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Teneisha Bonner obituary


In the sometimes macho world of hip-hop dance, a form that demands explosive power and immense strength, Teneisha Bonner, who has died of breast cancer at the age of 37, proved she could do anything her male peers could, and more.

Bonner was the star female performer in the choreographer Kate Prince’s company, ZooNation, and was instrumental in helping Prince take hip-hop, a once underground culture, to mainstream theatre stages and family audiences.

She played the sassy wannabe DJ Spinderella in the company’s first hit show, the exuberantly energetic Into the Hoods – an urban take on Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods – which was commissioned by Sadler’s Wells and debuted at the Peakcock theatre, London, in 2006 and two years later went on to become the longest running dance show in the West End. The Observer’s dance critic, Luke Jennings, wrote: “The piece’s star is undoubtedly Bonner, whose dramatic beauty and fluent line compel the attention whenever she’s on stage.”

Bonner’s dazzling vitality and precision-tooled athleticism arrested the attention of anyone watching a ZooNation show. She could be sinuously slinky or funk it up; a dancer of fierce attack or commanding grace, with a level of finesse that is rarely seen in hip-hop. Her versatility made her a favourite backing dancer for major pop acts, too, touring arenas with artists including Take That, Kylie Minogue and Rihanna.

But more than just a brilliant technician, Bonner was a dancer of dramatic and comic flair who loved to create characters, whether a terrifying Queen of Hearts in the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (2014), head thrown back in dastardly laughter, or dressed in wig and moustache playing goofy comedy and heartfelt drama as Kerri in Some Like it Hip Hop (2011), a supremely entertaining spin on the gender-swap and mistaken identity stories of Some Like it Hot and Twelfth Night.

She won a Critics’ Circle National Dance award for that role (along with her co-star Tommy Franzen), the first time hip-hop dancers had won in the award’s history.

Even in fantastical characters Bonner sought to build depth into her performance and communicate with her viewers. “With all of those [fairytale] stories, you can translate them into real life,” she told me in an interview. “I love connecting with people, I love connecting with audiences.”

As a dancer, Bonner owned the stage, but as a person she was modest and kind, with a warm sense of mischief and an incredible work ethic. She was born in St Catherine, Jamaica, to Yvette Singh and Emanuel Bonner. When her mother moved to London to work as a nurse Teneisha was brought up by her grandmother, before joining her mother in Peckham, south London, aged seven.

She became the eldest of five children, and in a busy house “my way of escape was to dance,” she once said. Self-confessedly the only “performance geek” in her family, she had her first taste of the stage through open auditions for a production with the dance company RJC at the age of 13. And while she took some local street dance classes – and used to borrow the drama-room key at secondary school so she could dance in there on her own at break times – Bonner came relatively late to serious training, joining the Brit School in Croydon at 16.

Her talent was immediately clear. She got her first professional job at 17, dancing for the pop singer Dane Bowers, appearing on Top of the Pops and CD:UK. And she was awarded a scholarship to the London Studio Centre at 18, but her training was interrupted when she successfully auditioned for the Swedish street dance company Bounce and a European tour of their hugely popular show Insane in the Brain (an adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest). She was reluctant to return to her degree but was persuaded to complete it by her locking teacher and mentor, Jimmy Williams.

Alongside being a core cast member of ZooNation’s stage shows, Bonner performed in the Olympic and Paralympic closing ceremonies. She starred in videos for the British rapper Ty’s track Let’s Start (2013), and a 2013 promo for the pianist Fabio D’Andrea, looking like a Grecian beauty to the sound of Chopin’s Nocturne in E minor, molten arms rippling, mesmeric even when only standing on the spot.

Bonner’s acting talent took her into film, where she played Shawna, the mouthy hairdresser and best friend of the heroine Carly in StreetDance 3D (2010), a feelgood romance that played on a familiar cliche of culture clash between ballet and hip-hop dancers. In reality, Bonner was of a generation who embraced and absorbed other dance styles. She could turn her hand to Lindy hop or contemporary; she appeared in the song and dance show Shoes at Sadler’s Wells (2010), and toured internationally with the Riverdance spin-off Heartbeat of Home (2013), blending hip-hop with Afro-Cuban music and dance.

Even as one of the most talented, most recognised dancers in her field, performing was a precarious career and the bright and pragmatic Bonner had many strings to her bow, training as a masseuse and a personal trainer, as well as teaching for ZooNation. She was a member of Kensington Temple church in Notting Hill, and a devoted godmother.

When I interviewed her for my book Being a Dancer, a collection of advice on making it in the dance world, she emphasised above everything the necessity of focus and hard work.

“The first advice that comes to mind is ‘push harder’,” she said. “Get the most out of every opportunity. Whatever it is that you’re facing, go at it with more intention.” The key to developing charisma on stage, she told me, was learning how to be comfortable in your own skin. “Be confident in who you are and understand that you can be nobody else. Understand what works for you and your body and what makes you shine.”

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016, Bonner continued to work, reprising her role of Queen of Hearts at the Roundhouse in London in December of that year. Her final appearances on film were in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Mary Poppins Returns, both released last year.

She is survived by her mother, her father and four half-siblings, Travis, Nathan, Reece and Rihanna.

Teneisha Phehoma Bonner, dancer, born 31 December 1981; died 11 September 2019



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