lovegod

Rosie Hetherington



Lets make this a thread, not just for "Pans People"
but for any female dance troupe that danced to pop records
on TV...ie "Legs and Co..." Hot Gossip,
even "the Young Generation..." if anyone's got any pics !

Lets face it, any girl who can dance up on stage , in front of an audience , has got to be a bit special.
They have usually been training for years to be able to do what
they do, up there on stage, or in the TV studios.
They deserve all the fame and success that comes their way.


Pan's People were a British TV dance troupe who became a
feature of the pop show........." Top of the Pops."




In an era before pop videos, they danced to songs when the
artists were not available to perform them live. They were
not the first dance troupe to appear regularly on TOTP -
they were preceded by The Go-Jo's in the programme's
early days, before Pan's People replaced them in May 1968.
The original Pan's People line-up consisted of:

Louise Clarke
Felicity "Flick" Colby
Barbara "Babs" Lord
Ruth Pearson
Andrea "Andi" Rutherford
Patricia "Dee Dee" Wilde



Babs Lord


At the end of 1972, Andi Rutherford left Pan's People to
raise a family, and was replaced by Cherry Gillespie.


In a 1976 edition of Top Of The Pops, Blue Peter presenter
Lesley Judd (a former member of dance troupe
The Young Generation) became a sixth Pan's Peoplette
for a one-off routine. The backstage rehearsals were
then shown on Blue Peter a few weeks later.



Eventually...in October 1976 the dance group
" Legs and Co " got the gig at Top of the Pops

lovegod

Lulu Cartwright
Gillian Clarke
Patti Hammond
Rosie Hetherington
Susan Menhenick
Pauline Peters

Rosie was a student at the Italia Conti stage school,
and Pauline, the first black female dancer to appear as
a member of a dance troupe on Top of the Pops, had
appeared on stage in various West End productions.



Rosie Hetherington


Although Pan's People are more fondly remembered
by past TOTP viewers, the original Legs & Co. line-up
stayed together longer than any of the various Pan's People
line-ups.
Legs and Co made their first appearance on 21 October 1976,
dancing to the Average White Band's "Queen of My Soul".


Hot Gossip
Hot Gossip were a British dance troupe most notable
for their appearance on the TV series The Kenny Everett
Video Show, which aired on ITV in 1978.
Their overtly sexual dance routines were taking things
to a new level on TV .......and all before the 9 o clock
watershed !
It was created and choreographed by Arlene Phillips.
The sexually suggestive dance routines, moves, gestures
and costumes used by the troupe were considered very risqué,
especially considering the early evening timeslot.
Hot Gossip are often keen to claim that
these risqué dance routines were not simply a result of
the television programme and that they performed such
dances since they were formed, four years before
The Kenny Everett Video Show first aired.

lovegod

lovegod

Hot Gossip also made a couple of pop
records, featuring a "Sarah Brightman" on lead vocal.
They scored a hit with....." I Lost My Heart To a
Starship Trooper," a lightweight disco track that
cashed in on the media hype surrounding the original
Star Wars film.
They went on to record an album in the early 1980s................ "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls
........... The album was a commercial failure.

Dancers who performed with Hot Gossip
at one time or another before they disbanded in 1986
include Heather Alexander, Debbie Ash, Debbie Astell,
Bunty Bailey, Bonnie Bryg, Richard Bodkin,
Lindsay Cole, Titian Deakin, Lorraine Doyle,
Annie Dunkley, Penni Dunlop, , Donna Fielding,
Carol Fletcher, Debbie Fox, Judey Ford, Donette Goddard,
Nicky Hinkley, Laura James, Richard Lloyd King,
Sarah Miles, Sinitta Renet, Lyndsey Ward,

lovegod

Carol Fletcher ( right )

rskershaw

Are the Rolly Pollys allowed?

Steve Crook

What about a "Where are they now?"

Barbara "Babs" Lord married Robert "Jesus of Nazereth" Powell in 1975. They had 2 children and then she went and did a few stages of the BT Challenge round-the-world yacht race

And Sarah Brightman of course married Lord Andrew of Lloyd Webber in 1984 but they divorced in 1990 after which she didn't get quite so many roles in Lloyd Webber musicals

Steve

lovegod

Never knew that Leslie Judd was a dancer with.."The Young Generation "

oxfam1uk

She was, and I think I remember the episode where the Blue Peter team (Noakes, Purves and Singleton) filmed a sequence trying to be dancers with the group (they were hopeless, of course).
Presumably the producer of Blue Peter noticed Leslie Judd in the group and decided she could be a good replacement for the rather mumsy Val Singleton.

lovegod

wot show were the young generation dancers in ?
wot dates etc ?

PaulPlowman

I'm far too young to remember any of the groups you mention (except the Rolly Pollys :-O), but I've had a great laugh at the pictures!

<- Insert witty comment here ->
ukonscreen.com

Mark O

I remember 'Wae wae wong'.........wasn't she a Dancer with the 'Young Generation'?

Mark

batman

Wei Wei Wong lives here in Norwich. She runs a dance studio.

Bats.

There are 31 excellent quizzes to bamboozle you on the Quiz Page. Just click on the 'Quick Links' icon and scroll down!

oxfam1uk

Pan's People made their own "In Concert" programme for BBC2. It's pretty good and sophisticated, though there are a few silly routines too. What's noticeable is that Babs Lord is about half a second behind the others in most of the routines - a bit like Corporal Jones coming to attention in "Dad's Army" !
Someone has posted the most famous (or infamous?) routine from this programme on you-know-what:

YouTube - Pans People - Buddy Miles Experience 1974

(Some might feel this clip not to be work-safe)

Always been a "Louise man", myself ...

lovegod

thanks for the link, but I wish people would post on
veoh vid rather that you tube
go here
Online Video: Pan's People Dance To Nilsson - Without You [totp2] | Veoh Video Network

the vids are easy to download and you get the real deal
not you tube flash rubbish

I can download you tube vids but you feel you re
getting a watered down, poor quality vid

at veoh you re getting the full quality