Touring with the Spice Girls

Sie fahren in den Urlaub? Wir sind hier für Sie . Mit Kindern, die auf der Rückbank hitziger debattieren als im Gerichtssaal, darüber, welches Tablet lauter ist, welches Kabel schneller lädt und warum hundertmal denselben Trick für ein Gucken ein Grundrecht ist? Ja, unsere Autos sind dem absolut gewachsen. Denn egal ob Roadtrip oder Geschäftsweise, wenn ihr Flug Verspätung hat, Ihr Akku gleich aufgibt oder sich ihr Hunger danach richten muss, was gerade offen hat, ja, auch dann sind wir für Sie hier. Enterprise. Hier für Sie. Hallo everyone, I'm Jamie Lang, and this is Great moments . Well hey guys, welcome back. I hope you're well. Now today's great moments is with the larger than life Louis Spence. Louis's amazing. Louis instantly lit up the room when he came into the great company set. He's just one of those people you 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. You just gotta go and click on it, and there's loads more episodes as well. So here it is: this great moments with Louis Spence . You went to this dance school. What how good were you? Honestly, just it separate yourself from your own. How good were you? Um, I would I think I had a natural ability. So I was lucky. I 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, I could just feel it. You could just feel it. I could just do it. Nothing was a struggle for me. My body I had to flip I could do splits, I could do backflips. I didn't have to push myself. So I had a natural um a natural talent in that. Did you love it? Um 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 uh more 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 12 to sixteen year olds in the lower school who were just like it was like fame. It was like what you see on D TV. People would sing and dance, and people were camp and funny, and you just I just learnt so much about life and being with like you know you had the me who was there you know my parents graping every penny then you'd have people like yourself um 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 baricon in barbican, because their dad had a flat in barcop. You know, so there's this real mix of people. Did you feel, especially back then, was the sense of opportunity so exciting? Yeah. 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 Grange Hill, which was a show then. Yeah, yeah. Like as an extra. And then like as in Bugsley Malone in the West End, you know, 'cause that was your first ever role. Like in the West End, yeah. So, you know, about who's gonna audition and then when you get the job and you know, so you go and see on the board, there's an audition coming up for like 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 schools first. So it was fantastic. It was absolutely incredible. You know was there a part of you because I think a a lot of uh I 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 a a real sense like we all do of insecurity and I thought being in front of people, being on stage where you were 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 danced, like I say, when I did something, I did feel uh like sometimes like when you do things like I call it a turn for now, like a pirouette, 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 somersault in the air, and you feel amazing. You can literally feel yourself going through the air and you can see the ground and 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 incredi bly better than anyone else at that point, and the whole room is looking at you, and they're all your like peers, all other people, but you're that little bit better than them at that. Do you know what I mean? There is no better feeling than that. There was it wasnn''t, t about the the applause from the audience. That came after with becoming a public figure and knowing that I could like 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 decoration, same as wherever else. Not enough suites in there. Actually, I didn't see any suites in there. So I thought I'm not sitting in here. So I went straight upstairs, yeah. 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 me. And then um, you know, I went in and see the marketing team. House my sales was going, sows are good. I said, Well that's good. I'm out 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 Tesco's, but actually they're nowhere near as good. And I'm not just saying that, because the Tesco ones, the chocolate's not very healthy, and it's not very nice chocolate, and it doesn't have the crunch. Anyway, so I just went and introduced myself and then I went up to the top office where you've got your And you've always been like this. Yeah. Oh, I can't help myself. But what is the what is the difference between going to the office? I love people. I love people. I love I love just like everyday people. And I feel as though I can I I know I have the ability to walk into a room, you can light it up. You could have um, 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 factor, but I'd never do it in a way where I'm being um ins ulting someone or if I thought I I would never pick on someone to make him feel uncomfortable to get a laugh for myself. No, you would never you would never do it. It's self dedicated. You know what I mean? But I like that. And then I see they smile and they laugh and it yeah, that gives me joy. But what was it like going to the you know, going to your school, performing there, but then going back to Essex? Was it completely two different lives? Um or not really. Yeah, but you know, that's the thing. I didn't really used to go back. Did you not? No, I was at the age of 12,. yeah Once I was in London, that was it. And even for one of my sisters' weddings, I say one of them because it wasn't the first one, um, I didn't even bother going back. I was like, I was living this I l 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 darling that I had to build. Um, you know, so we're a very close family, but where at that time Did you lose yourself in that sort of Oh, absolutely, and I'd always ring home every night and say, Hello Mum, yeah, d-da, what's going on? Yeah, right, Leia, love you, bye. But things like weddings, I thought Wasn't exciting. I don't give a shit about I don't want to go and go to fucking wedding and you know, it's like I couldn't I couldn't be bothered, which sounds wrong because but you know, by that time, I think my sisters had two kids each anyway. They would get married, they'd already done the job. But what was the excitement all flat. Where was the dr where was the drive? What were you what were you seeking? What were you after? What did you what was more fun? Was it the party, the connection, the the roles? What was it? No, I mean what, staying like not going home something. Yeah, not going home and being there. I was just like I say, I was just I had my friends, um we had our flat and we had our our world. And you didn't Yeah, we would do like you know, go and do dance class in the morning and the afternoon, go 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 story on um Tottenham Court Road. Tuesday night we'd go to Daisy Chain, which was in Brixton. Never paid to get in because you already get the flyer thing. Yeah. Um 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. Um, you know, so it was like our world was taken up. We're doing class. And like I say, we're I was in that circle of um like this community of people where like you know just it was constant um laughter and and fun and you just felt there you felt at home you felt it was like your family so you didn't leave that. It was too it was too empty when you left it. When Pineapple Studio started and it blew up like that. Did you expect it to blow up? No, absolutely not. We had few, you know, we had lots of people coming and talk about it and we was like, oh fuck off, you know, because we were far too busy having our fabulous own time.. We didn't know You had a few people coming in and saying, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Lots of different people, you know, it's a really interesting place. We have people like you know, Madonna was in there, Beyonce, you know, Spice Girls, all these people come and rehearse it, all the West End showed. It's a great hub of you what y you couldn't go wrong. Anyway, 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, because that's what I did really. I just minced 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, oh no, and um and he gets off this bike, but I was a bit worried about it. It's like those little foldy ones. Yeah. 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 board eggs and a handkerchief. And I was like, Hello. I said, Laura, yeah, he wants to come and talk about safe. We've got him in the office. And um which was supposed to sit in there looking at him like that, and I'm just like you know looking and he had these beautiful blue eyes and um 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 I'm the artistic director. I gave myself that title. I wasn't ever given that title. I gave myself it. And um anyway, and then I sorted out with the owner, Debbie Moore, OBE should be dame. Um but she's not quite yet, but she should be. Um so I spoke to her and 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 it's gonna be here? No, it was on Sky. I was like, well, who has fucking Sky? If it ain't on one to five, then there was on 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 idea, nothing. No. 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 that? You were just having fun. We were doing the place was a hive of theatrical activity. There was dancers, there was singers, there was gays, there was straights, there was bias, there was triads, there was trans, there there was 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 gonna get a great show. The things we did do was like the choreograph, the little dance roots. Yeah, they're amazing. But apart from that, no, that was that was it. And no, did we think it's gonna be a hit? Absolutely not. Man, your life is saying because also I you you doing that, you were doing Western shows, you toured with the Spice Girls? Yeah, that was incredible. What was touring with the Spice Girls? It was the most incredible job because we went around uh the whole of North America, the whole of Europe with um 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 brought dance over. But we never had an act going there. 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 artists coming here. Um, 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 though. Uh just amazing. Literally they they it was it was wonderful. It was it was they tried And this was like the peak. Yeah, yeah. It was like you know, it was the peak of their fame and we would like performing in front of like, you know, ninety thousand people, you know, did Madison Square Gardens. Um, literally we went we went everywhere. And they were they were a joy to work with. They really were. And uh like I say, you've never I know the spices only lasted for a short period, but the amount of stuff they did in that period would last some people a lifetime. I swear to God, those girls didn't have time to fart. Did they not? They were constantly doing an interview, if having their makeup done doing a radio interview, doing a voiceover for this. They would fly from Paris to um uh Norway after a show to do an interview there, fly back that night, and the next morning before the show, fly there. They you've never honestly, I'm surprised any of them are sane . They they you know, they deserve everything they got. They worked incredibly, incredibly hard. And they were amazing to work for. Is it as glamorous as you think or is it not as glamorous when you pull back the curtain? No, of course it's not as glamorous because I mean , you know, I think I'm sure that if you spoke to any of those girls, they they wouldn't have had any time while they were doing that to enjoy anything, because they didn't have any time. So I'm sure that, you know, there's lots of glamour come for them after. Um for us it was glamorous, you know, meeting Madonna and Prince and Michael Jackson and that was glamorous for us, but we were just the dancers minting through. We didn't have to then, you know, do all this work and do everything they had to do. Why did you stop being a professional dancer? Because I got to after Smise Girls, uh the last job I did was Magical Mr. Mistopheles in Cats, which I was I think I was twenty-eight when I finished that. Um I'd done my first like West End show when I was 12. Yeah. And I just thought You were tired. I was just thought I don't want to be one of them old hoofers trying to stay behind. Now the pop group dropped coming up after the Spice Girls if I was doing commercial they were gonna be like 17 18 I didn't want I'd I'd done it I'd done West End I'd done um commercial lots of commercial stuff and I just didn't I just I lost I loved to dance, but I lost the passion of I didn't want to be that old