co.
We’ve been together for five years with Legs & Co. Sue (Menhenick) has
been with us longer. She’s the one remaining girl from Pan’s People.
The girls are now very much established. Thanks to the TV show, they are
known everywhere. But as well as Top of the Pops, they make guest
appearances on other TV shows, and they also do lots of cabaret work up and
down the country.
Our first commitment, though, is always to Top of the
Pops. And
that takes us three days a week. Sometimes we start rehearsals on Monday, sometimes
on Friday. It varies, according to what other work the girls may be doing
each week. Every week, the schedule can be different.
I still go through a new dance routine with the girls each week for Top of the Pops. It takes me about a day to set a number, and it takes them another
day to learn it properly. And then, on Tuesday, if the record drops in the
chart, we might have to start all over again, with a different record, and a
different dance. And that has happened, sometimes, three weeks on the trot.
Frankly, I don’t find it difficult to come up with a new dance routine. I
never stop to think of how many routines we’ve done over the years. I don’t
find it difficult, because no record we ever dance to is the same. All the
records are different, therefore the dance is different.
We get lots of letters from girls who want to be in the group, who want to
take up dancing professionally. I audition from time to time for new dancers.
I audition about once a year, whether I need anyone or not – just to have a
look around. If I see someone who is a terrific dancer, and I can’t put them
in immediately, then I put their name on my list – because these girls have
to leave some time. You are not a dancer all your life.
Over the years, I have been very careful about the kind of girls I want. I
need girls who are reliable. Most dancers are reliable, anyway. But I need
girls who are going to turn up on time, no tantrums, get on well together, be
reliable.
Chaperones? They don’t need them. I think most men are terrified of
approaching six girls, and usually they’re all together in a group. It takes
some guy to approach six girls and start with a chat!
What we do is try to help all the girls. It’s really very hard for a young
girl, maybe coming to work in London for the first time. Looking for a flat,
starting out in the big city, where does she buy her clothes from, all that.
We all help each other.
Clothes? All their clothes are very carefully chosen for the TV shows. I work
very closely with the set designer and with the costume designer. Before I
work out a single step I discuss with them what I would like for clothes and
what I would like for the set for a certain dance routine. If they say no,
that’s too expensive, then we work it out together. And then I start actually
doing the routine for the show. I need to think the whole thing out in my
head first.
The clothes the girls wear on the show are quite expensive. You can’t really
cheat on any fabric that moves. You can get away with a cheap fabric that
doesn’t move. But once it moves, it’s a dead giveaway. We also have great
problems with shoes, for instance. Lulu takes size 2 ½ shoes do you believe?
There are lots of nice shoes you can get, but they are impossible to dance
in. It’s important for the girls too look trendy and fashionable, but we’ve
also got to find shoes they can dance in.
I love my work as a choreographer. I think if people respect you, they will
stick with you.
On the other hand, I don’t think that anyone in my position has the right to be
rude to people, or be mean to people without a reason. I sometimes say
cutting or caustic remarks when we’re working, I suppose. But I think the
girls all understand me by now. I want to be tough because I think I’m only
as good as the people around me.
The lighting man comes down to talk to me, the special effects people, the
cameramen. It’s terribly important they know me and how I work, that I can
relate to them. You’ve got to appreciate all their jobs, too, and know
exactly what they do.
Picking the girls is always important. I don’t take anyone, for instance, who
is shorter than 5 feet, because they wouldn’t photograph well. With my
dancers, the tallest is 5ft 5ins. So if I took someone who is 5ft 8ins she’d
run off the end of the set, and she’d kind of stand out a bit.
I’m also looking for someone who is thin, and who looks good on camera.
Obviously a pretty girl, or at least with an interesting face. Why thin?
Because the cameras on TV put extra ‘weight’ on people. TV often makes people
look heftier than they really are. And the rest of the girls are pretty thin,
so it’s all relative.
So I’m looking for someone with a nice body, who is also young. I don’t want
anyone who is over 20, not for this job.
Also, they must be terrific dancers – not only in disco, but trained dancers.
We actually do everything, ballet, classical, tap, Hawaii. You name it, we’ve
got to have a go at it. A girl must be able to pick up a new routine in two
days. And she’s got to be somebody who, when I talk to her, seems to be
responsible and have a good head on her shoulders, and who will work hard.
Ruth Pearson is the business woman in our partnership. She does all the
business, handles all the money, all the bookings, the accounts. Ruth travels
with the girls when they go out of town on gigs. She leaves me free to do the
choreography with them. I don’t travel with them out of London. I think it’s
good for them to get away from me, and, anyway I spend more time with them
from day to day, working with them.
Really, we are a very businesslike organisation. We are not like a bunch of
finance directors, but it is important that even if it’s show business, it’s
still business. People are treated fairly. We have a monthly meeting, where
we discuss any gripes that anyone may have. We go over the statements, what
they’re all paid. They each get paid for what work they do. From the BBC,
they are all paid the same amount. But some of the girls do different jobs,
and so they are paid accordingly.
How sexy have they got to be for Top of the Pops? Well, I don’t think the
BBC want necessarily sexy dancers. But yes, there is a sex thing here. I have
a feeling that most jobs are handed out by middle-aged men. I wonder, if we
had as many women in the upper echelon of the BBC, if it would be an all-girl
dance troupe, or if they wouldn’t want some guys dancing in their as well!
But I must be fair. When we had Ruby Flipper on the show, the BBC told me
they had interviewed the audiences for Top of the
Pops, and
it was the audiences who disliked mixed groups. And the BBC is always very
fair about these things. So that’s why we brought back the girls.
If you want to work in a big organisation like the BBC, then it’s ‘give and
take’. And you have to put on TV what people want to watch.
Although I am American born, I have been here for yonks. I get back to the
states about once every two years, but although I regard England now as my
home I still have a very different mentality to most English girls.
It’s good, though, for the girls in Legs & Co. to know that both Ruth and
I have been dancers. It’s good for the girls to work for someone they know
has actually done the job.
The girls see each other, I guess, six days out of seven – unless they’re
away on holiday. But it’s not a nine-to-five job, and they do have odd days
when they have an afternoon off to go shopping.
It’s very important, with the TV show, that the viewers don’t get bored. I
don’t want them saying “Oh, not that old dance routine again!” So I’m
constantly trying to think of new ideas. This show moves fast, and you have
to build in alternatives, just in case a new idea doesn’t work.
The worst thing that’s ever happened to us? Well, I do remember one show, a
few years ago, when the girls wore tight-fitting outfits with lots of beads.
The problem was, some of the outfits didn’t fit properly, and when the girls
tried to raise their arms all the beads broke and went all over the floor.
The girls started slipping and sliding all over the place.
Dresses have been known to slip off, awkwardly. That’s always embarrassing.
It happened once on Top of the Pops to one of the girls. Her
top fell off, and of course with cameramen around and the studio full of
people things became a little frantic. But all the other girls clustered
around to ‘protect’ her, and although she was topless, she got away with it.
It’s occasions like that which make it all worthwhile. We might work hard –
but we also have a lot of laughs.
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