This was a dream come true. Actually, an opportunity I never thought I'd have. The FatBoy Slim "Praise You" Music video that I danced in became very popular world wide, reaching the top of the video charts in many different countries. It was nominated for four MTV music awards and the seven of us in the video were asked to perform the number with FatBoy Slim live on the MTV Music Awards Show on September 9th of 1999 for an estimated 300 million viewers.
What an experience! The seven of us started with rehearsals in Los Angeles for four days, then we were told that they wanted to add fourteen other dancers to perform with us to fill out the stage. But in Los Angeles it was just the seven of us.. so we worked those four days setting what we would be doing.
The Torrance Community Dance
Group |
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We flew to New York about a week before the performance. The first day there we had off, so I went sight seeing. I also saw an off Broadway show and then went to a club and danced all night, literally. I didn't get to bed until 5am. Ah, but it was a great day. Then we had three days of rehearsals with the New York dancers to teach them everything. They were all very nice and we had a great time working with them. One of the New York dancers was in the original Broadway cast of "A Chorus Line", and he had also starred in the movie version as well. It was great talking to him about his experience with the Broadway show and the movie.
Our daily rehearsals didn't start until 3pm, so this allowed us to sleep in each day. That being the case, after rehearsals each night a few of us would go out and party all night long, usually getting back to the hotel somewhere between 4 and 6am. It was rough getting up sometimes but so much fun!
Usually with video's, the artist is the star and the dancers are in the background. But with our video, FatBoy Slim wasn't in it. The entire video is us, making us the stars in the video. So when the seven of us from the video would walk around the Streets of New York we had people recognizing us and coming up to us all excited. It was a lot of fun.
It really is amazing how popular this video has become.. we were told that we are HUGE in Europe. In England when the song "Praise You" is played in the dance clubs, everyone starts doing the moves from our video. Because of our popularity, they also did a documentary film on the seven of us. The camera's were with us from the first day of rehearsal in Los Angeles until out trip back home from New York. The film will be played at the Sundance Film Festival and then possibly air in different venues throughout the world. During one of our three day rehearsals in New York, we went to The Metropolitan Opera House where the awards show was being held and had a rehearsal on the stage. It was amazing.. what a beautiful place! People were everywhere as they were trying to get everything ready for the live telecast in two days. We ran through our number on the stage a few times so they could set lighting and camera shots.
Choreographer Michael Rooney, |
The day of the telecast came and we were all so excited we could hardly stand it. We got to the theatre early in the day for a full dress rehearsal with everyone in the show. When we arrived Ricky Martin was rehearsing his number on stage. He did it a couple of times and then they moved on to Nine Inch Nails and then TLC. We were suppose to rehearse after TLC but because they were so far behind, MTV bumped us and we didn't get a rehearsal.
For most of the day we all just hung out in our dressing rooms. Security was everywhere, and It was crazy outside. People everywhere. I mean THOUSANDS of people. And I've never seen so many police officers in one place. There had to be 100 to 200 New York City police. It was all amazing. The best part about the day was that, as talent performing in the awards show, we were given these passes that we wore around out neck. It got us anywhere we wanted to go. Thousands of people are being held back by the police and all we had to do was show our pass and in we went. I always wondered what it would be like to be on the inside of an event like this and here I was actually experiencing it.
A couple of us went out to the front of The Metropolitan Opera House where all of the people were. When the crowd was told who we were, they went crazy! They started yelling how much they loved the video and our dance routine. They were reaching out and trying to get to us, so I walked over to them and put my hand out. They went wild and everyone in that area tried to get to me so that they could touch me. It was weird. It was my own little taste of stardom.
| We also walked down
the red carpet passing Donald Trump, Janet Jackson, Ricky Martin and many
others. Backstage we saw just about everyone. Madonna walked about a foot
from me, same with the Backstreet Boys, Johnny Depp, Korn, Ricky Martin
and just about everyone else. And I got a picture with TLC, who were very
nice. I had sat next to them in the theatre during the dress rehearsal
earlier in the day. |
With TLC, waiting to rehearse |
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It was almost time for our live performance and so we were all costumed up and ready to go. They came for us and brought us to the side of the stage. When it was time, we went on stage to our starting positions. The excitement from everyone was incredible, especially since we had just found out that our video had already won two awards, best Choreography and best Breakthrough Video. We heard our introduction, heard the music start and we were off. What a rush it was, performing in front of all those stars and on live television for millions of people.
After the performance, the seven of us in the original video were taken to a side room so that we could change. The award for best Direction was about to be announced and if we won, they wanted all of us to go up and accept the award. So after getting changed, we went around into the theatre and waited for the winner to be announced. The cast from the "Blair Witch Project" and Buddy Hacket presented this award. They showed a clip from each nominated video and then we waited as the envelope was opened.. the excitement and anticipation was overwhelming.
The envelope was opened and the winner was FatBoy Slim's "Praise You." We couldn't believe it! We all ran to the foot of the stage, hugged each other and then went up on stage. The statue was handed to me first and then I gave it to our director. After the thank you's we went off the stage still in shock over what had just happened.
We ended up going over to the press tent to do some interviews. Actor Tim Robbins stopped us and told us how much he liked us and what we did. Will Smith congratulated us and so did Pamela Anderson and her husband Tommy Lee.
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Coming out of one of the press interviews I ran into Britney Spears. She was on her way in. I didn't recognize her at first and then it dawned on me who she was, so I said, "Oh, hey Britney, how are you sweetheart?!" Then I went on my way. I was hoping to get to see her that night. |
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Me and Norman Cook..
AKA "FatBoy Slim", |
After the awards show
we were invited to two after party's. One was MTV's party and the other
was the Virgin Records big party. We decided to go to the Virgin Records
party first and then go over to the other one later but we had so much
fun at the Virgin Records party we ended up staying there all night. Lot's
of food, a full open bar and great dance music with FatBoy Slim as the
DJ. We literally ate, drank and danced the night away. And FatBoy Slim
ended the evening playing his hit "Praise You". |
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What an incredible week
it was, I will never forget it! The next day, we were on the plane and
back to reality.
To see this music video and a documentary on us, the Torrance
Community Dancers,
get the DVD "Works of Director Spike Jonze."
If you haven't gotten
the full scoop on the making
of the PRAISE YOU video, back up and
check it out HERE
| Dancing for MADONNA.. that's the |  |
