{{short description|American dancer and choreographer (1946–2011)}} {{Infobox person | name = Flick Colby | image = FlickColby1966.jpg | birth_name = Felicity Isabelle Colby | birth_date = {{birth date|1946|3|23}} | birth_place = Danville, Pennsylvania | death_date = {{death date and age|2011|5|26|1946|3|23}} | death_place = Clinton, New York | occupation = dancer, choreographer | years_active = 1968–1976 (dancer—until 1972—and choreographer for Pan's People), 1976–1983 (choreographer for Ruby Flipper, Legs & Co., and Zoo on ''Top of the Pops'') }}
'''Felicity Isabelle "Flick" Colby''' (March 23, 1946 – May 26, 2011) was an American dancer and choreographer best known for being a founding member of and the choreographer of the United Kingdom dance troupe Pan's People, which appeared on the BBC1 chart show ''Top of the Pops'' from 1968 to 1976. Colby became the full-time dance choreographer for the ''Top of the Pops'' dance troupes Pan's People, Ruby Flipper, Legs & Co., and Zoo (credited as "Dance Director"), from 1972 until 1983.
==Early life== Colby was born in Danville, Pennsylvania.<ref name="Birth Announcements">{{cite news |author=Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Colby |date=March 28, 1946 |title=The Plain Speaker Newspaper Hazleton, PA |work=Birth Announcements |issue=}}</ref> Her father was Thomas E. Colby, Professor of German at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. As a child, Colby lived in Clinton and later in Massachusetts.<ref name="Guardian">{{cite web |last=Wiegand |first=Chris |title=Flick Colby obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/may/30/flick-colby-obituary |work=The Guardian |date=May 30, 2011 |access-date=May 31, 2011}}</ref> Educated at a school in New Hampshire and Abbot Academy (Andover, Massachusetts), she began attending ballet and other dance classes in Boston and performed in musicals before travelling to London in 1966.<ref name="Indy obit"/>
== Career == In 1966, Colby founded Pan's People, an all-female dance troupe most commonly associated with ''Top of the Pops''. She choreographed routines for Pan's People on the series for eight years, from late 1968 until 1976. The weekly record chart was released on Tuesday mornings, and the live show aired on Thursday evenings. This created a need for regular studio appearances by the top artists who often had hectic touring schedules that made it difficult for them to be present on the show.<ref name=":322">{{cite book |last=Humphries |first=Patrick |title=Top of the Pops: 50th Anniversary |publisher=McNidder & Grace |year=2013 |isbn=9780857160522 |edition=first |pages=3, 4}}</ref> Colby had six hours to create a dance routine for an absent act's single, choreographing moves to suit a wide range of musical styles such as disco, punk, glam rock, soul, and folk.<ref name="Guardian"/> Pan's People went through changes in line-up; by December 1967 it comprised Colby, Dee Dee Wilde, Babs Lord, Louise Clarke, Ruth Pearson, and Andrea Rutherford (later replaced by Cherry Gillespie).<ref name="marasco">PansPeople.com [http://www.panspeople.com/?q=node/1168 Flick Colby: Her Story in Words and Pictures]</ref>
Pan's People earliest BBC television appearance was in 1968 on ''The Bobbie Gentry Show'',<ref>{{cite journal |title=Bobbie Gentry |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/bc72255e797b42d9ae6ccc160c28041c |url-status=dead |journal=Radio Times |date=July 11, 1968 |issue=2331 |page=9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917055035/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/bc72255e797b42d9ae6ccc160c28041c |archive-date=September 17, 2016 |via=BBC Genome}}</ref> initially broadcast on BBC2 and repeated later on BBC1. They first appeared on ''Top of the Pops'' in April 1968, and became a regular weekly feature in January 1970.<ref name="Guardian"/> Performances in other BBC productions followed, including ''Happening For Lulu''; ''The Price of Fame''<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Price of Fame |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/04fdc9651a1048f685c78df4b84a739b |url-status=dead |journal=Radio Times |date=November 13, 1969 |issue=2401 |page=67 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917055038/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/04fdc9651a1048f685c78df4b84a739b |archive-date=September 17, 2016 |via=BBC Genome}}</ref> (starring Georgie Fame and Alan Price) in 1969; and series such as ''Sez Les'', ''The Black and White Minstrel Show'', and ''The Goodies''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Pan's People choreographer Flick Colby dies |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-13590366 |publisher=BBC News |date=May 29, 2011 |access-date=June 19, 2023 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In 1974, Pan's People released a single titled "You Can Really Rock and Roll Me", and made guest appearances on popular primetime programs such as ''The Two Ronnies'' and ''The Benny Hill Show''. Colby also choreographed stage musicals such as ''Catch My Soul'', starring the American singer, songwriter, and actor PJ Proby and PP Arnold.<ref name="Guardian"/>
From 1972, Colby decided to focus on choreographing rather than dancing,<ref name="Guardian"/> and thus ceased to perform with Pan's People but continued to choreograph their routines. When Pan's People wound down in 1976, she formed a new dance troupe for ''TOTP'' named Ruby Flipper, a mixed-sex troupe for which Colby could create more physically strenuous routines that included lifts. Ruby Flipper was quickly succeeded by Legs & Co., an all-female lineup that also performed in the 1978 film ''The Stud''. Both troupes were managed by former Pan's People dancer Ruth Pearson. Legs & Co lasted on ''TOTP'' until 1981, at which point Colby formed the much larger dance troupe "Zoo", for which ''TOTP'' credited her as its "Dance Director". Zoo was seen on ''TOTP'' until 1983, after which the program no longer used dancers.
In 1979, Colby co-wrote the instructional guide ''Let's Go Dancing'' with Elizabeth Romain.<ref name="Guardian"/>
==Personal life== For a few years after Colby's tenure with ''TOTP'', she split her time between London and her family's home town of Clinton, New York, but eventually chose to settle down in Clinton, where she lived the remainder of her life. She owned and operated a gift shop named Paddywacks.<ref name="Guardian"/>
Colby married three times: first to writer Robert Marasco,<ref name="marasco"/> then to James Ramble in 1967, and finally in 2003 to George Bahlke, a professor of literature at Hamilton College, where Colby's father had taught German.<ref name="Guardian"/><ref name="Indy obit">Leigh, Spencer. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/flick-colby-dancer-and-choreographer-whose-work-graced-lsquotop-of-the-popsrsquo-across-three-decades-2291041.html Obituary: Flick Colby], ''The Independent'', May 31, 2011.</ref><ref name="Tel dies">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture//music/music-news/8545936/Pans-People-co-founder-Flick-Colby-dies-age-65.html "Pan's People co-founder Flick Colby dies aged 65"], ''The Daily Telegraph'', May 29, 2011.</ref>
Colby had breast cancer during the final years of her life, and died of bronchopneumonia<ref name="Tel dies"/><ref>Obituary, ''The Times'', May 30, 2011, p. 42</ref> at her home in Clinton in May 2011, aged 65, just four months after her husband George Bahlke died due to complications from pneumonia on 1 February.<ref name="Tel dies"/><ref name="debrag">{{cite web |last=Debraggio |first=Mike |title=Professor of English Emeritus George Bahlke Dies |url=http://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/professor-of-english-emeritus-george-bahlke-dies |publisher=Hamilton College |date=February 1, 2011 |access-date=May 31, 2011}}</ref> She was survived by her sister, and her brother Thomas Colby IV.<ref name="Guardian"/>
==Filmography==
===Television=== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Programme !! Channel !! Notes |- | 2001|| ''The True Story of TOTP'' || BBC One || Guest |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.panspeople.com/?q=node/1168 Flick Colby: Her Story in Words and Pictures (PansPeople.com)] * {{IMDb name|1544930}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Colby, Flick}} Category:1946 births Category:2011 deaths Category:American choreographers Category:American female dancers Category:Dancers from New York (state) Category:Dancers from Pennsylvania Category:Deaths from bronchopneumonia Category:Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state) Category:People from Clinton, Oneida County, New York Category:People from Hazleton, Pennsylvania Category:21st-century American women