Flick Colby

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Flick Colby (23 March 1946 – 26 May 2011), born Felicity Isabelle Colby, was an American dancer and choreographer best known for being a founder member and the choreographer of the United Kingdom dance troupe Pan's People which was a fixture on the BBC 1 chart show Top of the Pops from 1968 to 1976.

Early life

Born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, her father was Thomas E. Colby, Professor of German at Hamilton College,[1] Clinton, Oneida County, New York and she grew up there and in Massachusetts.[2] Educated at a school in New Hampshire and Abbot Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Colby began attending ballet and other dance classes in Boston and performed in musicals before travelling to London in 1966.[3]

Top of the Pops career

Colby was a founding member in December 1966 of Pan's People. After a few changes of line up, by December 1967 the troupe comprised Dee Dee Wilde, Babs Lord, Louise Clarke, Andrea Rutherford and Ruth Pearson.[4] They first appeared on Top of the Pops in April 1968, and became a regular weekly feature in 1969.[2] They also appeared on several other BBC programmes including The Two Ronnies.

After 1971, she concentrated on choreography for Pan's People, and then from 1976 with new troupes she put together for TOTP named Ruby Flipper, Legs & Co. (with Ruth Pearson) and Zoo. She also choreographed the rock musical Catch My Soul, and co-wrote an instructional book, Let's Go Dancing (1979).[2] Later, Colby returned to the United States and lived in Clinton. There, she married George Bahlke,[3][5] a professor of literature, and ran a gift shop, Paddywacks.[2]

Personal life

Colby married three times: first to Robert Marasco,[4] then to James Ramble in 1967, and finally to George Bahlke in 2003 until his death in February 2011.[1][3][5] In the last years of her life, she suffered from breast cancer and died of bronchopneumonia[5] aged 65[6] at her home in Clinton.[5] She was survived by a brother and a sister.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mike Debraggio (February 1, 2011). "Professor of English Emeritus George Bahlke Dies". Hamilton College. Retrieved 2011-05-31. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Chris Wiegand (May 30, 2011). "Flick Colby obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-05-31. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Spencer Leigh Obituary: Flick Colby, The Independent 31 May 2011
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 PansPeople.com Flick Colby: Her Story in Words and Pictures
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Pan's People co-founder Flick Colby dies aged 65", Daily Telegraph, 29 May 2011
  6. ↑ Obituary, The Times, 30 May 2011, p42

External links

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