Arlene Phillips

Current Role

Arlene Phillips has had a passion for dance and choreography since an early age. When, after attending Dance School, she was given the opportunity to take her performance to a professional level she put every effort she had into making herself successful.

Arlene is probably most recognisable as being one of the four judges on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. After the success of Strictly..., she went on to judge another showStrictly Dance Fever, and has since presided over the BBC's DanceX talent show alongside Bruno Tonioli.

It was revealed in January 2008 that Arlene would be choreographing ITV1's new musical drama Britannia High. This new programme, which is set to challenge the success of America's High School Musical is being cast by David Ian and is featuring music by none other than Gary Barlow from Take That.

There are currently three shows running in the West End that Arlene has choreographed. These include such box office smashes as: Grease, The Sound Of Music and We Will Rock You.

Early Life

Arlene was born in 1944 in Manchester. When aged just 15, Arlene had to overcome the personal tragedy of having her mother die. Arlene decided not to let this hardship ruin her chances at a career in the arts and so used It to further fuel her drive and ambition. Arlene herself has often claimed that it was this tragedy that gave her the push she needed to become one of the world's most successful choreographers.

She trained as a dancer at the Muriel Tweedy School of Dance where she discovered her passion for performance. It was only after her long career on stage that Arlene concentrated her attention on working behind the scenes.

Career Highlights

In 1975 Arlene Phillips created a dance group named Hot Gossip, which significantly changed the style of dance people were used to seeing on British television. She then went on to produce the original choreography for many West End shows, music videos and TV programmes.

Arlene has choreographed countless commercials in Britain, Europe and the USA, including:

• Dr Pepper
• 7-Up
• Coca-Cola
• Levi Jeans
• Burger king
• Vidal Sassoon
• Yellow Pages
• American Express

Her videos include working with:

• Aretha Franklin
• Robbie Williams
• Freddie Mercury and Queen
• The Bee Gees
• Duran Duran
• Erasure
• Boy George
• Whitney Houston
• Elton John
• Cliff Richard
• Diana Ross
• Tina Turner

Interesting Facts

• Arlene got her first showbiz break when she was a babysitter for director Ridley Scott, who went on to use her as a choreographer in an ice-cream commercial shown on British television.
• She was awarded the OBE in the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to dance.
• Often cited as being one of the more generous TV judges, Arlene has given 25 "10s" to various dancers on Strictly Come Dancing.

Awards

She was nominated for a Tony Award for "Best Choreographer" in 1987 for her production of Starlight Express. She was also nominated in 1999 for "Best Theatre Choreographer" for her production of Saturday Night Fever.