Choreographing a Couple of Swells
When Theatre Company ‘Lemon Squeeze’ contacted us about working on the choreography for the latest performance ‘A Couple of Swells’ MyCharleston were delighted to take part. The show is about the lives of two music hall rivals Vesta Tilley & Hetty King who became global superstars as male impersonators in the early 1900s. Vesta was in her day England’s highest earning women, whilst Hetty was reputedly the highest-paid music hall star in the world.
Vesta Tilley & Hetty King - Male Impersonators.
Whilst some archive can be found of these two legends the main inspiration came from July Andrews performance of ‘Burlington Bertie from Bow’ but what appears to be a fairly simple dance routine was in fact a big challenge.
“The time signature is in 3/4 which is a waltz” says Fiona “So at first just locking into that rhythm was a challenge, the next was finding movements which reflected the words of the song but wasn’t relentlessly acting like interpretive dance. I have to say compared to choreographing a Charleston dance, this piece took a lot longer to create which is surprising when you see it as it looks so simple. As a choreographer simplicity is the Holy Grail, my greatest inspiration is Bob Fosse because he keeps the movements so crisp and stark. So throughout the creative process my mantra was pair it down and don’t be too literal”
In this performance of Burlington Bertie, Vesta and Hetty have been thrown together as performers, so the piece needed to show them working collaboratively whilst suggesting the sense of rivalry that existed between them.
Emma and Sarah in rehearsals
“I really enjoyed working with Emma and Sarah on the rivalry factor withing this piece” Says Fiona “As performers they were quite intimidated by the taking on the challenge of a ‘dance piece’ but as we worked together we were able to be playful with the situation between them, using their difference in height to add to the comedy. The fact that Emma and Sarah had an established relationship as performers really helped in the creative process. They were willing to take risks and play with giving their weight to one another and we even created a comedy fall at the end of the piece”
As creating Burlington Bertie was taking so long, Emma and Sarah signed up for our regular Charleston class in Worthing and were able to use that to create moves for the other musical numbers in the show including “Following in Father’s Footsteps. We then looked at these in rehearsal but very little needed to be tweaked as they had done a fantastic job.
“I’ve not read the script so I am really looking forward to seeing them perform it in the festival to see how the musical numbers link together. I think the performance will be a fascinating insight into the world of male impersonators” said Fiona.
If you would like to see the show there are two performances happening in May see below for full details. If you would like choreograph for your next show, MyCharleston have worked with Theatre companies and on films creating movement and dance in a full range of styles.
Full Details:
The Walrus, (Basement), 10 Ship Street, Brighton, BN1 1AD
5th and 12th May 2023, duration 55 minutes (no interval)
Pay what you can tickets, from £5
Ticket Link - https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/a-couple-of-swells/
For a extra giggle, here is an outtake of me and Elena in rehearsals, practising Burlington Bertie: