A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE WORLD’S LARGEST CORAL REEF
Ashley Banjo tells MARION McMULLEN it’s time to get connected as dance group Diversity shake off lockdown ready for a new supersize tour
Spanning 1,429 miles along Australia’s east coast, the Great Barrier Reef is home to a multitude of weird and wonderful creatures. There’s enough to occupy a lifetime of snorkelling and diving adventures – but you don’t need to get wet to see it all.
A new day-trip experience, Journey To The Heart, allows guests to view the iconic Heart Reef from above on a scenic flight, the grand finale of an aerial trip above the Whitsundays. While on Lady Musgrave, in the southern sector of the reef, guests can explore the technicolour underwater world in a submerged observatory, and spend the night glamping on a pontoon.
It must have been a busy time for you with Dancing On Ice, a children’s book with your brother Jordan called Fly High Crew and standing in for Simon Cowell on Britain’s Got Talent...
Yeah. When we were younger we could only have dreamed about doing this for a living. We are very lucky. Whether it’s an award or a gong from the Queen, to be recognised in anyway is an amazing feeling. We’ve had a lot of tough times, but then there’s been so much great positivity, great recognition and great opportunity. I feel very blessed.
It was strange standing in for Simon Cowell. That was a real fullcircle moment. Looking up and seeing my name with an X above it on the show that we came from. We started this hoping not to get a buzzer on Britain’s Got Talent and then I was in control of one. It was a very, crazy circle.
Was it a proud moment when Diversity’s powerful Black Lives Matters routine on Britain’s Got Talent won the Must-See Moment Award at the 2021 TV Baftas?
I’m proud of the fact that it was on the original programme that Diversity came from and used dance, that we love to do, to say something that was very important to us, and it was very relevant and very needed at the time.
We have to talk about things and communicate and dance is our way of doing that. Some of the feedback has been amazing and we are just so grateful.
You are performing 78 shows in four months with your new Connected 2022 tour. What is it like to finally be dancing live again?
I’m just massively excited. Getting this show together has been the most difficult thing I’ve ever done I think, just because of the scale of this show... and planning it all around the pandemic and Covid. We are trying to create the best show we have ever done and it’s the longest tour we’ve ever done.
We are being safe and we are doing our testing and it’s just a different mindset now. We have to bear in mind that if someone gets Covid there’s an isolation period and it changes the dynamics of the group and the rehearsals.
You’re always worried about a sore throat or a cough. Everyone is as careful as they can be. That’s all you can do, isn’t it?
Were you always confident that the tour would happen?
Yeah, I think it is one of those things that kept me really positive. I knew it would happen and I knew it might take a long time, but I also knew that when we finally went out it would be an incredible moment.
We’ve never been cooped up this long – two years plus – so we are sort of mad to go on tour.
We are so lucky we get to do this for a living. I’ve missed performing hugely and it just feels incredible to be back. (Laughs) I added an awful lot of pounds during lockdown. I got very comfortable with lockdown, so I’m looking forward to getting that all off in time for the tour.
Have you been encouraged by the overwhelming demand for tickets, with 120,000 sold already?
It’s encouraging, overwhelming, humbling. After all this time, 13 years since Diversity won Britain’s Got Talent, this is our biggest show. It really is a beast.
We have so many core elements in this show. We have falling rain that covers the entire stage, we have indoor swarming drones that fly through the air and really fun ways that the audience can connect with the show and be involved.
What was it like planning everything during lockdown?
I had the theme and the name before lockdown, but living through lockdown changed the meaning of it. It made it even more relevant to be connected through technology. That’s how my new baby met my mum and how i made sure my mum and dad were OK and how I connected with friends.
If it wasn’t for technology life would have been very different.
I think it’s changed the way we live and how we see the world. People have been working from home and I use technology more often than I imagined.
We have Alexa around the house. We don’t use controls. We talk to the TV and tell it what to put on. and I’m always on my email or FaceTime. My little girl can’t talk properly yet, but she can use an iPhone. It’s amazing.
■ Diversity’s Connected 2022 tour runs from April 7. Go to gigsandtours.com or ticketmaster. co.uk for booking details. VIP Packages are also available via sjm-vip.com