Lindsay Kemp, the pioneering dancer and choreographer who inspired David Bowie, has died at the age of 80 years.

Kemp was known to pop fans for help Bowie created his character Ziggy Stardust and the teaching of Kate Bush to dance.

Director Nendie Pinto-Duschinsky, who was making a documentary about Kemp, told the BBC that he was “a force of nature” and continues to work until his death in Livorno, Italy.

Its spectacular productions combines mime, dance, theatre and cabaret.’Born to dance’

Kemp was also known for his film cameos, who appears as the owner of the pub in The Man of Wicker, in 1973, and as a pantomime dame in the film Velvet Goldmine in 1998.

Born in 1938, near Liverpool, Kemp grew up in South Shields and quickly discovered his vocation in dance.

“I realized that I wanted to dance, when for the first time I noticed anything. I was born dancing,” he said.

“For me, dance has always been a shortcut to happiness.”

He first saw Ballet Rambert perform at the age of 17 years, and shortly after came to London for the hearing.

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He won a scholarship, but that is necessary to complete their military service in the first place.

Kemp told the BBC’s Newsnight in 2016: “I’ve had quite a difficult time in the Air Force, because I will not march… I danced.”

He studied under expressionist dancer Hilde Holger and French mime Marcel Marceau, before founding his own dance company in the 1960s.Inspiring

In 1966, Kemp met David Bowie after a performance at Covent Garden, when the singer of 19 years.

“He came to my dressing room and he was like the archangel Gabriel standing there, I was like Mary,” he said.

“It was love at first sight”.

Bowie became his student and his lover, the realization of Kemp, Pierrot in Turquoise, and gaining inspiration for theatre of Ziggy Stardust.

“Without a doubt, it was multifaceted, a chameleon, a splendid, inspiring, genius of a creature. But I did show you how to do it,” Kemp said.

Getty Images

Getty Images

Getty Images

He also taught Kate Bush to dance, describing her as a shy artist who nevertheless was “dynamic” when she started to move.

The singer later dedicated the song Moving to it, pushing a copy under the door of his London flat.

Kemp said: “it was a very moving experience, because I didn’t know that she was a singer.”

He made his mark in the world of contemporary dance, with shows such as Cruel Garden, a collaboration with Christopher Bruce of the Ballet Rambert.An original

Celebrities pay their respects on Twitter, with comedian Julian Clary written: “Rest in Peace Lindsay.”

The doctor Who actor Barnaby Edwards described Kemp as a “delight”.

“The world will be less fun and less naughty without him,” he added.

The actor and Bowie expert Nicholas Pegg shared a photo of himself on stage with the singer Marc Almond and Kemp, whom he called “the life of the original”.

End of the post to Twitter by @NicholasPegg

Ms Pinto-Duschinsky, said Kemp had been rehearsing with the students, the preparation for a tour, and writing his memoirs before his death on Saturday morning.

“We have always forgotten that Lindsay was 80 – it doesn’t seem like that when someone is so charismatic, so full of life and a force of nature,” he said.