After competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games this summer, the Team GB Rhythmic Gymnasts had a harder task awaiting them at the end – starring in the official video for Michael Woods’ new single ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’. We talk exclusively with Frankie and Lynne...
How did you come to feature in Michael Woods video for ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’
Frankie: We were approached after being spotted at the Olympic Games during the summer. As the whole group was up for it and we arrange the date and went along!
Lynne: The crew we were filming with told us that lots of ideas were pitched from different people and in the end their idea of combing rhythmic gymnastics and lights was chosen!
How did filming go for the video? Talk us through the day...
F: I travelled up the night before so I could arrive early on set and check everything was ok. The others came from Bath quite early the next day - it was a long day but worth it! Once our hair and makeup had been done, we got into our black cat suits and started filming lots of different moves as a group but also individually.
L: The rest of us set off from Bath quite early the morning of our shoot and went straight into hair and makeup before changing into the cat suits. We first filmed in light and then in the dark with the LED light suits. The routine had to be performed quite a few times to make sure we got a good shot!
How soon after the Olympics had finished were you working on a new routine for the video shoot?
F: Filming started a few weeks after the games so we luckily had a routine which we could adapt and didn't need to prepare anything for the video
L: Yeah we simply took parts of our routine from the Olympics for filming and also some individual moves that the directors had seen before and wanted for the video
How was it performing in the 60 LED light/leotard outfits?
F: Unfortunately, due to my injury after the games, I couldn’t take part in the LED bit. But the effects were really cool
L: It was certainly different to performing in our normal leotards! We had to be careful when rolling, kneeling etc but it was really cool to see the end result and it was nice to wear something different!
What 3 words would you use to describe the video?
F: Unique, unusual and creative
L: Different, flexible, fresh
Finally, what’s been the highlight of starring in Michael Woods new video?
F: It's pretty cool seeing yourself and your team mates on music channels like MTV! It's good for our sport also as more people might become aware of rhythmic gymnastics after seeing the video - especially as rhythmic isn't very well known in the UK, but is gradually growing in popularity!
L: I think the hype from the Olympics plus featuring in a music video will really help rhythmic gymnastics and help carry on the hype after the summer
Michael Woods new single 'We've Only Just Begun' featuring Ester Dean is out on October 28th on Ministry of Sound recordings. Pre-order your copy here