Arlene Phillips

Arlene Phillips
Background information
Born	22 May 1943 Manchester, UK
Occupation	Choreographer
Years active	1976-present
Known for	Theatre Choreographer Television Personality
Associated acts	Hot Gossip Duran Duran Elton John
Choreographer / Theatre Director

Arlene Phillips OBE (born 22 May 1943) is an English choreographer, theatre director, talent scout and former dancer, whose work has included choreographing "The Wild Boys" music video for Duran Duran.

Biography

Born in Manchester, UK, Arlene began her career as a dancer but came to prominence as the choreographer of the raunchy Hot Gossip troupe featured on The Kenny Everett Show. Her big breakthrough came when after studying dance in Manchester she went to London and got a job babysitting for director Ridley Scott, who asked her to choreograph on some of his ads. She went on to choreograph numerous videos, commercials, films and musicals including Saturday Night Fever, which she also directed.

Other acclaimed choreography include the musical Grease, the concert tour of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and assisting David Zolkwer, artistic director of the opening and closing ceremonies at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, UK.

Arlene is also known to the British public as one of the judges on Just The Two Of Us, Strictly Dance Fever and Strictly Come Dancing. In 2009, the BBC announced that Arlene was stepping down from the panel of judges on Strictly Come Dancing, but would appear on The One Show (includes The One Show: 17 November 2010 with Duran Duran).

A Selection of credits

Theatre Direction and Choreography:

• Starlight Express
• Saturday Night Fever
• The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Black Goes With Everything

Theatre Choreography:

• Flashdance
• The Sound of Music
• Grease
• We Will Rock You
• Joseph (US tour)
• Jesus Christ Superstar (US tour)
• Matador
• A Clockwork Orange (R.S.C.)

Arena and Concert Direction:

• Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour
• Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance
• The James Bond Gala

Ceremonies:

• Director of Choreography for the Manchester XVII Commonwealth Games
• Staging of Sarah Brightman and Jose Carreras in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games Official Theme
• Amigos Para Sempre

Music Videos:

• AC/DC
• Bee Gees
• Duran Duran
• Erasure
• Aretha Franklin
• Boy George
• Whitney Houston
• Joan Jett
• Elton John
• Kiss
• Freddie Mercury
• George Michael
• Queen
• Cliff Richard
• Diana Ross
• Tina Turner
• Robbie Williams