In honour of both Black History Month and the UK’s LGBT+ History Month, let’s shine a spotlight on a key figure in Erasure’s brilliant stage shows - Les Child!
Child has had a prolific and storied career, working as a dancer, choreographer, and innovator in the arts. He danced with several groundbreaking troupes throughout the ‘70s and 80s, and also founded some of his own–including House of Child, the UK’s first voguing group. In the ‘80s, he branched out into choreography for music videos, which brought him into pop star circles, and at the dawn of the ‘90s, he set his sights on live tours.
According to his CV on HeadNod Agency, the first tour Child ever choreographed was Erasure’s Wild! Tour (1989-1990). Child was fond of Erasure’s music, and told Private Ear in 1992 that “it makes life a lot easier when it comes to choreographing a show if you enjoy the music”. He would go on to do the choreography for The Tank, the Swan, and the Balloon (1992), Cowboy (1996-1997), and The Erasure Show (2005). Indeed, Child seems to have choreographed more tours for Erasure than for any other band or artist. He also starred in Erasure’s short film “Dr. Jekyll and Mistress Hyde” (2003), and forged an enduring friendship with Andy Bell.
Child’s work with Erasure is really special to me. His choreography is undeniably dazzling on its own, and the dancers deliver it with athleticism and aplomb. But I’d also argue that it adds to the music, making it even better. My favourite example is “Love to Hate You” from The Tank. In this performance--which Bell introduces as “the gayest of gay tangos”--two pairs grace the stage: one male-male, one female-female. By the end of the song, they’ve swapped partners multiple times. (Check out video 1 and video 2 to see this in action.) When I first saw this, I was charmed. It was unexpected, yet it seemed natural: a nod to the sexual fluidity that runs through Erasure’s music and art. I feel that Child truly got Erasure, knew what made them “them”, and made it sparkle.
SOURCES:
Cover image and CV from Les Child’s page on HeadNod Agency (headnodagency.com).
“Ear to the Ground”. Private Ear, Issue 11 (1992). Retrieved via a capture of the official Erasure website (Internet Archive). December 4, 2004.
“Erasure - Dr Jekyll and Mistress Hyde (Directed By Vince Clarke)”. Original video from Erasure (Mute Records), 2003. Uploaded by Erasure Música y Amigos, retrieved via YouTube.
“Life Drawing with Sue Tilley featuring Les Child as model and muse.” Uploaded by Sue Tilley, retrieved via YouTube, November 27, 2021.
Staples, L. “From leather daddies to ‘Drag race’, dissecting the revolutionary history of the queer aesthetic.” British Vogue. July 24, 2021.
