Diversity (dance troupe)
Diversity | |
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breakdance, acrobatics ) | |
Years active | 2007–present |
Members |
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Past members |
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Website | www |
Diversity are a British street dance troupe formed in 2007[1] and based in London. They are best known for winning the third series of Britain's Got Talent in 2009, beating Susan Boyle in the live final.
Diversity consists of friends from London (Leytonstone and
History
Before Diversity: Swift Moves
Before Diversity most of the group belonged to Swift Moves or Swift Moves Juniors.[1][7]
As Swift Moves, they beat KI (the crew Marlon Wallen from Flawless was with) in 2005 during KI's second run to seven wins at The Jump Off where Swift Moves battled a total of four times.[8]
2007: Formation and early career
Formed in 2007, although there were a few line-up changes between 2007 and 2009 with Perri Kiely and Ike Chuks joining the group while Robert Anker and Ashton Russell did not take part in Britain's Got Talent.[9] They won the Street Dance Weekend 2007 competition.[10][11] By the time they performed in the Street Dance Weekend as guests in 2008 the group consisted of friends from east London (Leytonstone and Dagenham) and Essex (Basildon), included four sets of brothers and three other members. Some were still at school or university, while others had jobs of their own.[2] The group consisted of leader and choreographer Ashley Banjo and the following other members: Robert Anker, Jordan Banjo, Sam Craske, Mitchell Craske, Warren Russell, Ashton Russell, Perri Kiely, Ike Chuks, Terry Smith, Ian McNaughton, Jamie McNaughton and Matthew McNaughton.[4] Ashton Russell played the part of Young Michael Jackson in the musical Thriller – Live.[12][13]
2009: Britain's Got Talent
In 2009, Diversity auditioned in London for
Following their performance in the final, Holden said she thought Diversity had "blown Flawless out of the water", while Cowell said that "If I had to give marks on that, this would be the only performance tonight I would give a 10 to." However, Morgan thought Flawless "just edged [Diversity]."[17] They finished in the top three again, as did Boyle, along with saxophonist Julian Smith. In a shock result, in front of a record audience of 17.3 million viewers,[18] Diversity were announced as the winners, despite Boyle being the clear favourite to win.[19]
2009: BGT tour and 1st Royal Variety show performance
After winning Britain's Got Talent, Diversity appeared on the US television news programmes
Diversity also became Patrons of
On 31 August, Diversity performed at
Diversity also appeared in the
on 12 November.On 11 November, Diversity conducted several hours of signing
2010: Diversity's tour
Diversity promoted street dancing with Change4Life in January as a means of getting kids and families more active.[30]
The first dates for Diversity's spring tour sold out in 24 hours, which led to further dates being announced, the first being at the
The group teamed up with national retailer
They brought out their own fitness DVD called Diversity Dance Fitness Fusion in November 2010.[38][39]
2011–2012: Digitized tour
Ashton Russell re-joined Diversity.[13]
In July and August Diversity members Mitchell Craske, Perri Kiely and Ashton Russell along with fellow Dancework studio dancer Nathan Ramsey took part in the Born to Shine roadshow. At each show two of the four would perform and take part in a dance masterclass for children.[40][41]
The group did a number of TV performances including Britain's Got Talent,
In October the group performed at the Michael Forever – The Tribute Concert.
The first series of "Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew" aired. In the show members of Diversity took turns to help Ash teach small groups a street dance. The group also filmed the second series of "Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew" during the course of the year.
Starting from March, Diversity did their first UK Arena tour called "Digitized – Trapped in the Game". They sold out the O2 Arena with a standing ovation from the audience. Shortly after the Digitized tour Ian McNaughton, Jamie McNaughton and Matthew McNaughton left the group. Later in the year they brought out their DVD of the tour filmed at the O2 Arena.
2012–2014: Limitless tour
Diversity were among the many torch bearers in London's 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, completing their leg of the journey on 22 July 2012.[44]
They performed on the Royal Variety Performance 2012 with Spelbound, Stavros Flatley and Paul Potts.[45]
Got to Dance returned for its fourth series. As per previous series Diversity did a number of performance. The fourth series also saw Diversity members Jordan and Perri start hosting in their own right as they took on the role of the backstage presenters.[46] This was followed a few months later by their own show.
In spring of 2013 Diversity spent 2 months in Stockton-on-Tees teaching large groups of people to dance for the Sky1 show "Ashley Banjo's Big Town Dance".[47] The second series of "Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew" aired at the start of the year. The group have also been working on a third series of Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew since April.[48]
In Summer 2013 Diversity members Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely, hosted their own TV show Jordan and Perri's Ultimate Block Party where they transformed groups of young people (Swim Team, Youth Club etc.) into a dance troupe in only 2 days.[49]
In the run up to the limitless tour the group did a number of performances including one at the Danone Nations Cup (a football competition dedicated to children) at Wembley Stadium[50] and another on top of the O2 Arena in London for Nickelodeon's Fruit Shoot Skills Awards.[51][52][non-primary source needed]
Diversity did their third tour called Limitless from 30 November to 16 December.[53] They performed one of the performances from the tour on Got to Dance at the start of the year.[54]
In February 2014, Perri won the
A new Diversity show called
It was announced on 17 February that Diversity Members Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely would be the UK hosts for Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.[58][non-primary source needed] Following the announcement Jordan and Perri spent a week in LA filming a number of adverts and video blogs which Nickelodeon showed on their UK channel and web site in the run up to the Awards.[59][60]
On 1 March, Diversity performed on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway and announced that due to public demand a reboot of their Limitless tour would return in November 2014.[61][62]
Diversity performed with
Members of Diversity have also done a number of adverts. Perri & Mitchell did ITV – Where The Entertainers Live in March.[64] Ash, Jordan and Perri did a series of videos for Cadbury Marvellous Mix-Ups in May.[65] Jordan and Perri did a number of videos and judging for British Gas Generation Green Energy Performance in May and June.[66] The pair also did a number of adverts for Transformers toys in June.[67] In October Ike took part in itvplayer's Ready when you are.[68]
Diversity appeared at Weston Super-Mare Beach Festival on 28 June.[69] They took part in Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park with McBusted on 6 July.[70] They also appeared at the Leicester Music Festival on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 July.[71]
Diversity took part in the closing ceremony of the first
2015: The Exclusive Tour – Up Close and Personal
Diversity Live broadcast on 4 January during which the group talked about how various dances that have inspired them and the major influences who have helped them along the way.[74]
On 13 March 2015, Warren Russell was a judge at the first ever Balfour Beatty London Youth Games dance competition.[75]
In early 2015 it was announced that Diversity members Jordan and Perri would be reprising their roles as UK hosts for the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2015. They again spent time in the USA filming short clips for Nickelodeon in the run up to the awards. Before returning to the UK where Diversity filmed a special routine for the pre-show. During the filming of this Diversity members Ashley, Mitchell, Sam, Ike, Warren and Terry were all slimed, a form of honour from Nickelodeon.[76][77] Jordan and Perri also got slimed when they hosted and performed with Diversity at the UK's first ever Nickelodeon Slimefest 2016.[citation needed]
On 9 May 2015 they gave the opening performance at VE Day 70: A Party to Remember in Horse Guards Parade, London.[78]
2015–present: Butlins Tour – Butlins Up Close and Personal
During 2015 members of Diversity performed shows and took dance class at a number of
Although it was not officially announced, Ike Chuks left the group in early 2016 to pursue his music career.[citation needed]
In 2016, Ashley Banjo (alongside Zoe Ball) hosted the BBC show Can't Touch This.[82]
On 3 February 2016, Diversity, along with some young people and staff from Dancework Studios performed for Tonight at the London Palladium, hosted by Bradley Walsh.[83][84]
Diversity also returned to ITV, where they starred in two episodes of the Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway segment "Who Shot Simon Cowell?" as well as a special performance (created by Ashley Banjo) to celebrate 10 years of Britain's Got Talent. They returned once again in the New Year to promote their new ITV special Diversity Presents Steal The Show. Ashley Banjo was also a judge on the Strictly Come Dancing rival Dance Dance Dance.[85]
On 8 November 2016, Jordan Banjo was announced as being part of the line-up for series 16 of
Diversity returned to Butlins for 2016.[87] It was announced in August 2016 that Diversity will be back at Butlins for October 2016[88]
It was announced that Diversity was returning to Butlins for their fourth year in 2018 along with the dance academy.[89]
2017: Genesis Tour and pantomime debut
Diversity showcased their 7th UK arena tour, Genesis. The tour is the final element to the Diversity Superhero saga, and a future tour is yet to be announced.[90]
From 9 December 2017 to 14 January 2018, Diversity made their pantomime debut in Dick Whittington at the London Palladium, alongside Julian Clary, Elaine Paige, Paul Zerdin, Gary Wilmot, Nigel Havers and Charlie Stemp.[91]
On 28 July 2017, member Robert Anker died in a car accident in Canada.[92]
On 6 November 2017, Ashley Banjo was confirmed to be one of the four judges on the revived ITV show Dancing on Ice.[93] Diversity performed for a one-off Christmas special – named A Night of Emergency Services.[citation needed] Ashley Banjo returned for his second series of Dancing on Ice, in 2019.
Tours
- Britain's Got Talent Tour (2009)
- Diversitoys (2010)
- Diversitoys Christmas Special (2010)
- Digitized – Trapped in the Game (2012)
- Limitless (2013)
- Salute Tour With Little Mix
- Limitless The Reboot (2014)
- The Exclusive Tour – Up Close and Personal (2015)[94]
- Butlins– Up Close and Personal (2015–Present)
- Genesis (2017)
- Dick Whittington at the London Palladium (2017–2018)
- Aladdin at the Cliffs Pavilion Southend (2018–2019)
- Robin Hood and His Merry Men at the Cliffs Pavilion Southend (2019–2020)
- Ignite (2018)
- Born Ready (2019)
- Connected (2022)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- at the Cliffs Pavillion Southend (2022)
- at the Mayflower Theatre Southampton (2023)
DVDs
References
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- ^ Gardner, Lyn (15 December 2017). "Dick Whittington's smut outdoes the sparkle as panto pandemonium kicks off". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- ^ Jones, Harrison (29 July 2017). "Diversity pays tribute to former member Rob Anker after fatal crash in Canada". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- ^ "Diversity's Ashley Banjo announced as fourth judge for Dancing On Ice 2018". Evening Express. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- ^ "Live Tour". Diversity Official. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
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External links
- Diversity Official Archived
- Team Diversity Archived from the original
- Diversity Street Dance unofficial site
- diversity tweet page