BBC Radio 4 Extra

Heel, Toe, Step Together

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06/12/2010

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Heel, Toe, Step Together

The story of an octogenarian dancer teaching a 28-year-old how to waltz.

The story of a friendship between 86-year-old ex-dance champion Bob Hill and eager learner Katie Burningham, aged 28. From 2010.

Heel, Toe, Step Together tells the story of two people who met at an east London market one day and the unlikely friendship that blossomed through dance. 

Bob Hill, 86, has been dancing on and off since he was 16 and won many competitions with his late wife Iris Hill, who he lived with in Hackney. Katie Burningham, 28, is a radio producer and self-confessed bad dancer. Bob and Katie met by chance one day, shortly after Bob's wife Iris had died, and, three years later, Katie is still having dance lessons with Bob.  

This programme brings together recordings of their dancing and explores why it is that Bob, and Katie, need to dance. Touching on themes of loss, loneliness, love and affection, Heel, Toe, Step Together reveals how, through music and movement, friendship can bridge generations. 

Heel, Toe, Step Together was produced as part of the European Broadcasting Union's Master School on Radio Features, with the creative advice of Edwin Brys.

Producer: Katie Burningham
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4

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