Lindsay Kemp is a British dancer, actor, teacher, mime artist and choreographer.
Born in South Shields on May 3, 1938, Kemp's father, a seaman, was lost at sea in 1940.[1] According to Kemp, he danced from early childhood: "I'd dance on the kitchen table to entertain the neighbours. I mean, it was a novelty in South Shields to see a little boy in full make-up dancing on pointe. Finally it got a bit too much for my mother, and she decided to send me to boarding school at the age of eight, hoping that it would knock some sense into me."[1]
Kemp's mother moved away from South Shields, and Kemp attended Bearwood College, near Wokingham, a school for the sons of merchant seaman.[1] He and his mother later moved to Bradford, Yorkshire where Kemp attended Bradford Art College before studying dance with Hilde Holger and mime with Marcel Marceau.
Kemp formed his own dance company in the early sixties and first attracted attention with an appearance at the Edinburgh Festival in 1968. Kate Bush and David Bowie[2] were students of Kemp and, briefly, members of his company, Bowie as a performer, Bush as a wardrobe assistant.
Kemp's style of performance, a blend of Butoh, Mime, Burlesque, Drag and Music Hall, has at different times been described as fascinating, colourful and self-indulgent, but rarely fails to attract critical acclaim and a loyal fanbase. His many stage performances include Pierrot In Turquoise, Turquoise Pantomime, Crimson Pantomime, Clowns, Legends, Flowers, Salome, Mr Punch's Pantomime, A Midsummer Night's Deam, Duende, Nijinsky The Fool, Facade, The Big Parade, Alice, Onnagata, Cinderella, Varieté, Dream Dances, and, for Ballet Rambert, Parades Gone By (1975) and Cruel Garden (1977). He staged and performed in David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust concerts at London's Rainbow Theatre in August 1972, and, with Jack Birkett (see below), appears in the promotional video for Bowie's single "John, I'm Only Dancing" (dir. Mick Rock). Kemp’s film roles include a supporting role in the Kate Bush short film The Line, the Cross & the Curve (1994), a dancer and cabaret performer in Derek Jarman’s Sebastiane (1976) and Jubilee (1977) respectively, a pantomime dame in Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine (1998) and the pub landlord Alder MacGregor in Anthony Shaffer's The Wicker Man (1973).
During the early 1970s, Kemp was a popular and inspirational teacher of dance/mime with a regular two and a half hour session at the Dance Centre in Floral Street, Covent Garden.
Lindsay Kemp now lives near Rome, Italy.