Do you feel like social media has changed the way we approach choreography and dance?
What I think it’s allowed us to do is to see dance in so many different ways, done by so many different types and kinds of people. Back in my day growing up, you only saw the best of the best. The professional dancers, the professional artists were the ones who were dancing and you didn’t really see what people were doing at home. Social media has allowed us to see that anyone can dance at this point. And every type of dancer. Doesn’t have to be at a professional level. It could be comedy, it could be a joke, but it could still go viral. It’s allowed everyone to participate in a new way.
But there is still a difference in a TikTok dance versus a “Karma” dance, in my opinion. TikTok dances are all about being cool and really simple, which is fine. But when it comes to pop choreography, there’s a level that I’m trying to always attain and stay at or go past. It’s got to be some level of weird, maybe they can pick it up, but then it’s got to be a little difficult, but then it’s got to be a little easy. It’s the mix of it all, and that’s what I love about pop choreography.
Some people might think with your dancing is meant to go viral and it’s a stunt or something. But once you think about it, if we had TikTok around the time “Thriller” came out, there would definitely be a “Thriller” dance challenge.
100%. Every Halloween, someone’s doing a breakdown of “Thriller,” they’re doing the choreography. But it is about, at least for me, those signature moves being created for songs, purposefully.
Your artists have passionate fans who pick up your choreography. Do you get blown away by their dance covers?
Friends will send them to me or they always tag me, and in most cases I repost it, especially in my stories. It’s so cool and I know that they want to be seen and I want to let them know that I see you. You’re not alone. I see you. It’s not just happening on your phone. I see you. And some of them, most of them can actually really dance.
My favorite is the fan Gaga plucked from the crowd and he did all the choreography with her and the dancers.
He knew all the steps. It was so crazy. I was like, how do you know everything? The transitions, when we walk.
How did you come up with the “Karma” dance move?
I’ve been working with JoJo since she was 15, but she’s not with Nickelodeon anymore, so this was the first time she’s in her adult era. This was the first time we could actually go for it the way we wanted to without restrictions. And it was all about turning heads. We wanted to turn heads.
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