Lindsay Kemp

1939 -

Dancer, mime artist, choreographer and artistic director. Born on the Isle of Lewis, Kemp was brought up in Bradford (England) and studied at Bradford Art College. He began his dance training with the Ballet Rambert. and his teachers included Marie Rambert and the French mime artist Marcel Marceau.

Kemp set up his own dance company in the early 1960s but his career was launched at the Edinburgh Festival in 1964. Kemp is known for his camp and exuberant style, especially evident in The Parade's Gone By (1975) and Cruel Garden (1977). Productions for his own company include Flowers (1973), Midsummer Night's Dream (1979), and The Big Parade. Kemp also starred in Ken Russell's Savage Messiah and Valentino (1977), in Derek Jarman's Sebastiane (1975) and Jubilee (1977).

He trained the rock star David Bowie in mime for his Ziggie Stardust concerts in the early 1970s.

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