A Morley dancer who grew up in pubs and went on to tour the world in Swan Lake is returning home to perform in Leeds.
Gavin Coward, 42, from Morley, grew up in the Woodman Inn pub with his two brothers, where his parents, Sue and Martin, were landlords. But Gavin didn’t want to pull pints behind the Dewsbury Road pub, which has now been demolished and instead set his sights on becoming a dancer.
After a 20 year career in the arts, including a world tour in Swan Lake, an appearance in a Pet Shop Boys video and a role in Brad Pitt blockbuster World War Z, Gavin is set to return home to perform at the Leeds Playhouse next month.
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For many people Morley is just another Leeds suburb but for Gavin this town full of working men's clubs and not much more (at the time) was the place that changed his life.
Growing up, Gavin's family ran many pubs, but settled at the Woodman Inn. Their lives were very busy and the pub took up most of his parent's time. As a child Gavin was always active and creative - he could never still still of long enough - but it was around the age of 10 when he discovered his true passion, which allowed him to get all his creative energy out.
He says he "got into dance by accident" when he would go along to help his mum who volunteered at the tuck shop in Lewisham Park Community Centre, at the same time there was a dance group who would practice in the centre. He would secretly rehearse the routines he watched the dancers practice, being too shy to join in with them - eventually he gained enough confidence and there was no stopping him.
Gavin said: "From the second I gained the confidence there was no stopping me, I had discovered how to get my creative energy out. I blossomed into a young creative. Without knowing it at the time Morley community centre changed my life."
The dancer, who now lives in Newcastle, had no formal training up until 18-years-old but managed bag himself an audition at one of the country’s top dance academies, the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Chapeltown. Gavin turned up to his audition totally ill-prepared, wearing sweatpants and jazz boots and performed a routine of flips and cartwheels to a drum and bass version of the Bjork song 'Cover Me.' Despite everything, the school was impressed and offered Gavin a place
He said: “I had no real training at all and when I did my big audition aged 18, I had absolutely no idea about technique. I didn’t know what contemporary dance was, I’d never done ballet before and I was dreadful in the auditions. My solo dance got me through, and my natural ability to move.”
Dance lessons were simply not an option when Gavin was growing up. He added: “My parents worked really hard running the pub, my mum did other jobs as well and I have two older brothers, so there was no time or spare money for the kind of dance lessons everyone else had experienced,” he said.
“Because of my inexperience, I had to start in all the bottom sets to learn the techniques that no one had ever shown me before and I had to work really hard.”
But the hard work wasn’t the biggest shock Gavin experienced when he started at the dance school. It was the dress code that nearly sent him running for the exit. He said: “The first day I went, I was so shocked that I couldn’t wear tracksuit bottoms and had to go out and buy leotards and tights.
“I went home and told my mum, I couldn’t go back. She told me to pull myself together, and that I would be fine. And it gave me the discipline I needed. I needed it to be hard work and way outside of my comfort zone for me to buckle down and concentrate.”
At 21 Gavin finished dance school and fast forward to now, after a successful dance career, Gavin has gone full circle. He now helps children who are in the same position as him those 30 years ago and offers workshops and free youth dance classes to children who may not have the opportunity to "get their creative talents" out any other way.
Gavin said: “Our workshops are very collaborative with the children. We create a framework and then encourage the children to develop their own movements. And, because we don’t teach steps or routines which can be hard for neuro-divergent children to follow, we tend to naturally end up working with a lot of children with autism, ADHD and Tourette’s.
“This is something I identify with quite strongly. I’m not diagnosed myself, but I do really relate to this style of learning and it’s how I got to where I am today.”
The 42-year-old also works closely with balletLORENT’s, which he will return home to Leeds with next month to play the Prince in Rapunzel , although its with a twist. The plot will fixate on issues that both children and adults may undergo every day - including some dark issues such as fertility.
balletLORENT’s retelling of classic fairy tale Rapunzel will be on at the Leeds Playhouse on April 5 - 6. Get tickets here.
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