This was one of the most unusual jobs I ever had but it was also one of the most fun. There were over 100 men at the audition and about 150 women. They hired 6 of us. The artist is FatBoy Slim and the song is "Praise You." It was so much fun I can't even tell you. It's an experience I will never forget.

It’s kind of funny, at the audition they taught us this great dance routine. But when we started rehearsals for the video we were pretty much doing anything except dancing. You didn’t really need to be a dancer to do what we ended up doing.

Once hired, we met at a dance studio for rehearsal and all we did the first day was create unusual looking moves. Spike Jonze, the director, had himself video taped dancing very unique moves to the song. We broke down each of his moves, named them and then started learning them. We rehearsed two days and then filmed on the third.

We met at a dance studio down in Venice, CA the film day. The wardrobe guy gave us our outfits and we rehearsed our routine a few times and then all met at a hotel in Santa Monica, CA. The whole production crew was there, the director, producer, cameramen and many others. We talked through what would be happening once we got out on the street where we were to perform.

They wanted us to look like we were this very serious amateur dance troupe performing the first time our routine to FatBoy Slims song. We supposedly had been rehearsing for months for this big performance. We were dressed to look like dancers from the 80's. It was very funny because we were dressed to look out of place for the 1990's. They didn’t want anyone to know that we were filming a music video. So all the cameramen were dressed like tourists, using small digital camera’s that looked like tourist camcorders. The cameramen just mixed into the crowd.

We walked over to the 3rd Street Promenade there in Santa Monica. We got a crowd, started the music and did our dance routine. It went really good but there on the Promenade there are lots of acts and entertainers performing and so we kind of fit in. They didn't want that. They wanted us to stick out. So we moved over to Westwood. A lot goes on in Westwood on Friday nights but there weren’t any street entertainers and so we did stick out.

The area was packed. They decided to do the routine in front of this big movie theatre on the corner. People were everywhere, standing in line to buy tickets for a movie, standing in line to get in the theatre to see the movie, and just walking by. They decided they wanted us to get in the middle of all this and do our thing. So we walked up, made a space, turned on the music and did our dance routine. They expected that we would be asked to stop so they told us to keep on going no matter what. So we did.

It was crazy. We had this huge crowd watching us and everyone thought we were very serious about our performance and the dancing we were doing. They’d also laugh because we looked so out of place and looked so bad with this weird choreography.

During our routine, the theatre security asked us to stop a number of times. As we were told, we just kept going. The theater manager came out and also tried to get us to stop. When we didn't, security walked over and turned off the music. 

                             I think the manager felt pressure from the audience to leave us alone because after they turned our music off, the crowd booed them and started yelling, “let them dance.” So after a disagreement with the manager and his disapproval, we started again. I think he realized he should just leave us alone because the crowd was on our side.

They filmed everything.. the management turning off our music, the crowd booing the management and then us starting up again and they used it all in the final edit of the video.

The artist FatBoy Slim wasn't in the video but he did make a little cameo appearance at the end.  We have this little scene at the end of the video and while we're talking, FatBoy Slim slowly walks by, looks over our shoulders, and into the camera.  The video aired in Europe first.  They were playing it like crazy once every hour.  Then they started playing it on MTV here in the States.

In 2001, our video was named the number one video of all time by the MTV viewers.  It really was a fun and unusual experience. I’m thrilled I had the opportunity to do it.

Then, as if all that wasn't enough, in October of 2003, Spike Jonze released a short film  entitled "Torrance Rises" starring myself and the others from the Torrance Community Dance Troupe.

SEE the FatBoy Slim "Praise You" Video!
 
Get the DVD "Works of Director Spike Jonze" soon to be released on Oct. 28, 2003 and
see our music video as well as a 30 minute documentary on us, the Torrance Community Dancers.