Pan's People
![September 1966: Beat Girls picture showing original Pan's People dancers; from left, Dee Dee Wilde, Lorelly Harris, Babs Lord, Flick Colby and Penny Fergusson. Dancer and choreographer Diane South, who was never in Pan's People, is almost completely obscured at the back.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/BeatGirls1966.jpg)
Pan's People succeeded the Go-Jos in May/June 1968 as the second dance troupe to make monthly appearances on ''Top of the Pops'', when the series aired in black-and-white. They became a weekly feature of the programme following its revamp and time extension in January 1970 and continued for the next six years, giving their last performance in April 1976 when they were replaced by the short-lived Ruby Flipper, also choreographed by Colby. As a result of line-up changes, only one dancer, Ruth Pearson, appeared on the whole run.
Due to their weekly exposure on British television the group acquired a high profile, and in addition as a result of the increasing number of preserved recordings from 1973 onwards, the 'classic' line-up which existed from 1972 to 1974 is still widely recognised today. The dancers in this line-up were:
Felicity "Flick" Colby (23 March 1946 – 26 May 2011)
Babs Lord (born 1945) – member 1966–1975
Dee Dee Wilde (born 1946) – member 1966–1975
Ruth Pearson (13 July 1946 – 27 June 2017) – member 1967–1976 and choreographer on some shows 1967–1970
Louise Clarke (3 September 1949 – 25 August 2012) – member 1967–1974
Cherry Gillespie (born 1955) – member 1972–1976
Colby danced as a member of Pan's People from 1966 to 1972, and remained its principal choreographer throughout their existence, from 23 March 1946 to 26 May 2011. Provided by Wikipedia
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1by Nick Scott, S. Azfar Hussain, Rowan Martin-Hughes, Freya J. I. Fowkes, Cliff C. Kerr, Ruth Pearson, David J. Kedziora, Madhura Killedar, Robyn M. Stuart, David P. WilsonGet access
Published in Malaria Journal (2017)
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