Photograph © The Argus
Suzanne Gielgud
Wife of Piers
Suzanne Gielgud (née Dobson) trained as a dancer at the Roshe School of Dancing in East Grinstead and then at age fourteen, full time, at the Bush Davies School where she gained 7 O Levels. At 17 she went to the Royal Ballet Upper School on the dancers course followed by a year on the Drama course at the London Studio Centre. She then enjoyed a career as a professional ballet dancer as a member of the corps de ballet with the Wiener Ballet Theatre (touring Europe with Swan Lake), with the Vienna Festival Ballet where she rose to the rank of junior principal (UK tour of the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle and Copelia) and as a guest artist with the National Ballet of Pecs in Hungary.
Photograph by Linda Rich
In 1995 she returned to college to take an acting diploma at the Richmond Drama School, which she passed with distinction. A year spent as a freelance actress included credits on The Bill, EastEnders and The Kings Head Theatre.
In 1996 she joined the Re-animators training programme for professional dancers and formed a commercial dance group The Bond Girls. She was director and choreographer for this girl group which re-recorded several of the 007 singles and performed a live song and dance show at various London events including an official James Bond event at the ICA where they were featured on the ITV evening news.
Photograph by Alan Bergman
In 1997 she accepted an invitation from Piers Gielgud, the director of Re-animator to join the team and to set up Re|animator Management the dance agency. In 1998 she and Piers were married. They have since had two daughters, Violet Rose Elizabeth and Scarlett Joan Margot.
Since 1998 Re|animator Management has become one of the leading theatrical agencies in the UK with a focus on providing the best dancers and musical theatre artists for west end and touring shows, films, television and fashion. For more information go to www.reanimator.co.uk.
Between 2000 and 2003 Suzanne started dance photography, resulting in her work being published in the dancing press. Her exclusive shoot of Igor Zelensky and stars of the Kirov Ballet at the Lowry theatre was featured in Dance Expression.
In 2003 Suzanne’s film making career commenced when her husband Piers was chosen by Oliver Stone to choreograph the dance sequences for his movie Alexander. Suzanne filmed every inch of the journey from Piers getting the call from Stone, to the auditions, the rehearsals and an exclusive interview with Stone during the post production period. She edited the footage together and made a documentary called Dancing for Oliver. The film has since shown at film festivals across Europe including the Raindance Film Festival in London and the Marbella Film Festival where it won the Best Documentary award 2006.
Photograph by Mike Champion
