As it passed 4am, the doors to the old Rivoli Ballroom in south-east London were about to close and exhausted dancers drifted by as set designers removed the last swathes of fabric and repacked the gilded statues.
They were wrapping up after a 19-hour slog on the set of the Private Dancer video, but its star Tina Turner was still the life and soul of the party.
Arlene Phillips, who was choreographing the routines for Tina’s 1984 comeback single, says: “She was indestructible. Everyone was exhausted but she was powerful, strong. There was no slacking off, she was on it.”
Tina’s death, aged 83, on May 24, came as a shock to her fans, including Strictly legend Dame Arlene, 80.
She says: “Working with her was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with an artist, with a star ever.
“She had emotion, literally in every pore of her body. And yet she was empowered. I knew her as a woman who was taking charge.
“She was lovely. She sat with the dancers, chatting laughing. There was something special about her.”
Tina was a global superstar at the time, but had spent years trying to rebuild her career after divorcing her abusive husband Ike Turner. Private Dancer, released when she was 42, was to be her fresh start. A lot was riding on it, but Tina showed no signs of nerves as she arrived on the set.
Arlene says: “The Rivoli had just been condemned because asbestos had been found in the roof. There were no backstage facilities.
“It was so rundown, there was a toilet, there was a dressing room that just had a curtain across, but Tina wasn’t bothered.
“We were given wooden boxes to sit on, as there was nowhere else you could sit all around the ballroom.
“Tina sat on a wooden box, talking to us, chatting to us, just having a good time with all the dancers, talking about her love of dance and music. How it fired her up. She was talking about Private Dancer, how women can feel empowered by making their own choices. She was telling us the stories of her life.” And there were plenty of stories to tell. Like how in July 1976, she had escaped from Ike, waiting until he fell asleep in their Dallas hotel room during a tour and then hiding by some bins with just 36 cents to her name.
Her white trouser suit was covered in dried blood and one eye was swollen shut from his last beating when she stumbled into another hotel and begged the manager for help. She went on to face Ike in the divorce courts, where she was stripped of her house, cars, recording studio and relationships with her sons.
Private Dancer and the album of the same name were huge hits and marked a new beginning for Tina.
Arlene met the singer again in November 1986, at the Camden Palace in London, where she was filming a TV special, Break Every Rule, and where a 16-year-old Naomi Campbell was one of the dancers.
Arlene says: “They stayed in touch afterwards. I remember Naomi being so young and worried.”
But Arlene’s favourite memory of Tina will always be of sitting with her on wooden boxes talking about dance. She says: “We were almost knee to knee, just talking about movement, about dance. And watching that video brings back so many moments. The spirit of Tina remains here, without question.”
