Touring with the Spice Girls

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Sessions average twenty one dollars with insurance and some pay as little as zero dollars depending on their plan Visit growthapy dot com slash ACast today to get started. That's growthapy dot com slash Acast growrthraapy. com slash ACast Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance pl I'm Tom and we are the host of Nelywed. taking you on the journey from saying I do to getting married in August. This week we are joined by my momum, Sheila to debrief the UK hen. Yeah, it was a crazy one. It had everything from pink lims to smashing plates to face planting had everything And we get Sheila's wedding hot takes and she does not hold back Yep, you do not want to miss it. So make sure you listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hello everyone, I'm Jimmie Ling and this is Great Moments Well, hey guys, welcome back. I hope you're well. Now today's great moment is with the larger than life Louis Spence Louis's amazing. Louis instantly lit up the room when he came into the great compompany set. He's just one of those people you basically can't help but smile around. In this great moment, we talked about his natural ability for dance and how he's used it to connect with people both on stage and in everyday life. For Louis, dance has always been about so much more than being on stage. It's given him community. Okay so if you like this great moment, you'd love the full episode with Louis. You can find it in the show notes. Youve just gott to go and click on it And there's loads more episodes as well. So here it is, these great moments with Louis Spence You went to this dance school, How good were you? Honestly, does it separate yourself from your own? How good were you I think I had a natural ability. so I was lucky. I didn't have to fight for dance. I was never a triple threat as in singer. My singing was awful. I mean, I suppose I could act a bit, but the dancing, it was a natural ability. You know You could just feed it You could just feed it. I could just do it. Nothing was a struggle for me. My body had to I could do splits, I could do back fllits, I didn't have to push myself. So I had a natural a natural talent in that. Did you love it? I loved it, but it needed to be nurtured. And you know, at stage school, I must say at stage school, I didn't really learn a lot M than what I did, I think I was kept back a bit because some people weren't as advanced as me naturally. but I learned how to be, you know a fabulous gay and tap dance You know, honestly And like I say, you know, I met some incredible people. The environment was full of young like from twelve to sixteen year olds in the lower school who were just like it was like fame. It was like what you see on TV. was an Italic con? People would sing and dance and people would camp and funny and just I just learned so much about life and being with like, you know, you had the me who was there, you know, my parents scraping every penny, then you'd have people like yourself Well, not you actually, because you'd never have got in. But you'd have like three members from one family and their parents were paying for that who they would stay in their dad's flat when we're at the Barbican in Barbican. because their dad had a flat. you know, there's this real mix of people. Did you feel, especially back then It was the sense of opportunity so exciting. Yeah. Yeah like it was everything to play Yeah Yeah, because they had an agency at the school as well. So then you'd do you know, there'd be a notice come up on the board of who was going to do Grain Chill, which was a show that Yeah that as an extra. And then like as in buugsy Malone in the West End, you know, that was your first role. in the West End. Yeah. So you know about who's going audition And then when you get the job and you know, so youd go and see on the board, there's an audition coming up for I suppose now it'd be like, you know, the kids were there for the Harry Potter films or whatever You know, they'd be the audition so they'd go to all them scorms first. So it was fantastic. It was absolutely incredible. You know Was there a part of you because I think a lot of I remember acting and wanting to go into acting and being on stage and being in front of audience because I think I definitely felt a sense of a real sense like we all do of insecurity. and I thought being in front of people, being on stage where you would loved would cure a lot of things I had that was giving me some validation. Do you have any of that or you just actually just love performing? No, I just love performing. I mean, there's nothing like. I mean, I love performing because when I dance, like I say, when I did something, I did feel like sometimes like when you do things like I call it a turn for now like a pirroouette It's when you turn on one foot or something or you jump in the air, you know, or you do like I used to do lots of flips like somersault And there's a moment where you feel suspended like when you're doing some sort in the air And you feel amazing. You can literally feel yourself going through the thereir and you can see the ground and you know that you are looking amazing. I knew I was fucking great at tumbling, you know. And you just knew And that feeling that you knew you were incredibly betteret than anyone else at that point And the whole room is looking at you and they're all your peers all other people you're that little bit better than them at that. you know what I mean? There was no better feeling than. There was something that. And it wasn't it wasn't about the the applause from the audience came after with becoming lic figure and knowing that I could When I like you say, I can't help myself. When I come in here, they put me in a room downstairs which was lovely. I must say, lovely little room, nice decorations, same as wherever else. Not enough sweets in there. any tweets in there. So I thought, I'm not sitting in here. So I went straight upstairs, went straight into the room with the girls had a chat with the girls and the dog found out one of the girls went to the same school as And then you know, I went in and see the marketing team. asked my Sales was going Sales are good. I said, well, that's good And then I got to eat the new peanuts, you know, which are new, the chocolate peanut ones. And I said, my husband get me some of them from Tesgoos, but actually they're nowere near as good. I'm not just saying that. because the Tescoo ones, the chocolate's not very health and's very nice chocolate and it doesn't have the crunch. Anyway. So I just went to introduce myself and then I went up to the top office where you've got your accounts or whatever, and then you know there's a little boarddroom at the end And you've always been like this Yeah Oh I can't help. But what is what is the difference between going to? I love people. I love people. I love I love just like everyday people and I feel as though I can I know I have the ability to walk into a room. you could light it up. You could have like I say, the straightest, maybe homophobic in a sense person. and I know I could make them smile or I could do something, or I know that I could make that room laugh. and I do it in a way sometimes with shock factors But I'd never do it in a way where I'm being insulting someone or if I thought I would never pick on someone to make them feel uncomfortable to get a laugh for myself. No, you would never you would never know self downself. You know I mean? But I like that. And then I see they smile and they laugh and yeah, that gives me joy. But what was it like going to, you know, going to your school performing there but then going back to Essex Was it completely two different lives? Oh not really. Yeah, but you know, that's the thing. I didn't really used to go back. Did you not? No? I was the age of twelve. Once I was in London, that was it. And even for one of my sister's weddings, I say one of them becausecause it wasn't the first one Honor I didn't even bother going back. I was like I was living in this I love them. of course, like I say, one of my sisters lives with me as well now, do you know what I mean? She's in the annex downing to build. And you know, so we're a very close family, but at that time, didid you lose yourself in that sion? No, abbsolutely. And I'd always ring home every night and say, hello, mom, Yeahah d, what's going on? d dah Yeahah, Ladyia, love you by things like eddings thought wasn't exciting. I don't give shit about. I don't want to go and go to a fucking wedding and you know, it's like In' I couldn't be bothered, which sounds wrong because but you know, by that time, I think my sister had two kids each. anyway, they were getting married they'd al done the doght. What was the exciting?ere was flat? Where Where was the drive? What were What were you seeking? What were you after? What was more fun? Was it the party, the connection, the roles, what was it No, I mean, what staying like not going home so Yeah not going home and being there. I was just like I say, I was just I had my friends, and we had our flat and we had our world And didn would Yeah, we would do like, you know Go going to do dance class in the morning and the afternoon back shower, pick up a free fly from a gay bar. So on Monday night we'd go down to I think it was Bang which used to be a storyer on Totencourt Road. Tuesday night we'd go to Daisy Chain, which was in Brixton neverever paid to get in because you already get the flyer thing. Yeah. Wednesday night we'd go to pyramid at heaven, Thursday night we'd go to Bang, Friday night we would go somewhere else, Saturday night heaven again. you know, so it was like O work was taken up with doing class. and like I say I was in that circle of and like this community of people where like You know, just it was constant laughter and fun and you just felt there. you felt like at home, you felt like your famies you didn't want to leave that. It was too empty when you left it. When Pineapple Studio started Yeah and it blew up like that Did you expect it to blow up? No! Absolutely not. you know, we had lots of people com and talk about them and like, fuck off, you know, 'cause we' far too bus seven our fabulous own time. We didn't want people to. You you had a few people coming in say, Yeah yeah, lots of different people. You know, it's a really interesting place. We have people like know, Madonna was in there, Beyonce, you know, Spice Girl. All these people come and reheared it, all the West endnd showed. It's a great hub of you couldn't go wrong anyyway But this guy comes in and I see him like I'm standing at the reception, obviously pretending that I'm artistic director doing nothing You know, becauseuse's what I did really I just med around and did nothing just spoke to everyone, just, you know, made people smile, made sure that the people that come in that they felt welcome and all that. Anyway. This guy pulls up salt and pepper. in the hair I thought, well. And And he gets off this bike, which' was a bit worried about. It's one of those don't little foldy ones. I was like, girl no, she's like, that's too much. Anyway. So then he comes in and like I said, he had a fucking ass like two hard or bored eggs and a handkerchief, I was like Hello. I said, Laura, yeah, he wants to come and talk about S. We've got him in the office And W' was supposed sitting there looking at him like that and I'm just like You know look and he had these beautiful blue eyes and he was really quite quirky and funny and he said about wanting to do this observational documentary. And I was like, Well I'm the one you need to speak to because yeah I'm the artistic director. gave himself that title. I was never given that title. I gave myself it. And anyway, And then I sort it out with the owner, Debbie Moore OBE should be Dame, but she's not quiteet yet, but she should be. And so I spoke to her anyway. We only got him in because we thought he was quite cute. And that's the only reason we did it. Did we think he's going to be hit? No, it was on Sky. I was like, well, who ask fucking Sy. ain't on one to five. Then there was terrestrial. Who's gonna watch it? So I thought, you know, like I said, we weren't being paid Didn't give a shit You know, really didn't had no No ide did, nothing And like I say, everything we did on there was totally real. We had a cameraman with each one of us. There was no storylines given to us. There was no can you do. You were just having fun We were doing the place was a hive volve of theatrical activity. There was dancers, there were singers, there was gays, there were straight, there was bes, there was tries, there was trans. there was fucking all darling. Do you know what I mean? Literally everything was in that building and everyone was just free there. So you put a camera in there and someone just guiding it, you're going to get a great show The things we did do was like the choreograph the little dance room. Yeah, they were amazing. But apart from that, no, that was it. No. do we think you're going to be here? Absolutely not. your life is there also You doing that, you were doing Western shows. You toured with the Spice girls? Yeah, that was incredible. What I was touring with the Sice girls. It was the most incredible job because we went around the whole of North America, the whole of Europe with As dancers, dancers didn't get to do that kind of job because we always had the American artists like, you know, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Michael Jackson They always brouought dance sober. Yeah. We never had an act going had dancers that broke America I mean, the Beatles maybe broke America years ago, but before after that, there's never been somewhere what would take a group of dancers. It was always the American artist coming in here. We were treated like royalty. The girls were amazing to us, five star hotels. The gays slipped in the private jets a couple of times. Only the gays th so. It just amazing. Literally it was wonderful. Yeah, yeah. It was like, you know, it was a peak of their fame and we were like performing in front of like, you know, ninety thousand people