Dame Arlene Phillips has built a career captivating audiences with choreography. She knows that in order to do your best creative work, you have to have a sense of humour. If you take yourself too seriously, you will never be able to create the things you are passionate about.
“I think creativity and humour go side by side.”
As a legendary dancer, Phillips knows that self-expression is an important part of life. For Phillips, humour is the greatest way for people to express themselves. Laughter is the key for people to share their passions and connect with others.
“I am totally keen on trying to give everyone the opportunity to express themselves, everyone to have an opportunity to feel that they can they can get involved. And yes, lightness and humour in a workplace is definitely beneficial. You know, humour and laughter is good for the endorphins. Without question, you release things so much, by just allowing yourself to laugh and everybody else to laugh.”
As a judge on shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Strictly Come Dancing and a recent stint in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity, Arlene has had the opportunity to share a laugh with audiences around the country. As a creative choreographer and dancer, she knows just how important it is to captivate an audience. Much of her work has included an unexpected sense of humour. Phillips knows that when you get an audience laughing, you have them captivated.
“I think the funniest people have grown up in funny households, where laughter is present every day, where quick wit and smartness is used as a part of life. So, they grow up with humour inside them, that’s ready to come out.”
Arlene has choreographed some of the world’s most iconic films and videos for diverse diva from Tina Turner to Whitney Huston and Aretha Franklin to Elton John. Working with Monty Python, she has also delivered the dazzling dance routine for what I consider the most hilarious comedy song on film ever in Every Sperm Is Sacred.
Listen in this week as Dame Arlene Phillips connects comedy, creativity, and choreography in a wonderful conversation about performance and passion with me Paul Boross, only on The Humourology Podcast.
