Dulwich OnView

Angela Corrias interviews Kevin Thatcher from Push Studios

It’s one of the most famous musical in the world. It opened in the West End in 1981, it has since been performed in more than twenty countries and over 250 cities all over the world, from Buenos Aires to Helsinki to Seoul, selling out and collecting awards everywhere. Now it’s coming to Dulwich, yes, East Dulwich, London SE22.
The musical is Cats and its star is Kaye Brown who, in collaboration with Push Studios, is preparing a “Cats” themed workshop to teach the main steps of the musical and share the experience of dancing them in a show rehearsal.

When I got to Push Studios I did wonder whether I was in the right place or not: buggies, babies and the sweetest little girl trying to climb a huge ball welcomed me. But then I recognized Kevin Thatcher, six feet tall, giving his final directions to fit mums. Kevin [right] who trained at the Royal Ballet School and Elmhurst Ballet School, opened Push Studios two years ago after a twelve-year professional dance career that took him to as far afield as the USA, Lebanon, the Far East and all across Europe. Combining dance and athletics, the Push Studios offer an original approach to fitness and wellbeing, in collaboration with dancer and personal trainer Colette Hicks and fitness instructor Nat Pero.

But why Cats? “Because Cats is one of the most popular musicals in the world” says Kevin approaching his white and cosy office, “the musical that everybody has heard of. And it’s also one of the most ‘dance-y’, so people can enjoy and have fun while exercising. Everybody knows the songs, it’s one of those shows that when we were at dance school everyone would finish their training and go to an audition for”.

It is the two-act story of a tribe of cats that gather to celebrate their identities and abilities. “Kaye Brown”, Kevin proudly introduces her, “has been in the show for many years and she’s in charge of all the rehearsals, all the auditions, she is among the few that have the permission to do workshops and teach the steps of Cats. Actually we didn’t know each other, we met up through the studios, she started coming to my Ballet classes, we got talking – she knows people I know, I know people she’s worked with. We had never worked together before but she said she teaches Cats so we thought it would have been nice to do a workshop on that theme. And this gave me the idea to start a series of workshops inspired by the most famous musicals, such as Chicago for example. That will be a workshop for adults but I will do some for children as well”.

In fact, the response to Cats workshop has been great, tickets sold out and adrenaline was at maximum levels. “I absolutely love Dulwich” says Kevin enthusiastically, “the community around here is just great, every business wants to help other businesses. They don’t think only of their own profit, everybody wants to help each other out and this is very nice”.

Push Studios, however, is not exclusively a dance school. “I’ve started two classes of Ballet with people who had never done ballet before [left] and they just love it! But we are not just a dance school, we are a Fitness Centre, with a team of instructors and Personal Trainers and we also do Pilates, Yoga, Boxercise, Sports Massage. We want to create an original and exciting approach to health and fitness, making people comfortable in a friendly environment”.

Join the next Cats workshop at 2pm Sat Feb 16th at Push Studios, www.pushstudios.co.uk