Louie Spence: How I Found My People | GREAT MOMENTS

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2:39Hello everyone, I'm Jamie Lang 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 is amazing Louis instantly lit up the room when he came into the Great Company 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.

3:20You just got to go and click on it. And there's loads more episodes as well. So here it is. There's great moments with Louis Spence. You went to this dance school. How good were you? Honestly, just 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, I was very fortunate. You could just feel it. You could just feel it. I could just do it. nothing was a struggle for me.

3:49My body, I had to, 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 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 16 year olds in the lower school who were just like it was like fame it was like what you see on you'd see this is at the tally contour people would sing and dance and people were camp and funny and you 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 um well not you actually because you've never 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 but you know so there's a real mix of people did you feel especially back then was the sense of opportunity so exciting yeah like it was everything to play for yeah because they had an agency at the school as well so then you'll 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 there, like as an extra.

5:16And then like I think Bugsley Malone in the West End, you know. Because that was your first ever role. Like in the West End, yeah. So, you know, who's going to audition? And then when you get the job and, you know, so you'd go and see on the board, there's an audition coming up for, I suppose now it'd be like, you know, if the kids were there for the Harry Potter films or whatever, you know, there'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 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 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 dance 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, where 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.

6:17And 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 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, 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 was no better feeling than that.

6:47There was something there. And it wasn't about the applause from the audience. That came after with becoming a public figure and knowing that I could, 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. I didn't see any sweets 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 me.

7:17And then, you know, I went in and see the marketing team. I asked my sales, I 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 kept 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 nice chocolate and it doesn't have the crunch. Anyway, so I just went and introduced myself. Then I went up to the top office where you've got your accounts or whatever. And then, you know, there's a little ballroom at the end.

7:43And you've always been like this. Yeah. Oh, I can't help myself. But what is the difference between going to that? I love people. I love people. I love just like everyday people. And I feel as though I can, I know I have the ability to walk into a room. And 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 factor, 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.

8:23No, you would never, you would never do it. It's more on myself. You know what 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? Or not really? Yeah. Well, you know, that's the thing. I didn't really used to go back. Did you not? No. So from the age of 12. Once I was in London, that was it. And even for one of my sister's weddings, I say one of them because it wasn't the first one. I didn't even bother going back.

8:50I was like, I was living this. I love them. Of course, like I say, one of my sisters is with me as well now. Do you know what I mean? She's in the annex, darling, that I had to build. You know, so we're a very close family. But 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, what's going on? Yeah, right, Leah. Love you. Bye. But things like weddings, I thought... Wasn't exciting. I don't give a shit about it. I don't want to go and do a fucking wedding. And, you know, it's like I couldn't be bothered, which sounds wrong because...

9:22But, you know, by that time, I think my sisters had two kids each anyway. They were getting married. They'd already done the deed. But what was the excitement? Where was the... Where was the drive? 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, not going home so much. Yeah, not going home and being there. I was just, like I say, I had my friends, and we had our flat, and we had our world. And you didn't want to leave it? Yeah, we would do, like, you know, go and do dance class in the morning and the afternoon.

9:54Go 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 Tottenham Court Road. Tuesday night, we'd go to Daisy Chain, which was in Brixton. Never paid to get in because you were to get the flyer thing. 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 our world was taken up. We're doing class. And like I say, I was in that circle of this community of people where it was constant laughter and fun.

10:35And you just felt there. You felt at home. You felt like your family. So you didn't want to leave that. It was too empty when you left it. When Pineapple Studios started and it blew up like that, did you expect it to blow up? No, absolutely not. We had lots of people come in and talk. I was like, oh, fuck off. Because we were far too busy having our fabulous own time. We didn't want people to - You had a few people coming in 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.

11:00All these people come and rehearse. All the West End showed. It's a great hub of, 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 an 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 and um and he gets off this bike what i was a bit worried about it's one of 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 boiled eggs and a handkerchief i was like hello i said laura yeah he wants to come and talk about so 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 i'm the artistic director i gave myself that title i was never given that title i gave myself it and um anyway and then i sorted out with the owner debbie moore obe should be dame and but she's not quite yet but she should be and 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 going to be hit no it was on sky i was like well who has fucking sky If it ain't on 1 to 5, you know, ultra-restrials, who's going to watch it?

12:20So 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 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 trans, there was, there was fucking all darling. Do you know what I mean? Literally that everything was in that building and everyone was just free there.

12:55So 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 choreographed, the little dance routine. Yeah, they were amazing. But apart from that, no, that was, that was it. No, did we think it's going to be here? Absolutely not. Man, your life is insane. Cause also I, you're 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 the whole of North America, the whole of Europe as dancers. Dancers didn't get to do that kind of job because we always had the American artists like Janet Jackson, Madonna, Michael Jackson.

13:30They always brought dance soap. But we never had an act that had dancers that broke America. I mean, the Beatles maybe broke America years ago. But after that, there's never been somewhere what would take a group of dancers. It was always the American artists coming 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 though uh just amazing literally they they it was wonderful it was it was they 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 90 000 people you know did madison square gardens um literally we went we went everywhere and they They were a joy to work with.

14:12They really were. And like I say, you've never... I know the Spice Girls 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, having their makeup done, doing a radio interview, doing a voiceover for this. They would fly from Paris to Norway after a show to do an interview there, fly back that night, the next morning before the show fly there that 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 mincing 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 spice girls i the last last job I did was Magical Mr.

15:31Mistoffelis in Cats, which I was, I think I was 28 when I finished that. I'd done my first West End show when I was 12. And I just thought - You were tired. I just thought, I don't want to be one of them old hoofers trying to stay behind. Now the pop group drop coming up after the Spice Girls, if I was doing commercial, they were going to be like 17, 18. I didn't want, I'd done it. I'd done West End. I'd done lots lots of commercial stuff. And I just didn't, I just, I lost, I loved to dance, but I lost the passion. I didn't want to be that old person trying to hang on. I get it. And like I say, I went to work at Pineapple in a place which I loved.

16:11I loved being surrounded by all the people I loved, dancers, actors, singers. I was in the hub of, so I was in a place that I was still very comfortable and very happy. And there was always something going on. So it was perfect. And like I say, then Pineapple Dance Studios and the rest is history. Too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da-da, too-da -da. Pool days call for cookouts and lots of laundry. This Memorial Day at Lowe's. Save$80 on a Charbroil Performance Series 4-Burner Gas Grill. Now just$199.

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