Paul Harris (choreographer)

Paul Harris is an English choreographer, dance teacher and movement director in film, television and theatre. His notable works include the famous laser scenes for Catherine Zeta-Jones in the movie "Entrapment", the BAFTA Award-winning "Bleak House" and the wand fight sequences in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". In the theatre, he choreographed the 50th-anniversary production of John Osborne's "The Entertainer" at London's Old Vic. He is also a successful author of dance books, having written "Salsa and Merengue - The Essential Step by Step Guide" and several dance syllabi. Harris is an acknowledged authority and leading choreographer in historical dance, period dance, tango, salsa, swing dance, ballroom dancing, latin american dancing, theatre dance and movement direction. He is the winner of the 2008 Carl Alan Award for choreography.

Early career

Born in St Helens, Harris began dancing at the age of eight and as a dancer, was one of the most successful Juvenile and Junior competitors ever in ballroom dancing. He won the British Open Championships at the Blackpool Dance Festival in both ballroom and Latin American dancing - as well becoming United Kingdom, international and West European champion.

On turning professional, he studied jazz dance, tap dancing, historical dance and classical ballet and won the British Exhibition (Theatre Arts) title. He retired from competitive dancing to study acting at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London and on graduating, he played leading roles in British television and theatre, including major national tours of three West End productions. His roles during this period included A-Rab in "West Side Story", Dill in "To Kill a Mockingbird", Edmund in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", William H. Bonney in "Billy The Kid", Scranton Slim in "Guys and Dolls" and Catsmeat in "Snow White" with the late Marti Caine.

In the 1990s, he played a role as a Latin American dance champion on the BBC television drama "Casualty", for which he choreographed the dance sequences himself. This was spotted by a leading UK dance agent and led to his career in choreography.

As a choreographer

In 1997, Harris was asked to look at a script for a British movie with a view to choreographing the dance sequences. Following a single conversation with the director, he realised that combining his two backgrounds of dancing and acting was the direction in which he should take his career. Since then, Paul Harris has become the one of the UK's most prolific choreographers in film and television. He has been responsible for the choreography on several big budget movies, including "Entrapment", "Inkheart", "The Other Boleyn Girl" and in 2006, Harris devised the physical language and created the choreography, for the wand-to-wand combat sequences in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". [ [http://www.paulharris.uk.com/Updated/biography.html About Paul Harris] ]

Harris has also choreographed many of British television's most highly acclaimed, award-winning dramas of the last decade including "Bleak House", "The Way We Live Now", "To the Ends of the Earth", "Jane Eyre", "The Sins", "Poirot", "A Touch of Frost", "William and Mary" and the hit UK comedy "My Family" with the English star Robert Lindsay. This led to Harris being the choreographer of the 2007 critically acclaimed revival of John Osborne's "The Entertainer" at the Old Vic theatre, with Lindsay as Archie Rice. Other notable credits in theatre include being the Movement Coach on the 2007 production of "Gaslight", also at the Old Vic, a guest dance tutor for the Royal Shakespeare Company on "Two Gentlemen of Verona" and choreographing productions such as "A Family Affair", "The Rivals", "As You Like It" and "David Copperfield".

Harris co-choreographed Disney's "The Cheetah Girls 2" with its director Kenny Ortega, having been brought in at Ortega's request, specifically to choreograph the tango sequence which was shot in Barcelona. The tango Harris choreographed, was described by Ortega in a Dcom Extra interview, as "the most exciting and demanding dance sequence he had ever shot".

Among the notable actors Harris has created choreography for are Catherine Zeta-Jones, Scarlett Johansson, Gary Oldman, Sam Neill, Natalie Portman, Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes. The directors he has most often worked with are David Yates and Dowie Humphreys; he has worked with both directors four times.

Teaching

As a dance teacher, Harris has devised the dance module of the BA (Hons) Acting at four London drama schools. He is a dance tutor at The Actors Center in London and teaches dance at the Central School of Speech and Drama, the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts and the Italia Conti Academy. He was the main dance coach in the "Kick boxer to Dancer" episode of the BAFTA-award-winning "Faking It" and he has coached and choreographed for world champions in showdance, salsa, ballroom dancing and Argentine tango including several of the professional dance teachers from British television's "Strictly Come Dancing" and "Strictly Dance Fever". He also teaches internationally, particularly in South East Asia, where he has helped to develop dance in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. Harris has appeared as a guest dance expert on television in England and in Asia, to discuss choreography and dance styles as diverse as salsa, Argentine tango, Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, 19th century dance, historical dance and dancesport.

Harris is a Fellow and Examiner of the United Kingdom Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dancing, as well as an Honorary member of the British Association of Teachers of Dancing, and an Honorary Lifetime member of the Philippine Professional Dance Teachers Association. He has adjudicated at many international dance championships, including the prestigious Blackpool Dance Festival and he is a licensed adjudicator with both the World Dance Council and the International DanceSport Federation.

"Salsa and Merengue - The Essential Step by Step Guide" was written by Paul Harris and published in 1998. It is considered a definitive work of its kind in the dance industry and is the basis of the syllabi Harris has written in merengue, salsa and mambo, for the International Dance Teachers Association (IDTA), the British Association of Teachers of Dancing (BATD), the National Association of Teachers of Dancing (NATD) and the United Kingdom Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dancing (UKA). The book played a pivotal role in the history of salsa in the UK, particularly in the formation of the (then) new Club Dance Division of the UKA. This development, for the first time, enabled teachers of salsa in Britain, to gain a recognised professional teaching qualification. In addition to this, Harris wrote the UKA's course guide for drama schools in 19th & 20th century social dance and co-founded their Historical Dance Faculty.

In 1996, Harris founded London Theatre of Ballroom, who are dedicated to preserving and progressing ballroom dancing as performing art. They enjoyed a critically acclaimed six month run at London's Cafe de Paris are still Britain's only Ballroom based theatre company. Their repertoire, choreographed entirely by Paul Harris, consists of shows based on swing, tango, Latin dancing, vintage dance and American smooth (Hollywood style partner dancing). Famously, Dr. Heather Clark, who later saved a man's life by opening his heart on the floor of a pub, was a founder member of London Theatre of Ballroom. [Gledhill, Ruth. (May 8, 1999) "The Times" "Being a fast mover matters; Interview; Heather Clark". Section: Features; Page 2.] She continued to dance with the company until 2001. [Groskop, Viv. (May 6, 2001) "Daily Express" "People think I'm a heroine doctor but I still cry when I see "Animal Hospital". Dr Heather Clark saved a man's life by operating on him in a pub but this livewire medic, skilled dancer, TV pundit and extreme sports fanatic says she's just ordinary."] ĘρΣΌΎς

Works

Television dramas and films

Commercials

Stage and trade shows

References

External links

* [http://www.paulharris.uk.com Official website of Paul Harris]
* [http://www.londontheatreofballroom.com London Theatre of Ballroom]
* [http://www.bailamos-dance.com Bailamos Dance School]