Elephant tail dancer captivates Take That tour fans

As Take That arrive to play at Manchester's Etihad Stadium this weekend, you may well be thinking that all eyes will be on Gary, Mark and Howard.

But a different star is emerging from the much-praised theatrical performance that has been the Take That Circus Tour 2026.

Briony Albert is a professional dancer who has worked with Take That for the last 17 years.

Playing the gravity-defying tail of a giant mechanical elephant, she has been spotted by thousands of fans as videos of her in action have gone viral.

Briony, who during the performance is suspended by her feet and torso 30ft (9m) above the stage, told BBC Radio Manchester, "It's fun. It's silly. It's funny. It's enjoyable.

"We are very excited to be in Manchester and to hear the crowds go wild."

On her unique role, Briony said: "People have said 'Why do we need to have someone dangling off the back of the elephant? We could have just stuck a piece of plastic off the back'.

"But it just makes it interesting. It's something to talk about. And I'm engaging with it because why not?

"This is a bit of fun.

"I'm not taking it seriously."

Briony said she had trained hard ahead of this year's tour to regain the physical strength required for the role.

"I very quickly realised I did not have the strength there I thought I did," she said.

"So it's taken me about three months just to make sure when I was in rehearsals I didn't look like an idiot.

"I was very aware that I was a little bit older and maybe it was going to be harder."

Of her stage costume, she said: "This outfit allows me to move in a more ethereal and elegant way than the last time I did it."

Briony, who also performs throughout the concert at ground level, said the elephant reveal was one of the more surprising elements of the show.

"Out of nowhere, the stage opens up and suddenly this huge elephant comes out," she explained. "That's quite surprising and fun as well, because you're not expecting that if you haven't seen the show before."

Explaining how the mechanism works, Briony said: "I am clipped on by my ankles as this elephant, made out of steel, rises up into the air and then I tie myself again at the waist.

"I dangle off the back of this elephant, trying to mimic what a tail would do - because obviously we've all studied that very hard!

"We play around with the creativity of the idea - it's obviously not a real elephant, but we're trying to bring something that's not real to life and look as realistic as possible.

"So we've got some men in the legs, we've got some girls making up the ears, we've got people moving their head and we've got water coming out the trunk."

"It is a really great vibe on the tour and that's why I keep coming back.

"It is just really great camaraderie and it just makes us as performers feel really special."

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