Paul Harris (choreographer)
Encyclopedia
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.
, 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 3 times English Champion, United Kingdom, International and West European Champion and placing in the first 3 of every major competition, including the World Championship as an adult.
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.
Since then, Paul Harris has become one of the UK's most prolific choreographers and dance instructors 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
.
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
. Notable directors he has worked with are David Yates
and Dowie Humphreys; he has worked with both directors four times.
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, Paul 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 dance, 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. She continued to dance with the company until 2001. ĘρΣΌΎς
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
choreographer
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
, dance teacher and movement director in film, television and theatre. His notable works include the famous laser scenes for Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
in the movie Entrapment
Entrapment (film)
Entrapment is a 1999 American caper film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.-Plot:Virginia "Gin" Baker is an investigator for Waverly Insurance. Robert "Mac" MacDougal is an international art thief. A priceless Rembrandt painting is stolen from an office one...
, the BAFTA Award-winning Bleak House and the wand fight sequences in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a 2007 fantasy film directed by David Yates and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the fifth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Michael Goldenberg and produced by David Heyman and David Barron...
. In the theatre, he choreographed the 50th-anniversary production of John Osborne
John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre....
's The Entertainer
The Entertainer (play)
The Entertainer is a three act play by John Osborne, first produced in 1957. His first play, Look Back in Anger, had attracted mixed notices but a great deal of publicity. Having depicted an "angry young man" in the earlier play, Osborne wrote, at Laurence Olivier's request,about an angry middle...
at London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
. 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
Historical dance
Historical dance is a collective term covering a wide variety of dance types from the past as they are danced in the present....
, period dance, tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
, salsa
Salsa (dance)
Salsa is a syncretic dance form with origins in Cuba as the meeting point of Spanish and African cultures.Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms such as solo dancing "suelta" and "Rueda de Casino" where multiple couples exchange partners in a circle...
, 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 HelensSt Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
, 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
Blackpool Dance Festival
The 8-day Blackpool Dance Festival is the world's first and most famous annual ballroom dance competition of international significance, held in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England since 1920. It is also the largest ballroom competition: in 2003, 1539 couples from 54...
in both Ballroom and Latin American dancing, as well becoming 3 times English Champion, United Kingdom, International and West European Champion and placing in the first 3 of every major competition, including the World Championship as an adult.
On turning professional, he studied jazz dance
Jazz dance
Jazz dance is a classification shared by a broad range of dance styles. Before the 1950s, jazz dance referred to dance styles that originated from African American vernacular dance. In the 1950s, a new genre of jazz dance—modern jazz dance—emerged, with roots in Caribbean traditional dance...
, tap dancing, historical dance and classical ballet
Classical ballet
Classical Ballet is the most formal of the ballet styles, it adheres to traditional ballet technique. There are variations relating to area of origin, such as Russian ballet, French ballet, British ballet and Italian 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
Academy of Live and Recorded Arts
The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts is a British drama school situated on Wandsworth Common, South West London and in Wigan, Greater Manchester making it the only CDS drama school to offer identical training at two separate institutions across The United Kingdom...
in London and on graduating, he played leading roles in British television and theatre, including major national tours of three West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
productions. His roles during this period included A-Rab in West Side Story, Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature...
, Edmund in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. Published in 1950 and set circa 1940, it is the first-published book of The Chronicles of Narnia and is the best known book of the series. Although it was written and published first, it is second in the series'...
, William H. Bonney in Billy The Kid
Billy the Kid
William H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...
, Scranton Slim in Guys and Dolls and Catsmeat in Snow White
Snow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
with the late Marti Caine
Marti Caine
Marti Caine, born Lynne Denise Shepherd was an English actress, dancer, presenter, singer, writer, and comedienne who gained fame from the television talent show New Faces and became a major variety star....
.
In the 1990s, he played a role as a Latin American dance champion on the BBC television drama Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
, 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 one of the UK's most prolific choreographers and dance instructors in film and television. He has been responsible for the choreography on several big budget movies, including Entrapment
Entrapment (film)
Entrapment is a 1999 American caper film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.-Plot:Virginia "Gin" Baker is an investigator for Waverly Insurance. Robert "Mac" MacDougal is an international art thief. A priceless Rembrandt painting is stolen from an office one...
, Inkheart
Inkheart
Inkheart is a young adult-child fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke, and the first book of the Inkworld trilogy....
, The Other Boleyn Girl
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Other Boleyn Girl is a historical fiction novel written by British author Philippa Gregory, loosely based on the life of 16th-century aristocrat Mary Boleyn. Reviews were mixed; some said it was a brilliantly claustrophobic look at palace life in Tudor England, while others have consistently...
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
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling, and was published on 21 June 2003 by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic in the United States, and Raincoast in Canada...
.
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
The Way We Live Now (2001 TV serial)
The Way We Live Now is a 2001 four-part television adaptation of the novel by Anthony Trollope. The serial was first broadcast on the BBC and was directed by David Yates, written by Andrew Davies and produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark...
, To the Ends of the Earth
To the Ends of the Earth
To the Ends of the Earth is a trilogy of novels by William Golding, consisting of Rites of Passage , Close Quarters , and Fire Down Below...
, Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre (2006 TV serial)
Jane Eyre is a 2006 television adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name. The story, which has been the subject of numerous television and film adaptations is based on the life of the orphaned titular character...
, The Sins
The Sins
The Sins is a television series from 2000. It was directed by David Yates, Sallie Aprahamian and Simon Curtis and written by William Ivory. It centres on Len Green , a former bank robber and getaway driver, who has retired from the criminal life and joined the undertaker's run by his uncle...
, Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
, A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....
, William and Mary
William and Mary (TV series)
William and Mary is an ITV Scotland-based romantic comedy drama, starring Martin Clunes as William Shawcross, an undertaker, and Julie Graham as Mary Gilcrest, a midwife. Its title refers to its two principal characters and is a cultural reference to the reign of the English monarchs William and...
and the hit UK comedy My Family with the English star Robert Lindsay
Robert Lindsay (actor)
Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...
. This led to Harris being the choreographer of the 2007 critically acclaimed revival of John Osborne's The Entertainer
The Entertainer (play)
The Entertainer is a three act play by John Osborne, first produced in 1957. His first play, Look Back in Anger, had attracted mixed notices but a great deal of publicity. Having depicted an "angry young man" in the earlier play, Osborne wrote, at Laurence Olivier's request,about an angry middle...
at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
theatre, with Lindsay as Archie Rice. Other notable credits in theatre include being the Movement Coach on the 2007 production of Gaslight
Gaslight
Gaslight may refer to:* Gas lighting, the use of flammable gas such as natural gas as a light source* Gaslighting, a form of psychological abuse* Gas Light a Patrick Hamilton stage play...
, also at the Old Vic, a guest dance tutor for the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
on Two Gentlemen of Verona and choreographing productions such as A Family Affair, The Rivals
The Rivals
The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775.- Production :...
, As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
and David Copperfield
David Copperfield (novel)
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery , commonly referred to as David Copperfield, is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a novel in 1850. Like most of his works, it originally appeared in serial...
.
Harris co-choreographed Disney's The Cheetah Girls 2
The Cheetah Girls 2
The Cheetah Girls 2 is the 2006 sequel to the Disney Channel Original Movie, The Cheetah Girls. Its premiere received the highest ratings of all Disney Channel Movies at its time, a total of over 8.1 million viewers, beating the premiere ratings of High School Musical , and beating previous highest...
with its director Kenny Ortega
Kenny Ortega
Kenneth John "Kenny" Ortega is an American producer, director, and choreographer. He is known for directing the High School Musical trilogy and Michael Jackson's This Is It concert tour.-Life and career:...
, having been brought in at Ortega's request, specifically to choreograph the tango sequence which was shot in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. 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
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
, Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson is an American actress, model and singer.Johansson made her film debut in North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo . She rose to further prominence with her roles in The Horse Whisperer and Ghost World...
, Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
, Sam Neill
Sam Neill
Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....
, Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman
Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...
, Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
and Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
. Notable directors he has worked with are David Yates
David Yates
David Yates is an English filmmaker who rose to mainstream prominence directing the final four films in the Harry Potter film series. He helmed the series' fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth installments, all of which became an instant blockbuster success and made him the most commercially...
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 CenterThe Actors Center
The Actors Center, New York City, was founded in 1996 by J. Michael Miller. It was established on the concept that established actors need to continue to develop their craft in relation to their growth as human beings...
in London and teaches dance at the Central School of Speech and Drama
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
, the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts
Academy of Live and Recorded Arts
The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts is a British drama school situated on Wandsworth Common, South West London and in Wigan, Greater Manchester making it the only CDS drama school to offer identical training at two separate institutions across The United Kingdom...
and the Italia Conti Academy
Italia Conti Academy
The Italia Conti Academy is a theatre arts training school based in London. It was founded in 1911 by actress Italia Conti...
. He was the main dance coach in the "Kick boxer to Dancer" episode of the BAFTA-award-winning Faking It
Faking It
Faking It was a television programme originating on Channel 4 which has spawned various international remakes, including a US version which began in 2003 on the TLC network...
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
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
and Strictly Dance Fever
Strictly Dance Fever
Strictly Dance Fever is a British television programme, broadcast on BBC One on Saturday evenings. It was an amateur dance talent competition, hosted by Graham Norton, which ran during Spring 2005 and Spring 2006. It was, in many ways, similar to the BBC's popular Strictly Come Dancing, a celebrity...
. He also teaches internationally, particularly in South East Asia, where he has helped to develop dance in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. 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
Lindy Hop
The Lindy Hop is an American social dance, from the swing dance family. It evolved in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s and '30s and originally evolved with the jazz music of that time. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based...
, West Coast Swing
West Coast Swing
West Coast Swing is a partner dance with roots in Lindy Hop. It is characterized by a distinctive elastic look that results from its basic extension-compression technique of partner connection, and is danced primarily in a slotted area on the dance floor...
, 19th century dance, historical dance and dancesport
DanceSport
Dancesport denotes competitive ballroom dancing, as contrasted to social or exhibition dancing. It is wheelchair dancesport where at least one of the dancers is in a wheelchair....
.
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
World Dance Council
The World Dance Council Ltd , is a registered limited company, and the legal successor to the International Council of Ballroom Dancing, and was established at a meeting organised by P.J.S Richardson on 22 September 1950 in Edinburgh...
and the International DanceSport Federation
International DanceSport Federation
The World DanceSport Federation , formerly the International DanceSport Federation , is the international governing body of dancesport and Wheelchair DanceSport, as recognised by the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee .Originally founded in 1957 as the...
.
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
Merengue (dance)
Merengue El camino1ro de Secundaria-In popular culture:* Merengue was mentioned as a song performed between Babs and Charlie in the song by Steely Dan....
, salsa and mambo
Mambo (dance)
Mambo .In the late 1940s, Perez Prado came up with the dance for the mambo music and became the first person to market his music as "mambo". After Havana, Prado moved his music to Mexico, where his music and the dance was adopted. The original mambo dance was characterized by freedom and...
, for the International Dance Teachers Association
International Dance Teachers Association
The International Dance Teachers Association is a leading dance teaching and examination board based in Brighton, England. Operating internationally, the IDTA is one of the largest dance teaching organisations in the world and currently has over 7,000 members in 55 countries...
(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
Social dance
Social dance is a major category or classification of danceforms or dance styles, where sociability and socializing are the primary focuses of the dancing...
and co-founded their Historical Dance Faculty.
In 1996, Paul 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 dance, 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. She continued to dance with the company until 2001. ĘρΣΌΎς
Television dramas and films
| Year | Type | Title | Production |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Film | Inkheart Inkheart Inkheart is a young adult-child fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke, and the first book of the Inkworld trilogy.... |
New Line Cinema |
| 2007 | Film | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a 2007 fantasy film directed by David Yates and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the fifth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Michael Goldenberg and produced by David Heyman and David Barron... |
Warner Bros |
| The Other Boleyn Girl | Columbia Pictures | ||
| Mister Lonely Mister Lonely Mister Lonely is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Harmony Korine, and co-written with his brother Avi Korine.-Plot:A young American man living in Paris scratches out a living as a Michael Jackson look-alike, dancing on the streets, public parks, tourist spots and trade shows. During a show in... |
O' Salvation Films | ||
| Love and Other Disasters Love and Other Disasters Love and Other Disasters is a 2006 romantic comedy produced by Ruby Film, Europa Corp. and Skyline Films presented at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2008, it had its UK premiere in London as the gala screening for the BFI 22nd London Gay and Lesbian Film Festival... |
Skyline | ||
| Television drama | Sense and Sensibility Sense and Sensibility (2008 TV serial) Sense and Sensibility is a 2008 British television serial adapted by the BBC from Jane Austen's novel of the same name. It was written by Andrew Davies and directed by John Alexander. The serial was aired on BBC One in three parts on 1, 6 and 13 January 2008. It aired the United States in two... |
BBC | |
| 2006 | Television movie | The Cheetah Girls 2 The Cheetah Girls 2 The Cheetah Girls 2 is the 2006 sequel to the Disney Channel Original Movie, The Cheetah Girls. Its premiere received the highest ratings of all Disney Channel Movies at its time, a total of over 8.1 million viewers, beating the premiere ratings of High School Musical , and beating previous highest... |
Disney |
| Television drama | Jane Eyre Jane Eyre (2006 TV serial) Jane Eyre is a 2006 television adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name. The story, which has been the subject of numerous television and film adaptations is based on the life of the orphaned titular character... |
BBC | |
| 2005 | Television drama | Bleak House | BBC |
| To the Ends of the Earth To the Ends of the Earth To the Ends of the Earth is a trilogy of novels by William Golding, consisting of Rites of Passage , Close Quarters , and Fire Down Below... |
BBC | ||
| According to Bex According to Bex According to Bex is a British sitcom that aired on BBC One in 2005. Starring Jessica Stevenson, it was written by Katie Douglas, Julia Barron and Fred Barron, who also created My Family and After You've Gone... |
BBC | ||
| Agatha Christie's Poirot Agatha Christie's Poirot Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios... - "The Mystery of the Blue Train" |
Granada | ||
| 2004 | Television drama | The Second Quest | YTV |
| 2003 | Television drama | A Touch of Frost A Touch of Frost (TV series) A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield.... - "Another Life" |
YTV |
| William and Mary William and Mary (TV series) William and Mary is an ITV Scotland-based romantic comedy drama, starring Martin Clunes as William Shawcross, an undertaker, and Julie Graham as Mary Gilcrest, a midwife. Its title refers to its two principal characters and is a cultural reference to the reign of the English monarchs William and... |
Granada | ||
| 2002 | Short film | Dream Thief | Salad Films |
| 2001 | Television drama | The Way We Live Now The Way We Live Now (2001 TV serial) The Way We Live Now is a 2001 four-part television adaptation of the novel by Anthony Trollope. The serial was first broadcast on the BBC and was directed by David Yates, written by Andrew Davies and produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark... |
BBC |
| I Was a Rat | BBC | ||
| 2000 | Short film | Trick of the Light Trick of the Light Trick of the Light is a single released by The Triffids from their album Calenture. It was produced by Gil Norton and written by David McComb. The B-Side "Love the Fever" was co-written by David McComb and Adam Peters and was produced by Adam Peters and was recorded in August 1986... |
Zephyr Films |
| Television drama | The Sins The Sins The Sins is a television series from 2000. It was directed by David Yates, Sallie Aprahamian and Simon Curtis and written by William Ivory. It centres on Len Green , a former bank robber and getaway driver, who has retired from the criminal life and joined the undertaker's run by his uncle... |
BBC | |
| My Family | BBC | ||
| 1999 | Film | Entrapment Entrapment (film) Entrapment is a 1999 American caper film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.-Plot:Virginia "Gin" Baker is an investigator for Waverly Insurance. Robert "Mac" MacDougal is an international art thief. A priceless Rembrandt painting is stolen from an office one... |
20th Century Fox |
| 1998 | Film | The Tichborne Claimant | The Bigger Picture Co. |
Reality TV shows
| Title | TV Network | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Faking It Faking It Faking It was a television programme originating on Channel 4 which has spawned various international remakes, including a US version which began in 2003 on the TLC network... |
Channel 4 | Mentor/Dance teacher |
| 11th Hour | BBC | Personal appearance in tango and swing features |
| Open House | Channel 5 | Personal appearance in salsa feature |
| GMTV GMTV GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end... |
LWT | Personal appearance in salsa feature |
Theatre
| Title | Theatre | Director | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaslight Gaslight Gaslight may refer to:* Gas lighting, the use of flammable gas such as natural gas as a light source* Gaslighting, a form of psychological abuse* Gas Light a Patrick Hamilton stage play... |
Old Vic Old Vic The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian... |
Peter Gill Peter Gill (playwright) Peter Gill, theatre director, playwright and former actor, was born in Cardiff, Wales, on 7 September 1939, son of George John Gill and his wife Margaret Mary .He was educated at St Illtyd's College, Cardiff.-Career:... |
Movement coach |
| The Entertainer The Entertainer (play) The Entertainer is a three act play by John Osborne, first produced in 1957. His first play, Look Back in Anger, had attracted mixed notices but a great deal of publicity. Having depicted an "angry young man" in the earlier play, Osborne wrote, at Laurence Olivier's request,about an angry middle... |
Old Vic | Sean Holmes Sean Holmes Sean Holmes is a British theatre director and, from spring 2009, artistic director of London’s Lyric Hammersmith.-Early career:Sean Holmes took a masters degree at King's College, London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in text and performance... |
|
| Two Gentlemen of Verona | Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across... |
Fiona Buffini | Dance coach |
| Flight of the Swan | Royal Opera House Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The... (Linbury) |
Rob Swain | |
| A Family Affair | Royal Bath Tour | Andy De La Tour Andy de la Tour Andy de la Tour is an English actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in such films as Plenty, Notting Hill and the Roman Polanski version of Oliver Twist. He has also written or appeared in such television series as Boon, The Young Ones, Bottom, Peak Practice and Kavanagh QC... |
|
| Wallflowering | National Tour | Jennie Darnell | |
| As You Like It As You Like It As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility... |
Embassy Theatre Embassy Theatre (London) The Embassy Theatre is a theatre at 64, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London.- Early years :The Embassy Theatre was opened as a repertory company in September 1928 on the initiative of Sybil Arundale and Herbert Jay., when the premises of Hampstead Conservatoire of Music were adapted by architect... (Central) |
Martin Wylde | |
| Dancing at Lughnasa Dancing at Lughnasa Dancing at Lughnasa is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in Ireland's County Donegal in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator... |
Mountview Theatre | Andrew Jarvis Andrew Jarvis -Biography:Andrew Harry Jarvis was born in Magouliana, Greece, on April 7, 1890 and immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. He arrived in New York and then went to Lowell, Massachusetts where he stayed with distant family while working in a mill to learn English at the pay of $3.50 a week... |
|
| The Rivals The Rivals The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775.- Production :... |
Mountview Theatre | Glen Walford | |
| The American Clock The American Clock The American Clock is a play by Arthur Miller. The play is about 1930s America during The Great Depression. It is based in part on Studs Terkel's Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression. The play premiered on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre on November 11, 1980; closing on November 30,... |
Mountview Theatre | Natalie Wilson | |
| David Copperfield David Copperfield (novel) The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery , commonly referred to as David Copperfield, is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a novel in 1850. Like most of his works, it originally appeared in serial... |
ALRA Theatre | Stuart Wood Stuart Wood Stuart Taylor Wood, CMG served as the ninth Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, from March 6, 1938 to April 30, 1951.-Early life and career:... |
|
| The Mill on the Floss The Mill on the Floss The Mill on the Floss is a novel by George Eliot , first published in three volumes in 1860 by William Blackwood. The first American edition was by Thomas Y... |
ALRA Theatre | Janette Smith | |
| The Erpingham Camp The Erpingham Camp The Erpingham Camp is a 1966 play by Joe Orton, originally written for television.A farce in which a respectable group of English campers are innocently pleasuring themselves at a 1960s holiday camp before catastrophe strikes and they find themselves fighting against the camp's demonic, rigid,... |
ALRA Theatre | Finetime Fontayne | |
| Cuban Suite | Kyushu Ballet Festival | Paul Harris |
Commercials
| Name | Production | Director |
|---|---|---|
| Grease is the Word | ITV ITV ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK... |
Simon Mitchell Simon Mitchell Simon Mitchell is a New Zealand physician specializing in occupational medicine, hyperbaric medicine and anesthesiology. Trained in medicine, Dr Mitchell was awarded a PhD for his work on neuroprotection from embolic brain injury. Mitchell has also published more than 45 research and review... |
| British Tourist Authority | Pink Productions | Michael Geigan |
Stage and trade shows
| Year | Title | Production | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Fox Promotional Screen Test at Cannes Film Festival Cannes Film Festival The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals... |
20th Century Fox 20th Century Fox Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios... and Stella Artois Stella Artois Stella Artois is a 5% ABV lager brewed in Leuven, Belgium since 1926. In the UK, Canada and New Zealand a 4% ABV version is also available.-Production:... |
Geraldine Maloney |
| 2002 | London Boat Show | Sealine | Paul Harris |
| 1999 | London Boat Show | Sealine | Paul Harris |
| 1998–2006 | Miss Philippine | Alfanti Productions | Paul Harris |
| 1997 | Miss China | CNE | Peter Chen |
| The Delfont Awards | Grosvenor Productions | Alex Clayton | |
| The Half Monty | Inch High Productions | Paul Harris and Warwick Davis |