Taylor Swift’s BRITs dancer: “It’s strange Madonna’s dancers didn’t help her”
Okay, so Madge stole the Brits when she hit the floor like a sack of potatoes, but earlier on in the show, squeaky clean princess of pop Taylor Swift practically tea-leafed the show from under everyone’s noses with her slinky performance of Blank Space.
Oh, can you imagine what it must have been like to be up there dancing with the Swift herself? We know a man who does: Our old mate Glenn Ball, who stripped off for us in our NAKED issue. No sooner was he off stage, we nabbed him for a chinwag to find out how he and Taylor hooked up:
Glenn in the buff in our new Naked Issue, out now.
We thought you’d given up dancing, Glenn. How did you get involved in Taylor’s routine?
Well, When Taylor Swift asks you to come out of retirement I think you have to! Actually, one of my old agents in London put me up for it because he was providing the dancers for the performance. When Taylor and her team said they wanted me, he then had to persuade me to do it. For two years I’ve been just choreographing so it was strange to then be in a performance – but, you know what? I really enjoyed it. Though I did give strict instructions to the creative team I wasn’t going to dance though. It was nice to not sweat and still have a starring role.
What was Taylor like – is she fun and easy going or is she Madonna-type strict? How long did you rehearse for?
I had never met her before the rehearsal period so I didn’t know what to expect. She was great though, she’s a very hard worker and she took the performance very seriously. She was really up for having fun and joking around too, plus up close and personal she’s a stunner!
Glenn and Tay-Tay rocking the BRITs last night.
Did you get to hang out with her backstage?
We did briefly afterwards. Everyone was excited with how well the performance had done so we celebrated a bit before she had to go to her table. I was just happy with the fact I made it on my spot on the right time! How bad would that be if I missed my bit?
What did you make of the Madonna fall? None of the dancers seemed to react to her fall – were they just being professional?
Its funny you mention the dancers’ reaction because I have watched it a couple of times since and find that bit very odd that they didn’t grab her and help her up. Maybe because it was planned? Controversial. Everyone is talking about it though so planned or not planned it worked!
The most talked-about moment of the night…
You’ve toured with many big stars as a dancer…
I’ve worked with people like Kylie, Mariah Carey, Scissor sisters, Lionel Richie, Girls Aloud and loads more. I did once work with Take That but I was sacked. This was devastating at the time but now looking back I can laugh. The Take That boys were rehearsing for Royal Variety and we were sat in the palladium auditorium seats waiting to dance for them on the next number. I was talking about tracksuit trousers randomly with another dancer and saying I thought a particular design was “crap” All of a sudden I had a tap on the leg from TakeThat’s manager, Jonathon. He said he had heard what I said about Mark Owens voice being “crap” and he that he wasn’t happy. I explained I hadn’t even been listening to their sound check and he may have made a mistake but he was sure I had said it. Jonathon was always super protective over his childhood friend, Mark and I never danced for them again!
Find out more about Glenn at Dance in Disguise and Glen Ball Official.
You can read another interview with Glenn, and see his naked shoot, in our Naked Issue, now available to download to your mobile, iPad or tablet device at Pocketmags.com/Attitude.