"Congrats to all the winners of the Michael Jackson tribute contest!    You guys rule, and are taking home 'Glee: The 3D Concert Movie"

Access Hollywood

A friend let me borrow a VHS tape that had a whole bunch of cartoons on it.  In the middle of a Transformers episode right when Optimus Prime was about to strike Megatron, the screen unexpectedly flickered to an image of a man in a precarious pose dressed in a sequin jacket.  Who in their right mind would record over my awesome Transformers?!?  It took me several seconds to identify the interrupting image as Michael Jackson.  I had obviously heard of him before but never really paid much attention because I wasn’t up to date with “pop culture” at the time (gimme a break, I was 7 and was consumed by cartoons and Tonka trucks).  It also didn’t help that my sister would scare me by playing the demonic laugh at the end of the “Thriller” video, which caused me to run out of the room crying.  That traumatized me for many years. Thanks sis.  But, all that was forgotten when Michael started to sing and dance to “Billie Jean” on “Motown Live.”  I’ve never seen a human move so effortlessly yet so powerful all at the same time, or a performer dominated every second that ticked by.  I was hypnotized.  Then he did the moonwalk (A.K.A. the backslide), and my jaw dropped.  I immediately pushed the rewind button repeatedly and thought “How the hell did he do that?”

That seemed to be the recurring question every time he danced.  From that moment on, I was a fan.  My whole family sat glued to the television waiting for his new videos to premiere.  Even my aunt from another country who spoke zero English knew what MJ was all about.  “Oh, Mik-o Juckson-Ah!” she would utter out loud.  He was the biggest international star and somehow he was able to affect millions by his dancing, music, and persona.  I would listen to all his records and mimic his dance moves in the comfort and privacy of my own room.  Kick, double turn, left then right shoulder smack, crotch grab and fist raise with a dramatic head whip.  That was the extent of my dance vocabulary.  It was all that I knew, but I did it with conviction and passion – Michael was my dance idol.  Before him, I didn’t know anything about dance.  I knew it was something I enjoyed but it never crossed my mind to pursue it as a career.  In my head I had ideas of what a dance should look like but translating it to actual physical movement seemed like an impossible feat.  It wasn’t until high school when I would get my chance to showcase what I learned from Michael.

I decided to try out for the dance team. It was more of a joke really, because I was dared to audition by a friend, but I also saw it as an opportunity and an excuse to meet girls. I gave my best Michael impression but it was far from impressive as I felt like a panicked donkey trying to kick his way out of an enclosed room.  By some kind of miracle, I made it and my life took a sharp turn.  Sure I’d been in plays and performed on stage, but when I danced, I felt a sense of fulfillment the moment the music started.  The music inspired my body to paint a picture on my own canvas floor.  There was no substitution for that feeling; it was pure joy.  In future performances thereafter, I would always go back to the image of MJ and his Motown Live performance for inspiration.

People praise Michael for his legendary voice, music, and dancing ability.  Inspiration is what makes the world of art go round, and I was always curious as to who Michael’s inspirations were.  After much research I found that MJ loved musicals and studied some of the greatest; for instance, if you look up “Snake in a Grass” with Bob Fosse you’d find a familiar style that Michael so presently made popular: black high water slacks, black loafers and white socks.  I was blown away at Michael’s ability to blend Fosse’s jazz movement with popping.  Michael modernized a dance sequence in Fred Astaire’s “Band Wagon” in which Astaire wore a cream pin-striped suit and matching fedora while engaging in unique dance-fight choreography.  This was where the epic “Smooth Criminal” video was inspired from.  I couldn’t believe that all these amazing dance sequences existed and I was just finding out about them.  Some of MJ’s inspirations, like the legendary street dancer, Poppin’ Taco, who was his personal teacher for many years, were never recognized as one of the ‘greats.’   Never would I have found my favorite dancers and performers like Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, and Eleanor Powell if it wasn’t for the King of Pop.

I was able to incorporate MJ’s influences into a lot of my work, which allowed me to blend together different styles and add my own ingredients to an old recipe.  I was lucky enough to work on a very unique project which came from the brainchild of my friend and director Jon Chu.  The LXD (Legion of Extraordinary) was an ode to continuing what Michael did with music videos, telling stories through dance.  Dance played an important role to his performances and gained the respect even from the people he looked up to himself like Fred Astaire.  Rumor has it (from a good source) that before he passed, he was a fan of The LXD and wanted to work with us in the future. What an amazing opportunity that would have been but this coming week, instead of working with him, I get to pay the highest respect by paying homage to him in front of millions of people in a new Glee episode, While we were filming, I would remember watching the music video “Scream” over and over again with the enthusiasm of a 7 year old me watching Saturday morning cartoons.

“Scream” was the most expensive music video ever made reaching over $7 million in budget, which is like $200 bizilliion after inflation! Hah!  And now Kevin Mchale and I get to cover it and create our version of that amazing performance!  If you told me that I would be doing an epic MJ number on this scale when I was younger, I would have thrown my Tonka truck at you for teasing me with such an unreachable dream.  The day we shot “Scream” on Glee was probably one of the most fulfilling moments for me.  The whole time we shot, Kevin and I kept asking each other if it was all real while getting pulled to different elaborate sets to shoot our sequences.  It literally felt like a dream.  It was the ultimate “thank you” to the man who helped me focus on a hobby that I could stick with, a man who inspired me to take on this amazing journey.  I hope we do you proud Michael.  Thank you for existing and thank you for your continued influence for many generations to come.  Oh yeah, and thank you for filling my time capsule with some cool stuff.  I think I’ll let this one wait it out a few hundred years…

Click link to see full video.

http://www.people.com/people/videos/0,,20543759,00.html

Now I didn’t know Steve Jobs personally.  But I was lucky enough to be a part of the iPod campaigns.  I was asked to do a test commercial shoot for an Apple product which didn’t mean much to me at the time.  Some music player that holds all your songs.  Sounded cool to me and I never gave up an opportunity to work especially with the possibility of it turning into a national commercial.   Coolest job I did in that time.  Just for the fact that I was chosen for my dancing and just my dancing alone.  It was a silhouette of me so looks and race didn’t play into it unlike most of the jobs I would audition for.  That job is where I essentially got comfortable freestyling in front of people let alone an intimidating 70 pound camera.  I would do hundreds of takes with scrapes and bruises on my knees forming by the minute.  Even then I always had the energy to go “one more time” because I just felt that I was part of something innovative.

Weeks later, the commercial came out and it was everywhere.  Billboards, TV, computers, stores.  It felt like everywhere you went, there was an iPod ad next to you.  I still felt a sense of accomplishment even though I was not recognizable and just a silhouette.  The ads were a success.  This lead me to do many more and they kept calling me with some not asking me to dance but pure movement.  Throughout this I slowly became a Steve Jobs fan not only praising him for putting a paycheck in my pocket but his attention to detail and his involvement in every aspect of his company.

One year, I got a call from my agent asking if I was able to go to San Francisco to perform and open up for Steve Jobs before he hit the stage to announce the new iPod.  It was last minute and I would have to leave in a couple of hours.  I dropped everything and headed to the airport.  I was extremely excited not only for performing at WWDC but the chance to meet Steve Jobs and just shake his hand.  I thought the nerd in me was going to explode with excitement until I got a call from my agent telling me to turn around because they decided to axe the performance.  I was heartbroken.

That day lead me to read more about him which lead me to watch his 2005 Stanford commencement speech.  I was blown away.  Not only was he a visionary and innovator but had a unique work ethic and philosophy like no other.   Hearing his story made me realize that there is no right way to do things and when taking the traditional way, you come out with traditional results.   I quickly tried to apply his philosophies to my career to duplicate some sort of success.  These two quotes hit home for me and I truly live by them.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

More products came out which meant more commercials and print ads.  Now booking a iPod ad was a big deal and the continued success they had with it kept growing.  I was proud to be part of this iconic campaign and was slowly converting to Apple.  I have to admit I still had my reserves when the iPhone came out but some convincing from my friend who was an even bigger Steve fan sealed the deal.

In 2009, I was lucky enough to help choreograph for the LXD who performed at the Oscars.  I was excited to be there and attend the biggest night in Hollywood.  There were some of the biggest stars in the world in that room. But I don’t get star struck so smiling and nodding was the most I would express even when Meryl Streep passed by. (who I adore)  Then my friend (who is the biggest Steve Jobs fan) whispers into my ear that Steve Jobs is in the building!  What?  I turned into a CIA agent and scoped the room out looking for any signs of a semi bald man with round-shaped glasses.  Minutes later, I spotted him and yelled at my friend to come look.  I felt confident in going up to him and just saying hi since we have that seven degrees of “iPod” connection.  With each step towards him, my hands kept getting sweatier and a nervous sensation came over me.  Holy crap, I was getting star struck!  As I approached him, I interrupted a conversation he was having with Disney’s Bob Iger.  I told him about how I did the iPod ads and have always wanted to meet him.  I was speaking at 100 mphs and not sure if I was making coherent sentences.  He just smiled at me and said, “That’s great!  Thank you for all your hard work you put into it.  Those were great ads.”  I smiled and didn’t know what to say next so I just turned to my friend like it was his turn to talk.  And talk he did while he recited one of Steve’s quotes back to him.  We were full on nerds.  Luckily my friend knew Bob Iger and that allowed it to not be so awkward for Mr. Jobs.  We shook hands with him and proceeded to repeat how incredible it was to meet him.  After all those years, I was happy to finally shake his hand.

He has influenced the world more than anyone could have ever imagined.  An innovator, a pioneer and a genius who only come around once in a lifetime.  This is a very sad day but I will use it to remember Steve by all of the amazing things that he has brought into this world.

R.I.P. Steve Jobs

You will be missed!

Harry

I got a new pair of glasses…there’s something different about these…

And yes, that suitcase was comfortable…

In honor of the Glee 3D movie premiering this week I thought I’d post a couple pics from the tour. These three are backstage at the London O2 Arena where the cast broke almost every record playing 7 sold out shows in a row. I got the privilege of hanging with them for about a week and seriously had a blast. Definitely see this movie when you can!