The Entertainer
How I got into Dancing - by Liam Collins
The bottle green nylon flares were washed and pressed, the bright yellow polyester shirt was packed neatly along with accessories, 1 afro wig, 1 afro comb, 1 bottle joke shop tooth enamel, 1 chest wig, 3 gold plated chains, gold plated bracelet, white leather loafers size 9, 2 pairs of aviator shades one in camouflage one in gold plate, both fantastically kitsch. Why am I excitedly packing these items at 7.00 into a small grey old school suitcase? I will be introduced on stage in less than one hour as Rick Savage “The Porn Star from LA” For that was my alter ego which I once assumed every Monday night and some Wednesdays at Idols bar in the Big Market in Newcastle Upon-Tyne. The bar is still there today under the same name and same management. However nowadays, a Monday night is no more packed than any other weeknight. Back in the winter of 1997 only a Saturday night would rival it on the tills takings.
My memory of ever dancing to 70s music is a little cloudy however I do remember hearing, Abba Gold for the first time whilst on a Ski Holiday at the age of 15. I remember the song Chiquitita and the piano ending striking a euphoric cord in me which may have been left as an instance had it not been for the shared enthusiasm of my best friend Noel. We fell in love with Abba and all things melodic from the disco era. Within months we were frequenting 70s theme nights, drinking cider and playing his dad’s number one hits of the 70s on an old record player and killing ourselves laughing at how great the songs made us feel. We were laughing at them whilst at the same time embracing them.
Our discovery coincided with a massive 70s revival which swept across the UK for about 4 years. DJs which were otherwise just 70s DJs locked in the past and too stubborn to move with the times were now accepted as cult figures among the disco fans. For example disco entrepreneur and head of the night “Love Train” Brutus Gold and his fellow DJ Bryan Nylon spun disco hits all night at Julie’s nightclub on a Monday night. The one thing I loved about the disco night was the lack of pretentiousness, everyone seemed to be there just to have a good time and laugh either at the music or at each other.
Noel, his brother Guy and I always fantasised about being paid as dancers at the theme nights. Our egos were rather inflated back then coupled with a deep underlying insecurity attached with youth. We loved life and felt free.
I don’t remember first seeing the film Saturday Night Fever but John Travolta’s solo scene blew us all away. It nailed in an instance precisely what we wanted; the attention, the precision of movement, the adoration of peers. We happily overlooked the fact that Travolta played the part of a boy with no ambitions, going nowhere in life who worked Monday to Friday only to blow it all on drugs alcohol and dancing on a Saturday night. It is fair to say that if ever our disco obsession had started to wane it had now been well and truly refueled. We began searching all charity shops for anything 70s. I began collecting records mostly singles like Sylvester’s “You make me feel” Anything with a high Beat per minute that we could dance to.
One night Guy and Noel were out drunk and dancing in Idols. Guy asked the manger if they were interested in taking on any dancers. They were and agreed to employ them at £3 per hour from 8-11. I was jealous when I heard of their job but really never thought of doing it myself. After about a month the lads asked me if I was interested in joining their group. They were now working Whitley Bay, Newcastle, South Shields and Sunderland.
Due to athletics and school I could not work anymore than one night per week but I was excited to give it a go. I remember getting the train to Sunderland with the lads and walking to the bar from the station. It was absolutely freezing. When we got there they sorted me out with an outfit. I was wearing the combo that would become my trademark of ridiculously tight bottle green flares, so tight that I had to hand place one testicle either side of the seam. I wore black slip-ons and a purple fitted nylon shirt. I admit I loved the figure-hugging outfit. It showed off my muscles so well. My arse cheeks looked like cannon balls.
I remember distinctly being introduced as Rick Savage and stepping onto stage. I danced between Noel and Guy copying their moves and throwing in a few of my own always trying to be precise and entertaining. I had the moon walk which no one else did which was always a crowd pleaser. I had an amazing night thrilled to see the enjoyment on people’s faces when we danced to the disco hits. We would come on in between the set acts they already had with other dancers like Car Wash, Starsky and Hutch, Mr Twister 1973-79 and many more. Each sketch was hilarious and always filthy. We would always try and make sure someone was on stage. We were quite professional on the night yet we never rehearsed any routines which in retrospect was complacent of us.
Our dancing improved and our gigs became plentiful. I could never cover the ground the guys were because of athletics and also I admit I became a bit of a diva. I would never dance in a nightclub for less than £70, which probably equates to about £200 now. Which when you consider I was probably only on stage for 40 mins was a reasonable amount. I did not think it was worth jeopardising my athletics for any less. This focus and aloofness definitely led to animosity within the troupe, which now included school friend called Ian. The guys toured around the North of England and for about 6-8 months I hung my disco plimsoles up.
I decided to start again whilst at Tynemouth College. I had left the Royal Grammar in April. I was suffering from depression and needed a new start. I had taken enough of being a little fish in a big pond of academics and my esteem was at an all time low. Moving to Tynemouth College was to this day the best decision I have ever made.
I was suddenly the Swat of the class having pupils wanting to copy my homework. I loved it. It was mixed sex which was very novel and I was studying three subjects which I loved; psychology, media studies and sports studies. I had a hunger for knowledge and was developing a work ethic which would later prove to be a template for all future endeavours. The athletics was going well I was regularly in the local press running excellent times and was chasing the qualifying time of 14.54 for The European Junior Championships in Slovenia.
I was dancing twice a week now at Newcastle on a Monday and Sunderland on a Wednesday a few months later I began dancing South Shields on a Thursday. I did now however have some clout, as we would say in Newcastle. I was the star entertainer and worth a great deal more than 12 quid a night. The management however would only go to £15. I needed the money badly as I was beginning to learn the importance of nutritional supplements and massage to recovery in athletics. Luckily a masseur in North Shields near the college had agreed to sponsor me. I will talk about John later as you may agree by his techniques he should have been paying me!
A-levels were going well, I never attended all the lectures, I found that I could take a lot more in when I studied myself. It pissed the teachers off because I still did well in exams and coursework. In the Easter of 1998 I lost the plot with revision I started seeing just how much my mind could take. I would start my stopwatch when I started and stop it for breaks. My record of concentration by the end was 14 hours! The body is a strong thing when the mind can push it. I was fuelled by a fear of not making the three Cs grades I needed to get in to Loughborough the top university in Britain for athletics. I worked damn hard but it was more the maturity with which I balanced my life which impresses me now to reflect on. I was in a full time relationship with a beautiful 5 feet 11 brunette high jump champion. I was very much in love, saw her nearly every day and still trained 5-6 days a week. My star sign falls on the cusp of Libra and Scorpio in any magazines or newspapers on the 23rd October. The balancing scales are the sign for Libra and if I have been granted the choice I was definitely a Libran at this point in my life! Life was one big balance.
As May and June unfolded races were beginning, I was training to make the European Junior Championships and exams were getting closer. I had pretty much shut down the dancing altogether now but occasionally fantasised during revision sessions of busking in London. I would draw pictures of me with my ghetto blaster and cushion flooring entertaining the masses, I was what many psychologists would call, visualising. I even started to look into it. I asked my cousin Tina in London to find out what I needed to do to street perform in London. She got back to me and told me that it wasn’t legal in Leicester Square but it wasn’t illegal either. At the time I had only ever seen street performers in London. I would later realise that I had a fantastic pitch for busking in Newcastle right on my doorstep. I would also realise that Leicester Square was the hardest pitch I would ever work financially.
Athletics was coming around nicely. However I was about to fuel my hunger for athletics further by becoming one of the unluckiest junior athletes ever! At the AAA British Junior Championships and European championship trials I blasted the heat and jogged over the line in 14.43 a big personal best and inside the qualifying time for the games! Brilliant, however my groin was so tight that I could not warm up at all for the final I had to sit and be confident that I had it in me. Richard Sear had won the other heat in 14.54. I was concerned but had to run. This was the British Championships. The gun went and straight away over hurdle one I clashed arms with the notorious Chris Hargreaves, notorious for his flailing arms, we clashed all the way down and over hurdle 9 I got so pissed off with him that I swung round and put him out the race. I dipped for the line and the hand of fate had sliced one second into a hundred pieces and placed me one of those thin slices away from gold! I was gutted but the 14.43 jogging in the heat hinted of a possible place in the final of the European Junior Champs. One week later was the English schools, the biggest most prestigious junior title to win. I was flying in the warm up, my groin had healed nicely and I was ready to have a pop at the British record of 13.77 (lower hurdles than the previous week) In the heat I was flying, too quick! My hamstrings couldn’t take it, over hurdle 9 my left one cramped and I just cleared 10 and jogged home in 14.33. I watched the other heat; Leo Barker won it in 14.35. It was a tight finish with Ben and Ian, right there on the dip. I knew I had done some damage. That night I had a hot bath, I realise now this increases internal bleeding. I should have iced and used anti-inflammatory and probably used some trigger point deep tissue massage. Now had it been a smaller meeting, I would have pulled out but, I had already earnt selection for the Junior Champs in Slovenia and Ben, my arch rival at the time was first reserve. If I could not prove my fitness in the final I would not be selected. I had lane 1. I knew that if we got away first time 110m is a long enough race to prove who is the best hurdler and not just the best starter. I could not push off the blocks at all. The gun went and I felt it spasm, then the recall gun went. A cold unsettling feeling of negativity shuddered through me, I knew I really only had one chance at this. On the second time of asking, Barker in lane 2 grabbed the best start of his life and pulled a meter on me into the first hurdle. I hurdled well and was actually starting to come into the lead but I hit 8 then 9 and I saw my dream disappear I gave it one last gasp effort off the last hurdle and dipped so low, almost under the photo finish laser beam… I got silver by 1/100 of a second to Leo Barker a relatively unknown hurdler. The time: 14.06 to my 14.07. Man had I been fit it would have been a great time that flashed up on that LCD but that’s athletics for you. 2/100 of a second had denied me 2 of the biggest junior titles.
I was shattered. Emily my girlfriend had hardly been ranked going into the champs and had suffered a terrible back injury only 2 months before and when I walked into the stadium she was on the rostrum with a gold medal! I was delighted for her. She did not have a mother, her mum had taken her life when Emily was only 4 and her dad mostly left her to her own devices working a lot of night shifts and having many different girlfriends, Emily was a survivor and had done everything on her own. I loved and admired her for that.
I ran at Slovenia and made a lot of good friends. It was an amazing experience as my first major champs but I was knocked out in heat 1 running 14.93, my season was over. Most of the team remember me, not for my performance on the track but for my nerve-racking performance in my John Travolta costume at the team meeting on the eve of the Games. The team manager had asked me to pack my kit and I did without thinking. When he asked me to perform as a demonstration of courage at the team meeting I said yes. To this day it was my most nervous performance. I did not know these people but had most of them on a pedestal due to their athletic endeavours. It went down well.
Click here to read more about Liam Collins the Entertainer and the history behind where he is now.
