Famous Choreographer By Natasha Gidluck

Anthony Van Laast

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Caption: : Beauty and the Beast is a live action movie based on the fairytale that Disney created in past years, and features Emma Watson and Dan Stevens. This is a remake that features some prominent dance scenes including a ballroom waltz in which the grandeur of the Beast's castle is showcased. This is a still from the scene mentioned.

By Natasha Gidluck Anthony Van Laast choreographed dance scenes in the new live action Beauty and the Beast movie, as well as parts of Mamma Mia and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part I. 

Childhood Background

Anthony Van Laast was born in Sussex in the United Kingdom, raised by his mother, Peggy Hawkins. When he was young, his dream was to become a doctor. Other than that, not much is known about his childhood. He lived around London for the beginning of his life, and attended school there after he graduated. His mother passed away some time after he made a dance career, as he made a scholarship in honour of her. He made a close friend who he now mentors with as part of the scholarship, Pernille Charrington. 

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Caption: : Covent Garden in London was where Anthony saw a ballet performance that inspired him to dance.

Dance Inspiration

Anthony was planning on becoming a doctor after he finished high school, but changed his plans drastically when at age 17 he saw a Russian ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, perform at Covent Garden. This caused him to take up the idea of doing dance and choreography, which is what he ended up studying in school during the next few years. Rudolf Nureyev was a well known male dancer who played roles in theatre productions including Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet.

Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nurejew in Swan Lake (1967) (Embed)

Caption: : Rudolf Nureyev in Swan Lake, 1967

Dance Training

Anthony received training at the London School of Contemporary Dance, but actually joined the school's associate company, the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, in 1971, when he was 19 years old. He started off interested in the Royal ballet, as that was what had initially piqued his interest. He moved into the contemporary genre during his time at the school, but after 10 years, left the company to pursue a career where he could choreograph for a whole variety of art forms, including films. At age 29, Anthony was getting bored with common structure, and wanted to push the boundaries of modern dance in his own way. What he really wanted to do was find something energetic and fun, something that would impress and astound an audience. Gradually, he moved more into the world of entertainment. There, he found he could experiment with different styles of dancing and choreographing. Anthony studied the art of dance and moving, but did not do a lot of performing himself. What he enjoys most is the energy of the people he works with and the way that he can teach others to feel the joy of dancing.

Famous Shows

Some famous shows that he choreographed for include Sister Acts, Bombay Dreams, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Song and Dance, Annie Get Your Gun, Mamma Mia, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1, and more recently, Beauty and the Beast. I was very interested in learning about the choreography for the new Beauty and the Beast, because it includes a lot of live action characters and multiple dance scenes. Besides working with various actors with a range of dance knowledge, he also choreographed Be our Guest, which was new experience for him personally. It was mainly done with technology and the "dancers" in question had unique limitations for how they would move. He also had to take into account the space of the room and the movements of specific objects. From these shows, Anthony has become quite well known for his choreography, which has helped him to try new things and expand different projects of his own.

Beauty and the Beast

Anthony van Laast choreographed many scenes in Beauty and the Beast including Be our Guest, which needed a lot of time and attention for the animated characters. Other dances that he worked on for the movie include the introductory scene where the prince invites the beautiful citizens to the castle, the ending dance to celebrate the spell breaking, and also the ballroom scene between Belle and the Beast. For that particular one, a lot of time had to be spent working on the Beast's posture, which included a thickly padded costume and small stilts to achieve the height difference. He mentions in an interview that the most dangerous thing was the threat of stepping on Emma Watson's toes, because the weight would almost certainly break them. Fortunately, that never happened.

Another component to that choreography was the lift, which was mainly the work of Emma, because she needed to have a really strong and stable core. Anthony mentions that it was pretty easy to work with them on this, especially because Emma does yoga regularly. For Be our Guest, you can see that Lumiere does a few steps very similar to what we work on in modern, like floor rolls. The napkins also do ballet type movements, while other objects are purely original for their shape, like the plates spinning or the feather dusters opening their plumes. The whole movie together took lot of time and effort, especially because a lot of scenes needed a couple steps in between dialogue or singing rather than a full dance.

Beauty and the Beast Dance Scenes

Beauty And The Beast (2017) | Ending "Dance Scene" (Embed)

Caption: : The ending dance from Beaty and the Beast

Caption: : The ending dance from Beaty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast 2017- Ballroom Dance Scene (Tale As Old As Time) (Embed)

Caption: : Ballroom dance from Beauty and the Beast

Dance Journey

Throughout his life, Anthony van Last has gone from the Royal Ballet to contemporary dance, film directing, choreography with actors, staging, blocking, technology movement, and street dance. He has worked with a lot of talented dancers, actors with no dance knowledge whatsoever, and dancers who are in training. He has discovered that he enjoys the teaching of dance more than performing himself, and that seeing what he has made both live and on screen is reward enough. Though he has had a lot of achievements already, Anthony will continue with his new live shows for street dance, and is still high in demand for film making.

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Caption: : A still from Be Our Guest, the well-known musical act in Beauty and the Beast

Current Life

Anthony is currently gathering some of the best young dancers in the world to work on a show called Blaze, which is going to start up in January, 2018. It is purely dedicated to finding the experience of true contemporary dance, as well as the enjoyment of show-stopping images made with the stage, lights, and technology. Another really amazing component is the tangible energy of the people involved, and learning how people can interact with it. Anthony believes that street dance truly is contemporary, because it pulls the newest moves and music from the world at any time. It is continually changing. He remarks that by making it big and showing it to the world, it loses its rawness and sense of battle, but that is a risk they are willing to take.

Blaze has a troupe of 25 dancers, which have all been auditioned and approved by the makers. Anthony works with the dancers, not as a specific street dance choreographer, but as someone who has a passion for dance and knows how to make good shows and entertainment. For Blaze and his previous show, Bounce, Anthony looked for individuals that were not looking to be professional performers, but had discovered dance as a human being. What he really likes to do is provide his dancers with the income, skill, and fun that his shows allow. It is very rewarding for him to take someone with little experience and allow people to see the honesty in which they move. 

Contributions

His contributions to the film corporations have been outstanding, as well as his dedication to the idea of finding what it means to be a part of true contemporary dance. His work and ideas have helped a lot of dancers and non-dancers find happiness in what they do. Another big contribution he has made for growing dancers was funding the Peggy Hawkins Scholarship in honour of his late mother, who loved to teach dance. Through this program, students attending the London School of Contemporary Dance are given money to help complete their studies and find new performance opportunities. They are also personally mentored by Anthony or his close friend, Pernille Charrington. By doing this, Anthony van Laast has encouraged dancers in training to follow their passion.

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Caption: : Anthony Van Laast help with the making of the show Blaze

Who he is:

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Caption: : Current photo of Anthony Van Laast

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References

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/movies/a9088473/beauty-and-the-beast-ballroom-scene-secrets/ https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-Interview-Choreographer-Anthony-Van-Laast-Talks-BEAUTY-AND-THE-BEAST-20170717 http://www.katebushencyclopedia.com/van-laast-anthony https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Van_Laast https://www.istd.org/staff/anthony-van-laast/ https://www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/profile-anthony-van-laast-holiday-on-ice-mystery-artistic-director-1-241926 http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/dance/feet-first-from-street-to-stage-20130111-2ck18.html https://www.lcds.ac.uk/news/recipients-year’s-peggy-hawkins-scholarship-fund-announce