Diversity are a British

street dance Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, locking, house dance, waacking etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically from a culture, ...

troupe formed in 2007 and based in London. They are best known for winning the third series of '' Britain's Got Talent'' in 2009, beating

Susan Boyle Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer. She rose to fame in 2009 after appearing as a contestant on the third series of ''Britain's Got Talent'', singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from '. Boyle's debut studio album, ''I D ...

in the live final. Diversity consists of friends from London (Leytonstone and

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

) and Essex ( Basildon), including four sets of siblings and eight other members. At the time they appeared on ''Britain's Got Talent'', some were still at school or university, while others had jobs of their own. The group, ranging in age from –, consists of leader and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

Ashley Banjo and the following other members: Jordan Banjo, Sam Craske, Mitchell Craske,

Perri Kiely Perri Luc Kiely (born 15 December 1995) is a British street dancer, TV and radio presenter. He is a member of the dance troupe Diversity, which won the third series of ''Britain's Got Talent'' in 2009. He finished as runner-up in the 12th se ...

, Warren Russell, Terry Smith, Nathan Ramsay, Theo Mckenzie-Hayton, Adam Mckop, Kelvin Clark, Jordan Samuel, Shante Samuel, Starr Kiely, Georgia Lewis and Morgan Plom. Founding members Ashton Russell, Ian McNaughton, Jamie McNaughton, Matthew McNaughton and Ike Chuks have left Diversity. They are currently managed by Danielle Banjo, Ashley and Jordan's mother, and based at Dancework studio. On 28 July 2017, it was announced that former member Robert Anker had died following a car crash in Canada.

History

Before Diversity: Swift Moves

Before Diversity most of the group belonged to Swift Moves or Swift Moves Juniors. As Swift Moves, they beat KI (the crew Marlon Wallen from Flawless was with) in 2005 during KI's second run to seven wins at The Jump Off where Swift Moves battled a total of four times.

2007: Formation and early career

Formed in 2007, although there were a few line-up changes between 2007 and 2009 with

and Ike Chuks joining the group while Robert Anker and Ashton Russell did not take part in '' Britain's Got Talent''. They won the Street Dance Weekend 2007 competition. By the time they performed in the Street Dance Weekend as guests in 2008 the group consisted of friends from east London (Leytonstone and Dagenham) and Essex ( Basildon), included four sets of brothers and three other members. Some were still at school or university, while others had jobs of their own. The group consisted of leader and

Ashley Banjo and the following other members: Robert Anker, Jordan Banjo, Sam Craske, Mitchell Craske, Warren Russell, Ashton Russell,

, Ike Chuks, Terry Smith, Ian McNaughton, Jamie McNaughton and Matthew McNaughton. Ashton Russell played the part of Young Michael Jackson in the musical

Thriller – Live ''Thriller Live'' is a two-and-a-half-hour concert revue celebrating the music of The Jackson 5 and the solo work and life of Michael Jackson. It had already been performed in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia before ope ...

2009: ''Britain's Got Talent''

In 2009, Diversity auditioned in London for the third series of '' Britain's Got Talent''. Judge Amanda Holden said: "Just when I think I've seen it all, you came on." They received three "yes"es from Holden, Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell, and eventually progressed to the live semi-finals, where they opened the first show on 24 May. After their performance, they received a standing ovation from the audience and the judges, who all dubbed their performance "fantastic". Later that night, they were in the top three with singers Natalie Okri and

. Boyle was revealed to have received the most votes and went straight through to the live final, meaning that the judges would choose between Okri and Diversity for the second spot in the final. Morgan and Cowell both voted in favour of Diversity – Morgan believed that Diversity had a better chance of winning the show and Cowell admitted that he had been "a huge fan" of Diversity from their first audition. Following their performance in the final, Holden said she thought Diversity had "blown Flawless out of the water", while Cowell said that "If I had to give marks on that, this would be the only performance tonight I would give a 10 to." However, Morgan thought Flawless "just edged

iversity Iversity is a Berlin-based online education platform. Since October 2013, iversity has specialised in providing online courses and lectures in higher education, specifically MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). Courses are free and open for anyo ...

" They finished in the top three again, as did Boyle, along with saxophonist Julian Smith. In a shock result, in front of a record audience of 17.3 million viewers, Diversity were announced as the winners, despite Boyle being the clear favourite to win.

2009: BGT tour and 1st Royal Variety show performance

After winning ''Britain's Got Talent'', Diversity appeared on the US television news programmes '' The Today Show'' and '' Larry King Live'' to talk about their future plans. They also took part in the Britain's Got Talent – The Live Tour 2009 in June and July. Diversity also became Patrons of

Dance Aid Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

organised by the UK Registered Charity,

Hope for Children Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

. They performed at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, London on 5 July, and appeared at T4 on the Beach on 19 July at Weston-super-Mare. On 31 August, Diversity performed at

Blackpool's Winter Gardens The Winter Gardens is a large entertainment complex in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which includes a theatre, ballroom and conference facilities. Opened in 1878, it is a Grade II* listed building, operated by Blackpool Entertainment Company ...

in a Michael Jackson tribute alongside George Sampson and Aidan Davis. This performance was on the same weekend as the World Street Dancing championships. They performed in London to launch the new Disney channel Disney XD. They also performed outside

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...

in front of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, during which Perri slipped and fell on his head after attempting a back-flip. He did not sustain any serious injury. Diversity also appeared in the

Gracious K Gracious was a British progressive rock band that existed from 1967 to 1971 and released three studio albums: ''Gracious!'' (1970, Vertigo/Capitol), ''This Is...'' (1972, Philips), and ''Echo'' (1996). History Singer Paul 'Sandy' Davis and g ...

music video "Migraine Skank" along with dance group Flawless. In January 2010, Ashley Banjo appeared as a judge on the

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

reality show ''

Got to Dance ''Got to Dance'', originally titled ''Just Dance'', is a British dance competition that was broadcast on Sky 1 in the United Kingdom from 20 December 2009 to 28 December 2014. Auditions for the show were held in specially built "Dance Domes" and ...

'', alongside

Adam Garcia Adam Gabriel Garcia (born 1 June 1973) is an Australian stage, television, and film actor who is best known for lead roles in musicals such as '' Saturday Night Fever'' and ''Kiss Me, Kate''. He is also a trained tap dancer and singer. Garcia ha ...

and

Kimberly Wyatt Kimberly Kaye Wyatt (born February 4, 1982) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She is a former member of the pop/ R&B girl group and dance ensemble The Pussycat Dolls. She is also a member of the ...

. Diversity switched on Christmas lights at Chapelfield shopping centre in Norwich on 5 November, then in

Meadowhall Shopping Centre Meadowhall is an indoor shopping centre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It lies north-east of Sheffield city centre, and from Rotherham town centre. It is the largest shopping centre in Yorkshire, and currently the eleventh-largest i ...

in Sheffield on 6 November then in Watford on 12 November. On 11 November, Diversity conducted several hours of signing autographs and posing for

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

s with thousands of fans at The Galleria Shopping Centre in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Afterwards, they hosted a prize-giving ceremony on stage and performed their "Michael Jackson" dance routine. They performed another Michael Jackson tribute at the MOBO award ceremony. Diversity "launched" Christmas at Lakeside on 1 November, where they took two members of the audience on-stage for a dance-off. There was a competition held in November, and a hundred people won a meet and greet with Diversity on 19 November at

The Glades in Bromley The Glades is a shopping centre in Bromley, England. It has a total of 135 stores trading from a combined floorspace of . Opened as The Glades on Tuesday 22 October 1991, the centre is currently jointly owned by Alaska Permanent Fund (85%) and ...

. On 7 December, Diversity performed on the

Royal Variety Performance The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal f ...

, hosted in Blackpool and shown on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

across the UK on 16 December. On the show ''

Warm Up'', they presented their Westfield Shopping Centre FlashMob, sponsored by T-Mobile.

2010: Diversity's tour

Diversity promoted street dancing with

Change4Life Change4Life is a public health programme in England which began in January 2009, run by Public Health England. It is the country's first national social marketing campaign to tackle the causes of obesity. Change4Life aims to help families make s ...

in January as a means of getting kids and families more active. The first dates for Diversity's spring tour sold out in 24 hours, which led to further dates being announced, the first being at the Manchester Apollo on 27 March. The tour centres on toys "coming to life". Diversity being the main toy as "Diversitoys", fellow ''Britain's Got Talent'' dance group Suga-Free as "the dolls", Aidan Davis as "Bionic Boy", and others. Due to phenomenal public demand, Diversity brought back their "Diversitoys" tour in December with a Special Christmas twist "Diversitoys Christmas Special". Part of the tour were later shown on TV in the program Diversity Live: The Diversitoys Tour. The group teamed up with national retailer

The Range Home and Leisure The Range is a multi-channel retailer selling products in the home, garden, and leisure categories, with over 180 stores in the United Kingdom & Ireland. History In 1980, Chris Dawson started business as an open-air market trader in Ply ...

for a commercial to be shown in April and May, with the tagline "If you like Diversity, you'll love The Range". They also appeared in adverts for food for "great little ideas". Diversity appeared in the UK film StreetDance 3D, released on 21 May 2010, in which they starred alongside ''Britain's Got Talent'' 2009 finalists Flawless and 2008 winner George Sampson. They brought out their own fitness DVD called

Diversity Dance Fitness Fusion Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

in November 2010.

2011–2012: Digitized tour

Ashton Russell re-joined diversity. In July and August Diversity members Mitchell Craske,

and Ashton Russell along with fellow Dancework studio dancer Nathan Ramsey took part in the

Born to Shine ''Born to Shine'' is an ITV entertainment programme which featured celebrities who learn a new skill taught to them by talented teenagers, live on Sunday evenings. The show was presented by Natasha Kaplinsky and won by Jason Manford. Format Teena ...

roadshow. At each show two of the four would perform and take part in a dance masterclass for children. The group did a number of TV performances including Britain's Got Talent,

and Red or Black. They also filmed the first series of "

Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew ''Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew'' is a documentary reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological ...

". In September they supported the charity the Railway Children by producing a film for them and also a competition where the winners would meet the group on their next tour. In October the group performed at the Michael Forever – The Tribute Concert. The first series of "Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew" aired. In the show members of Diversity took turns to help Ash teach small groups a street dance. The group also filmed the second series of "Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew" during the course of the year. Starting from March, Diversity did their first UK Arena tour called "Digitized – Trapped in the Game". They sold out the O2 Arena with a standing ovation from the audience. Shortly after the Digitized tour Ian McNaughton, Jamie McNaughton and Matthew McNaughton left the group. Later in the year they brought out their DVD of the tour filmed at the O2 Arena.

2012–2014: Limitless tour

Diversity were among the many torch bearers in London's 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, completing their leg of the journey on 22 July 2012. They performed on the

2012 with Spelbound, Stavros Flatley and Paul Potts. Got to Dance returned for its fourth series. As per previous series Diversity did a number of performance. The fourth series also saw Diversity members Jordan and Perri start hosting in their own right as they took on the role of the backstage presenters. This was followed a few months later by their own show. In spring of 2013 Diversity spent 2 months in Stockton-on-Tees teaching large groups of people to dance for the Sky1 show "Ashley Banjo's Big Town Dance". The second series of "Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew" aired at the start of the year. The group have also been working on a third series of Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew since April. In Summer 2013 Diversity members Jordan Banjo and

, hosted their own TV show ''Jordan and Perri's Ultimate Block Party'' where they transformed groups of young people (Swim Team, Youth Club etc.) into a dance troupe in only 2 days. In the run up to the limitless tour the group did a number of performances including one at the Danone Nations Cup (a football competition dedicated to children) at Wembley Stadium and another on top of the O2 Arena in London for Nickelodeon's Fruit Shoot Skills Awards. Diversity did their third tour called Limitless from 30 November to 16 December. They performed one of the performances from the tour on ''

'' at the start of the year. In February 2014, Perri won the

second series The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

of '' Splash!'' A new Diversity show called ''

Ashley Banjo's Big Town Dance Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsc'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

'' (which has also been called ''The Town That Danced Again'' while in production) aired on Sky 1 in January and February. Big Town dance followed Ashley and Diversity as they spent 2 months in Stockton-on-Tees trying to bring the town together through dance. It was announced on 17 February that Diversity Members Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely would be the UK hosts for

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice) is an annual American children's awards ceremony show that is produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in late March or early April, the show honors ...

. Following the announcement Jordan and Perri spent a week in LA filming a number of adverts and video blogs which Nickelodeon showed on their UK channel and web site in the run up to the Awards. On 1 March, Diversity performed on '' Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' and announced that due to public demand a reboot of their Limitless tour would return in November 2014. Diversity performed with

Little Mix Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British ver ...

during the final of Britain's Got Talent on 7 June. They had previously performed on

Britain's Got More Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global Got Talent, ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (c ...

on their own on 29 May. Members of Diversity have also done a number of adverts. Perri & Mitchell did ITV – Where The Entertainers Live in March. Ash, Jordan and Perri did a series of videos for Cadbury Marvellous Mix-Ups in May. Jordan and Perri did a number of videos and judging for British Gas Generation Green Energy Performance in May and June. The pair also did a number of adverts for Transformers toys in June. In October Ike took part in itvplayer's Ready when you are. Diversity appeared at Weston Super-Mare Beach Festival on 28 June. They took part in Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park with McBusted on 6 July. They also appeared at the Leicester Music Festival on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 July. Diversity took part in the closing ceremony of the first Invictus Games on 14 September. Their set included the Corps of Drums from Her Majestys Band of The Royal Marines and three members of Diversity Juniors. The three Diversity Juniors also took part in Diversity performance on Got to Dance on 25 August.

2015: The Exclusive Tour – Up Close and Personal

Diversity Live broadcast on 4 January during which the group talked about how various dances that have inspired them and the major influences who have helped them along the way. On 13 March 2015, Warren Russell was a judge at the first ever Balfour Beatty London Youth Games dance competition. In early 2015 it was announced that Diversity members Jordan and Perri would be reprising their roles as UK hosts for the Nickelodeon

Kids' Choice Awards The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice) is an annual American children's awards ceremony show that is produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in late March or early April, the show honors ...

2015. They again spent time in the USA filming short clips for Nickelodeon in the run up to the awards. Before returning to the UK where Diversity filmed a special routine for the pre-show. During the filming of this Diversity members Ashley, Mitchell, Sam, Ike, Warren and Terry were all slimed, a form of honour from Nickelodeon. Jordan and Perri also got slimed when they hosted and performed with Diversity at the UK's first ever Nickelodeon Slimefest 2016. On 9 May 2015 they gave the opening performance at VE Day 70: A Party to Remember in Horse Guards Parade, London.

2015–present: Butlins Tour – Butlins Up Close and Personal

During 2015 members of Diversity performed shows and took dance class at a number of Butlins resorts during the school holidays. So far they been joined on stage by fellow Dancework studio dancer Nathan Ramsey and members of Diversity Juniors along with drummer Kieran Gaffney. Although it was not officially announced, Ike Chuks left the group in early 2016 to pursue his music career. In 2016, Ashley Banjo (alongside Zoe Ball) hosted the BBC show '' Can't Touch This''. On 3 February 2016, Diversity, along with some young people and staff from Dancework Studios performed for '' Tonight at the London Palladium'', hosted by Bradley Walsh. Diversity also returned to ITV, where they starred in two episodes of the Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway segment "Who Shot Simon Cowell?" as well as a special performance (created by Ashley Banjo) to celebrate 10 years of Britain's Got Talent. They returned once again in the New Year to promote their new ITV special Diversity Presents Steal The Show. Ashley Banjo was also a judge on the Strictly Come Dancing rival Dance Dance Dance. On 8 November 2016, Jordan Banjo was announced as being part of the line-up for series 16 of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' Diversity returned to Butlins for 2016. It was announced in August 2016 that Diversity will be back at Butlins for October 2016 It was announced that Diversity was returning to Butlins for their fourth year in 2018 along with the dance academy.

2017: Genesis Tour and pantomime debut

Diversity showcased their 7th UK arena tour, Genesis. The tour is the final element to the Diversity Superhero saga, and a future tour is yet to be announced. From 9 December 2017 to 14 January 2018, Diversity made their pantomime debut in ''Dick Whittington'' at the London Palladium, alongside Julian Clary, Elaine Paige,

Paul Zerdin Paul Zerdin (born 21 August 1972) is a British comedian and ventriloquist from London. He was the winner of the 10th season of ''America's Got Talent''. Early life When Zerdin was 10, a family friend made him a puppet theatre which he used ...

, Gary Wilmot, Nigel Havers and Charlie Stemp. On 28 July 2017, member Robert Anker died in a car accident in Canada. On 6 November 2017, Ashley Banjo was confirmed to be one of the four judges on the revived ITV show ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their profe ...

''. Diversity performed for a one-off Christmas special – named A Night of Emergency Services. Ashley Banjo returned for his second series of

, in 2019.

Tours

* Britain's Got Talent Tour (2009) * Diversitoys (2010) ** Diversitoys Christmas Special (2010) * Digitized – Trapped in the Game (2012) * Limitless (2013) *

Salute Tour The Salute Tour was the second concert tour held by British girl group Little Mix, in support of their second studio album, ''Salute''. The tour began on 16 May 2014, in Birmingham, England, and ended on 27 July 2014 in Scarborough, North Yorksh ...

With

** Limitless The Reboot (2014) * The Exclusive Tour – Up Close and Personal (2015) * Butlins – Up Close and Personal (2015–Present) * Genesis (2017) * Dick Whittington at the London Palladium (2017–2018) * Aladdin at the Cliffs Pavilion Southend (2018–2019) * Robin Hood and His Merry Men at the Cliffs Pavilion Southend (2019–2020) * Ignite (2018) * Born Ready (2019) *Connected (2022) *

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...

at the Cliffs Pavillion Southend (2022)

DVDs

* Diversity: Dance.Fitness.Fusion (2010) * Diversity Digitized: The Live Tour 2012 (2012)