Up till Midnight Tango

Hello again all!

I left you last week with my return from Barbados and the sunshine (which I am fully pining for…) and the crazy week ahead of me.  It continued in the same vein with meetings galore in London, one with the very fabulous Russell Grant, who is becoming a permanent fixture in my life these days – and who is about to appear in the amazing new production of Midnight Tango with Vincent and Flavia, providing his sprained ankle heals up quick! http://www.midnighttango.co.uk/?gclid=CL-VpPOnjbUCFfHJtAodExMAfg

 A weekend is never a proper “weekend” as there’s always something to do, and last Saturday was my appearance on Gaby Roslin’s Saturday Show, on Radio 1. It was lovely to spend the morning gossiping away, and seeing as I was in town anyway, it would definitely have been rude not to hit the shops for a bit afterwards! A relaxing afternoon and then Sunday followed, and before I knew it, it was Monday and the start of my ‘Workshop Week”.

Although I can’t say anything at the moment, I’m working on a very exciting new musical project, and I spent all of last week surrounded by the most wonderful and creative people, all bouncing ideas off each other, dancing and singing, and generally having a wonderful time.  I feel so lucky to be able to say how much I love what I do, and sometimes it’s easy to loose sight of that when you’re tired or having a bad day, and it’s week’s like this that really remind me how fortunate I am to have a career that I love so much.

Although I was busy dancing around all day every day this week, I managed to fit in a few extra things as well. Meetings with Producer Supreme David Ian, lunch with my Barbados cohort Nigel Wright, and then my dear friend Louanne arrived from Fabulous Las Vegas to stay for the night while she was working here. We stayed up chatting long and late, as its not often we get to see each other, and then before I knew it she was off to travel round Europe on the next leg of her work trip. I know I’ve mentioned her many times before, but incase you’ve forgotten, Louanne and I go way back many years, having worked together on a huge range of productions in the US and Germany, and I consider her to be one of my nearest and dearest.

Friday was a crazy dash from the end of the workshop to Channel 5 news, where I was talking about being an ‘older mum’. Having had my girls at 36 and 47 which was quite rare 20 odd years ago, new statistics show that almost half of new mothers are now aged 30+.  What you do think about this? I’d love to hear your views, so tweet me @arlenephillips, or leave a comment on the blog!

A couple of things to keep a look out for are articles I’ve written for the Observer, and Good Housekeeping magazine, both of which I shall keep you up to date with when they’re published…

So it’s a busy few days catch up in the office with Coco this week, who I’m glad to say is feeling much better after her awful bout of norovirus last week, which left her in bed, and Alana in the office fielding calls and emails, whilst running between her makeup jobs, and Abi dealing with all my online enquiries – it was hectic to say the least! Coco what would I do without you…

I’m off to a very exclusive and currently top secret party this year, and all wil be revealed next week about that and what else I get up to this week, so make sure you check in…

Until then

Much love, Arlene x

A Week in Pictures

Hello again,

I I hope you’ve all had a wonderful week, I most certainly have… in Barbados! Yes lucky me, a week of meetings and parties in paradise.  It would take me forever to describe the beauty of it, so instead I thought I’d show you, and share my week in pictures.

I’m starting just before I left with my trip to the new Cirque du Soleil show Kooza, I know I wrote about how mind blowing it was last week, but I forgot to post this…

Not only was it wonderful to catch up with my long time friend Darcey Bussell, but we also turned up with the same Aspinal bag, although mine was in purple, great minds hey!

On arrival in Barbados it was raining, but that didn’t hamper the stunning view from our window

I won’t bore you with details about meetings, so here’s me hitting the shops in my gorgeous Melissa Odabash kaftan

Although I’m not one for swimming, that didn’t stop me enjoying hanging out by that pool at  Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Pirate Party!

 

 

I took a boat ride to a meeting, now that’s the way I want to go to work every day!

 

… and partied the night away at Susan Sangster’s house ‘The Dream’, which literally was, a dream.  

At another party hosted by my new friend Carole Bamford, I wore a beautiful kaftan by Mya Blue Luxe, and had a catch up with the one and only Cilla.

 

 

Carole’s stunning home was more beautiful than anything I could have ever imagined. I had such a fantastic time getting everyone up and dancing, including the man who’s only ever know to sit, Nigel Wright!

 

 

 

 

 

The week sadly flew past, with all the meetings and parties in paradise, but as always I was happy to go home and in to the arms of my girls, who I missed so much. 

There’s no rest for the wicked, and there was none for me on the flight back, as I was too busy gossiping with Theo and Louise Fennell who were on the same flight as we’d The Hoff in the airport lounge and get very overexcited, although sadly no gossipong with him! All this did not bode well for my jetlag, as it was back to work the following morning with a very early appearance on Daybreak, where I happened to bump into more than a few friends…

It started with Being covered in kisses by Louie Spence, big from Michelle Heaton, and these unruly lot…

 

There was my darling John Partridge talking about his upcoming West End production of A Chorus Line, which I can’t wait to see

I saw the gorgeous Gok talking about his new TV show

And of course caught up with Aled whom I know from way before the Strictly days when I staged his first public performance as a child in front of the The Queen!

So that’s all for now, as I fear I may fall asleep at the computer! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy the snow! I really have gone from one extreme to the other…

Love A x

 

 

 

 

Start As You Mean To Go On

Another year has been and gone, and already so has the first week of 2013!  How was everyone’s New Year? I had a lovely dinner at home with my family, watched the fireworks on TV, and started the year as I mean to go on… restfully!

 I’ve spent this past week having a major clear out in the office, it’s been all hands on deck sorting, filing, shredding, posting, you name it we’ve done it. I want this year to be the best yet, and if my space is clear, my mind is clear and I can focus focus focus. 

Has anyone tried any of my Twit tips of the day yet? I love your comments and experiences so please do keep them coming, and if you have any inspirational advice or tips for me tweet me @arlenephillips, and the ones I love will most definitely get a follow back and a retweet.

There’s been quite a few fun events happen this week in between my crazy clear out, the first being a reunion dinner for all my Wizard of Oz Toronto gang.  They all came over for a glass of champagne and a light dinner, and we laughed till we cried over stories from the past few months, and reminisced about just what an amazing experience it was, and how lucky we were to have such a wonderful team. 

Coincidentally, my dear friend Tim Spain who lives in Toronto (whom you may remember I went to the ballet with while I was there), happened to be in London that week also, so he popped over for afternoon tea and we discussed all things dance for as long as we could.

I finally managed to fit in an appointment with the eyebrow goddess Karen Betts, and I’m thrilled to say I now have the most beautiful brows! When you hear the words ‘eyebrow tattoo” I know it does conjure up some scary images, but as the leading expert in her field, Karen creates the most subtle and realistic brows I have ever seen, and the difference it has made in framing my face is just remarkable. Have a look at my pics below from last night, and you’ll see what I mean!

 On Saturday I had the most wonderful day out with my parter Angus – the two of us being out together is such a rarity in itself due to crazy schedules – starting with lunch at Dean Street Townhouse, which was absolutely delicious, followed by watching a stunning production of A Clockwork Orange at the Soho Theatre.  The show was just so clever, so innovative, and so moving as it’s also a piece that I’m very close to after choreographing a production of it for the RSC with Phil Daniels many years ago. 

I also managed to fit in a lunch at the Wolsey with one of my oldest friends Linda Mevorach, who not only have I know since way back in the 70’s, but who gave me my first every commercial to choreograph for Lions Maid ice cream, directed by Ridley Scott, featuring a milkmaid and dancing cow!  We haven’t seen each other for at least 10 years, as she lives in New York, but as with all good friends, it’s like it was yesterday since we hung out.

 Of course we fitted in a quick trip to Selfridges, and no sooner was I home I was getting ready to head out again to the premiere of the new Cirque du Soleil show Kooza, at the Royal Albert Hall. I had a bit of a mishap walking down the red carpet when the button on my beautiful Victoria Beckham shirtdress came undone, and Alana had to jump in and do me up!

 

The show featured some of the most incredible Cirque acts I have ever, ever seen, and I was quite literally on the edge of my seat clutching at the nearest hand!  It was as always a star studded event, and I had a wonderful catch ups with Darcey Bussell, Carol Vorderman and Gethin Jones. Sat to the right of me (although we didn’t actually speak!) was Sir Ben Kingsley, and boy was I starstruck!  It was a lovely evening, and overall a fantastic start to the year

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 So a great first week, and as they say, “things can only get better”, well they surely can as I’m of to Barbados! More from me next week on my trip to paradise, but I’ll be checking all the goss on twitter so keep me up to date!

Until then, much love

Arlene x