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Wayne Sleep
Wayne Philip Colin Sleep OBE (born 17 July 1948) is a British dancer, director, choreographer, and actor who appeared on the BBC series The Real Marigold on Tour and ITV's The Real Full Monty.
Wayne Sleep was born in Plymouth, Devon. His mother enrolled him at an early age with Geraldine Lamb Dance School, where he studied tap and jazz, wanting to be the next Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire rather than a ballet dancer. He and his family moved to Hartlepool in around 1951 and spent 10 years there. He lived at Friar Terrace on the Headland and attended Baltic Street Junior School. He began ballet lessons in Hartlepool in 1955 with Muriel Carr, before gaining a Leverhulme Scholarship to the Royal Ballet School in 1961 and joining the Royal Ballet in 1966 and becoming a senior principal dancer performing globally.
At 157 cm (5 ft 2 in), Sleep was the shortest male dancer admitted into the Royal Ballet School. Because of his diminutive stature, many directors were reluctant to cast him in traditional male lead roles. As a result, many roles were created for him by noted choreographers, including Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, Ninette de Valois, Joe Layton, Rudolf Nureyev, Gillian Lynne and John Neumeier. Sleep is often chosen for character roles because of his unusual physique. In 1982, Andrew Lloyd Webber adapted his Variations album as the second half of stage show Song and Dance for Sleep. Sleep created the role of Mr. Mistoffelees in Lloyd Webber's musical Cats in London's West End at the New London Theatre on 11 May 1981.
In 1973, he established a world record by doing an entrechat-douze, a jump with 12 beats of the feet, on the British television programme Record Breakers. This record still stands. Sleep later jumped from an aircraft for charity, after being challenged by presenter Roy Castle who said: "I’m going to beat your record and you've got to beat mine for tap dancing (the most taps in one minute) – but on my terms"... the joke being that Castle was able to perform multiple entrechats while falling, whereas Sleep was unable to perform a single tap in mid-air.
As an actor, Sleep's credits include Tigger in Winnie the Pooh[clarification needed] and Villiers in The Virgin Soldiers. He also appeared as himself in The Goodies episode "Football Crazy". Sleep's choreography credits include David and Goliath.[clarification needed]
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1981 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews following a performance of the musical Cats at the New London Theatre.[citation needed]
Sleep is remembered for having danced with Diana, Princess of Wales at the annual Christmas party of the Friends of Covent Garden at the Royal Opera House in 1985.
In 2003, Sleep appeared in the reality-TV series I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. In the 2005/06 pantomime season, he appeared in Beauty and the Beast at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. Sleep [when?] completed a tour of Magic of the Musicals with Marti Webb and Robert Meadmore, as well as appearing as a judge on BBC One's Strictly Dance Fever.
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Wayne Sleep
Wayne Philip Colin Sleep OBE (born 17 July 1948) is a British dancer, director, choreographer, and actor who appeared on the BBC series The Real Marigold on Tour and ITV's The Real Full Monty.
Wayne Sleep was born in Plymouth, Devon. His mother enrolled him at an early age with Geraldine Lamb Dance School, where he studied tap and jazz, wanting to be the next Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire rather than a ballet dancer. He and his family moved to Hartlepool in around 1951 and spent 10 years there. He lived at Friar Terrace on the Headland and attended Baltic Street Junior School. He began ballet lessons in Hartlepool in 1955 with Muriel Carr, before gaining a Leverhulme Scholarship to the Royal Ballet School in 1961 and joining the Royal Ballet in 1966 and becoming a senior principal dancer performing globally.
At 157 cm (5 ft 2 in), Sleep was the shortest male dancer admitted into the Royal Ballet School. Because of his diminutive stature, many directors were reluctant to cast him in traditional male lead roles. As a result, many roles were created for him by noted choreographers, including Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, Ninette de Valois, Joe Layton, Rudolf Nureyev, Gillian Lynne and John Neumeier. Sleep is often chosen for character roles because of his unusual physique. In 1982, Andrew Lloyd Webber adapted his Variations album as the second half of stage show Song and Dance for Sleep. Sleep created the role of Mr. Mistoffelees in Lloyd Webber's musical Cats in London's West End at the New London Theatre on 11 May 1981.
In 1973, he established a world record by doing an entrechat-douze, a jump with 12 beats of the feet, on the British television programme Record Breakers. This record still stands. Sleep later jumped from an aircraft for charity, after being challenged by presenter Roy Castle who said: "I’m going to beat your record and you've got to beat mine for tap dancing (the most taps in one minute) – but on my terms"... the joke being that Castle was able to perform multiple entrechats while falling, whereas Sleep was unable to perform a single tap in mid-air.
As an actor, Sleep's credits include Tigger in Winnie the Pooh[clarification needed] and Villiers in The Virgin Soldiers. He also appeared as himself in The Goodies episode "Football Crazy". Sleep's choreography credits include David and Goliath.[clarification needed]
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1981 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews following a performance of the musical Cats at the New London Theatre.[citation needed]
Sleep is remembered for having danced with Diana, Princess of Wales at the annual Christmas party of the Friends of Covent Garden at the Royal Opera House in 1985.
In 2003, Sleep appeared in the reality-TV series I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. In the 2005/06 pantomime season, he appeared in Beauty and the Beast at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. Sleep [when?] completed a tour of Magic of the Musicals with Marti Webb and Robert Meadmore, as well as appearing as a judge on BBC One's Strictly Dance Fever.