Pan's People

History

Pan's People were formed in December 1966 in London by five ex-members of the Beat Girls. With the addition of a new member, they were set up as a sextet, they regularly appeared on television series in the UK and the Netherlands. Their earliest BBC television appearance was in 1968 on The Bobbie Gentry Show, broadcast initially on BBC2 and repeated later on BBC1. Other BBC series followed, including Happening For Lulu in 1969 as well as The Price of Fame starring Georgie Fame and Alan Price.

Following an open audition, two dancers (Dee Dee and Ruth) from the troupe were invited with others to dance on Top of the Pops by choreographer Virginia Mason in 1968 for a routine to "Simon Says" by the 1910 Fruitgum Company. This was followed by a further routine featuring just three members of Pan's People (Dee Dee, Ruth and Flick), and subsequently the entire sextet appeared in a routine set to "US Male" by Elvis Presley.

Members

Following a number of changes in the line-up during their first year, Pan's People were:

Colby gradually stood down from dancing towards the end of 1971 to concentrate full-time on choreographing the group's routines. At the end of 1972 Rutherford left Pan's People initially on maternity leave, and was replaced by Cherry Gillespie. In mid-1974 Clarke left Pan's People to start a family; Sue Menhenick was selected to succeed her at an open audition.

Further personnel changes within the troupe occurred during 1975, when Lord, and then Wilde, left the group. When Lord departed, two members joined the troupe, Mary Corpe (who had been a member of The Young Generation) and Lee Ward.

The line-up by the time of Pan's People's final routines for Top of the Pops in April 1976 was:

The 26 September 1975 issue of Reveille reported that Dee Dee was 28, Sue 20, Ruth 29, Cherry 20, Mary 17, and Lee 19.

Shortly before the group made their last appearance on Top of the Pops in the spring of 1976, dancer and TV presenter Lesley Judd became a temporary member of the group for a one-off routine, dancing to Rodrigo's Guitar Concerto De Aranjuez by Manuel and the Music of the Mountains. The rehearsals and behind-the-scenes footage of the routine were featured on Blue Peter.

Work outside TOTP

Among other television series Pan's People appeared on were:

Surviving Top Of The Pops appearances

Pan's People performed at a time when the BBC routinely wiped the videos of the Top Of The Pops shows to save money on new tapes and because it wasn't thought that anyone would want to watch the shows again. However, organisations such as the BFI and Kaleidoscope have spent time searching archives and as a result many recorded dance routines have been rediscovered. More recently they have found roughly 40 lost dances on home video tapes and have extracted digital footage from the very fragile analog tapes. A private collector is known to have recorded several more of the missing routines. Estimated video survivals by year:

Life after TOTP

Even after their departure from Top of the Pops Pan's People were much in demand for personal appearances. Dee Dee Wilde continued to dance with and manage a new group of girls under the name Pan's People: Pauline Crawford, Abigail Higgins, Patricia McSherry, Francesca Whitburn and Sarah Woollett. Also members for a short time during this period were the future Hot Gossip dancers Sarah Brightman and Carol Fletcher.

Babs Lord married actor Robert Powell and became an amateur yachtswoman and world explorer, with several trips to the Himalayas, the Sahara, both Poles and the jungle in Guyana. By 2013 she had visited both the North and South Poles. Lord was the subject of BBC's This Is Your Life in November 2001. She appeared on the final regular weekly edition of Top of the Pops on 30 July 2006, the only member of any of the show's dance troupes to appear in person at the recording.

Top of the Pops continued to use professional dancers until 1981, with Colby remaining as the show's choreographer through the entire period. Pan's People were followed by a group called Ruby Flipper, which featured male and female dancers. However, there was pressure to return to the all-girl format, and after six months a new troupe was created, named Legs and Co. after a viewer competition to choose a name. Both Gillespie and Menhenick from Pan's People featured in Ruby Flipper, with Menhenick going on to join Legs & Co. Pearson was Legs & Co's manager. Legs & Co performed every week on the show until 1981, when they were replaced by Zoo, a large troupe of dancers from which individual members could be selected to perform each week, depending on the song. Flick Colby became the 'Dance Director' for Top Of The Pops at this time. By the early 1980s Zoo's role had shifted towards leading the audience, and eventually the group was disbanded, some members remaining in the crowd as strategically placed 'cheerleaders'.

In 1997 Gillespie appeared as a panellist on Channel Five's nostalgia quiz Wowfabgroovy.

Patricia 'Dee Dee' Wilde eventually married composer and musician, Henry Marsh.

Colby died of bronchial pneumonia as a result of cancer on 26 May 2011, at the age of 65.

Clarke died of heart failure on 24 August 2012 at the age of 62.

In November 2013, Signum Books released the autobiography 'Pan's People: Our Story,' authored by Babs Powell, Ruth Pearson, Dee Dee Wilde, Cherry Gillespie and writer Simon Barnard.

In April 2014 Babs, Sue, Dee Dee and Ruth reunited to model clothes for isme.com

Rutherford died after a long illness on 3 December 2015 at the age of 68.