The Tiller Girls High Kicks and Precision Inspired by Lipizzaner Horses
Since John Tiller's 1886 founding of the dance group The Four Sunbeams, many high kick and line routines have followed. From this start, Tiller conceived the Tiller School of Dancing in Manchester, England. Tiller's successful methods prevented his resources from ever meeting the demand for his dancers. The entertainment business desired "Tiller Girls" in shows because of their disciplined and precision training.
John Tiller and his wife, Mary, originally formed the group for a show at the old Pavilion Theater in Blackpool, England, in the 1890's. After Mary died in 1905, John married Jenny, who helped organize and expand the troupes.
"The girls were recruited from the poorer working class families who worked in the cotton mill industries in the north of England where they used to go to work from a very young age," said Bernard Tiller, great grandson of founder John. "The opportunity to dance on the stage was attractive to these young girls and they could earn more money and were fed and clothed. Some of the families were not too happy and the girls often changed their names. John Tiller was very strict about the way the girls looked and behaved and they were always chaperoned. Tiller was later involved in the creation of a law that stopped exploitation of young people by British industry."
Their routines were mainly ballet, but very precise. Tiller based the early routines on ballet, but introduced tap when the girls started to dance in larger shows. "The chorus line and kick routines evolved from these early shows," Bernard Tiller explained. "It has been passed down to me through my family that at some time John Tiller saw a routine performed by the very famous Lipizzaner Horses. They used to perform precision routines in lines with feather headdresses and every movement for each horse had to be exactly the same. The horses would trot, kick their legs and bow their heads in time to music. These movements were copied and choreographed by John Tiller and the Tiller Chorus line came about. It did not take long for the Tiller Girl troupes to spread to many parts of the world."
They danced in America and France during World Wars I and II. Each troupe was individual, and each troupe's members were selected by the girl's height, size and hair color. Dark hair was preferred, and blondes often wore wigs so each troupe was matched in hair color. The girls would always have their same place in the line. The head dresses and shoe heel sizes of each dancer adjusted the dancers' variations in height. Each troop was run by a head girl who had extensive training from the Tiller School of Dance. Bernard recalled hearing that sickness and injury were not looked on as a reason not to dance, so the life of the dancers was very hard.
The Tiller Girls became famous throughout the world performing as resident dancers and assisting at well known venues, including: the Follies Bergeres in Paris, the London Palladium, the Palace Theater London (as the Palace Girls), the Blackpool Winter Gardens, the Drury Lane Theatre, The Hippodrome, the Chatelet, the Scala, the Follies Marigny in Paris, the Wintergarten in Berlin, in Copenhagen and Vienna, in pantomime at King's in Glasgow, and Royal in Edinburgh, and in hundreds of theatres over the British Isles, The Continent and the United States.
With the decline of variety shows, the Tiller Girls disbanded. Dougie Chapman revived the concept with the "New Tiller Girls" in a show at the Winter Gardens Pavilion in Blackpool in 2000. Faye Robinson choreographed the New Tillers group of twelve, now disbanded.
Bernard Tiller announced plans to re-open the Tiller School of Dance. Director Rachael Wooldridge, who has directed and produced large stage shows says, "I am very excited about the Tiller School of Dance and The Tiller Girls, said Wooldridge. "They gave so much to the world of dance that I feel the younger dancers of today could learn from them as role models and for the discipline and dedicated training that often goes unmentioned when training dancers today."
Margaret "Toni" Anthony Summerville- a former Tiller Girl recalls: "In 1946 my mother took me to London to audition for the Tiller Girls School of Dancing. I was fourteen and one-half years old and resided in Surrey, England. The audition was held in a small office where I did some kicks and a few steps that included some tap steps. The agents said 'you're in' and I began rehearsals the next day."
The classes were held on West Street Cambridge Circus in an old church hall in need of repair. This was after World War II and there was not much money for many repairs in London at that time. She remembered that the roof leaked. They learned musical comedy, tap, ballet and dance technique. Later, they began learning routines. Toni was one of twelve selected for a troupe to perform in Bradford, Yorkshire, at the Alhambra Theatre. "We did a line dance that opened the first and second acts and we were incorporated into the specialty acts in the show," she recalled. They worked from November to the end of March.
Next, she was sent with a group of six to a seaside summer revue at Ramsgate, Kent. They did two shows a week and a Wednesday matinee. "It was wonderful because we could go to the beach and did not have to report for work until 3pm except on Wednesdays for a matinee. We made about 4 pounds and had to pay or "digs" (room and board). The London Palladium followed for a variety season of 5 years where she worked with Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Jack Benny, the Nicholas Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Dorothy Lamour, Peggy Ryan and Ray McDonald.
Toni was one of six dancers selected for Royal Performances with Danny Kaye for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth I, and she remembers that Julie Andrews attended on one occasion when she was thirteen. Toni also performed at Windsor Castle for Princess Margaret's 21st birthday where she met the King and Queen.
She toured Scandinavia and South Africa with a group of 12 where they rehearsed on deck for two weeks at 7am because not many passengers were up at that time.
Toni spent ten years, from 1946 to 1956, as a Tiller Girl. She left the group after marrying entertainer, Paul Summerville, and moved to his native Canada. She describes the highlight of her ten years as a Tiller Girl. "It was the girls I met and they were nice girls. We kept the friendships. We had the great feeling of stage performance and being with big stars, and the traveling. It was a wonderful life and I would do it all over again." Toni is the sister-in-law of Anne Bryant who is the wife of well known tap dancer, Ardie Bryant.
There are many Tillers who danced together through the years and have discovered each other on the Tillers website: www.tillergirls.com. There is a page where former Tillers can leave their contacts. The page has many stories that non-Tiller dancers would enjoy.
From the Rockettes, to high school dance drill teams, the Tillers' high standards and leadership inspired and influenced many dancers and the development of the kick lines and precision routines that have continued in dancing all over the world..