Top 75 Arlene Phillips Quotes

TV is a cruel mistress; you can’t afford to fail in any way.

I was passionate about ‘Strictly.’ I was passionate about it in every way, but the one thing that I always felt I did was give good advice as to how the contestants could improve.

I don’t want to wear frumpy clothes just because I’m 70. I want to look good.

Sometimes I’ll feel content dieting – if I could only bottle that feeling!

Certainly after ‘Strictly’ I was in a very vulnerable situation.

The best way of building up a habit for dance is to introduce it early.

Funny enough, apart from when I was at school, I’ve always gone out with younger men – I was even married briefly to one prior to Angus.

I’m passionate about dance – about getting people to move and enjoy themselves. But I know dance has incredible physical benefits too.

I used to dance all day, every day.

My day job has always been in the theatre.

I’m short, stocky and have a big bum.

In a musical, I believe that choreographers are under a great deal of pressure. There’s not always the freedom to do what you want to do, because if it ends up being too long the dance breaks are the first thing that will go, because you can’t make the story shorter.

Not only was I not a good dancer, I was one of the worst. I didn’t have the long thin legs, and I didn’t have natural turnout. The only thing I had was determination.

I travel light obsessively. I take hardly any clothes or shoes because I think that all I need is a couple of work outfits, rehearsal outfits, a pair of trainers and one glamorous outfit you can re-wear and re-wear.

I knew from the first time I put my hand on the barre at the age of eight that dancing was all I wanted to do and that it was what I was going to do, and nothing was going to stop me. That has always been the driving force in my life. It is who I am.

I constantly diet. People laugh when I arrive at rehearsal with my box of sliced beetroot and bag of chicory, but if I indulge in a cupcake binge or a large bowl of pasta, it shows.

I’m a very generous tipper for my hairdresser and nail technician, and for staff in restaurants who have given a good service. I will always leave a tip, even for bad service.

I always knew I wanted to dance and when I was eight, I started ballet lessons at a church hall. They all wore pink ballet shoes but I wore green, as they were cheap, and I remember everyone staring at me.

For me just having a baby was incredible.

I couldn’t have wished for a better life companion. I got extremely lucky when I met Angus.

There is absolutely nothing you can’t do, see, eat or buy in Las Vegas. It is a magical wonderland where everything is possible – especially in the world of showbiz where everything feels so big, bright and spectacular.

When people enter any form of competition they need to be able to connect with the audience at home; that’s what makes them different.

Working is my passion and it keeps me alive.

Dancing should be as much a part of our daily routine as brushing our teeth.

I would never go anywhere without a notebook and pen. I don’t even sleep without a notebook and pen by my side.

If I have a financial problem, it is caution. I like to have money in the bank. I don’t like taking chances.

The Paddy Stone dancers were all upwards of 5ft 6in and stunningly beautiful. I was stocky, tough-looking and 5ft 3in. So I became determined to create my own troupe.

When I was 23, I moved to London. It was not an easy thing to do.

I don’t believe in destiny. But what I do think is that if you listen with your ears, and look with your eyes, something that doesn’t appear to be an opportunity can lead to one.

Britannia High’ is not for three-year-old kids. There are emotional stories in it that are not for little children.

When you think about how many wars are created through the word religion it’s hard to identify with it, or even accept it.

I hate holidays because one expects them to be perfect and so often they are not. There’s the build-up, the looking forward to it and wanting everything to be right, but so many things can go wrong and then it can be such a disappointment. I find the expectation is usually bigger than the result.

The scary thing is how quickly everyone’s star fades. Therefore, to be a voice, you need to do television. You need to stay in the public eye for the public to care about you, to be a big enough voice to help where it is needed.

I don’t know what it would be like to stop work; I can’t imagine what I would do.

My career has just been fantastic – but most importantly, I have an amazing family.

If tacky souvenirs like fridge magnets and slogan T-shirts are your thing, you’ll be in your element in Las Vegas.

I know many people who have open relationships.

I carry cash around with me all the time as I like buying dancers I’m working with snacks and drinks, but I also use my Amex card and a Coutts Visa card, which I always pay off in full every month. I hate the idea of being in debt.

I’ve always been a late-developer.

I’ve travelled pretty widely and have never taken a violent dislike to anywhere.

All I can say is that I am the biggest coward in the world, I’m not courageous!

If you’re in the arts, or anything that requires great discipline, the only way to achieve it is to put in the hours.

Life was a struggle financially when I was growing up in Manchester and my father continued the strict upbringing he himself had had, even after our very warm and demonstrative mother died.

Women should have parity with men. End of story.

My family always laugh at me because they all camp and I’m definitely not a camper!

People always used to ask me ‘What makes a celebrity?’ and I used to say: ‘Being asked to comment mostly on things you know nothing about.’

My parents were passionate about the ballet. They always played ballet music at home.

I love swimming, and when I’m choreographing something I’m in the studio dancing all day, every day.

I love getting up in the morning and having to be here and there. It drives me – it’s where I get my energy.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, with determination you can make your life what you want it to be.

I like dancers who demand of themselves to achieve, not just technically but also as performers.

Everything I do seems to get so much attention since ‘Strictly Come Dancing.’

I am always competing with my body. I am always thinking my body is going to do things it won’t do.

When I was teaching I’d go to some schools where no one wanted to dance – when they came into the room it was as though they were being punished. But I’d put on the loudest, the heaviest metal you could imagine and they loved it.

I’m tough. I do what I want to do.

I think when you’re doing a musical, you have to be attuned to the director’s vision. You’re working with a variety of people, singers and dancers, so you have to create movement and dance that is for all abilities. You have to further the story through the dance.

I have gone through my life loving dance. No matter what, it’s never gone away and I love watching it, taking part in it, creating it. I’ve never lost the love for it.

Mirrors are part of my life and an ever-changing source of delight, displeasure or even disaster, depending on which one I am looking in. I look in a magnifying mirror when I pluck my eyebrows in the morning, full-length mirrors every day in rehearsal, and I often nervously bring out a compact to check my make-up.

Dad was a barber and Mum looked after the three of us and helped in school doing lunches. I was the middle child with an older brother, Ian, and younger sister, Karen.

I think I’m a bit like Tigger, always bounding around. Where it comes from I don’t really know; probably too much espresso.

I have always had a full-time job. I have always worked full time.

I always wanted children, and it was a dream come true when I discovered I was pregnant with Alana when I was 36.

I love fashion magazines and style magazines and when I’m travelling on an aeroplane I always have a big bag slung over my shoulder, which is full of magazines.

Saturdays have become like, you know, the Boomtown Rats – ‘I Don’t Like Mondays.’ I don’t like Saturdays.

I don’t know how my parents ever paid for my dance classes when I was little. We even had to line our shoes with newspaper when there were holes in them because we couldn’t afford to get them soled.

I am five foot two and a half, and vary between a size 10 and size 12.

I feel like a damehood doesn’t happen to people from my background.

I have always loved theatre and I will always do it.

I don’t drink at all. If I’m out I’ll have the occasional sip of wine just to be sociable.

I have always seen myself as a choreographer first and foremost.

Britannia High’ is not set in a high school where people burst into song and dance for no reason. It’s a performing arts school, so there is a legitimate reason for them to sing and dance.