Here I sit at the Toronto airport at 7 am waiting to go back to Atlanta. I'm listening to Annie Lennox and am remarkably awake. The task of creating a Bollywood number for SYTYCD Canada is complete although I did less creating and more cleaning and clarifying which is something that I've done many year of in my career. Longinus' creative process is one of rapid ideas and concepts flying out onto the dancers with varying degrees of definitive information. He likes to create sections then go back and detail and there is a lot of detail. It was interesting and challenging considering his accent and the rapidity of his speech but once we got the entire dance finished it was easier to nail down those details he was looking for. The dancers did a great job adapting to any changes that were necessary including a major one of shifting positions when the Executive Producer Sandra Fair wanted the costumes arranged in a certain color pattern and performed the dance fantastically. The crew were so beautifully welcoming from the the drivers Julie, Tim, Alex to wardrobe Lee to producer Millan, an amazing man with the most gentle demeanor and kind spirit and loved the work we did. Longinus is an amazing man as well. So gracious, loving, supportive and funny. We had so much fun rehearsing, sharing dinner time, watching TV together and he gave me great advice and encouragement. Then yesterday toward the end of the day I was sitting in the break room waiting for the time to shoot and I see Sean Cheesman walk by. His name jumped from my mouth and flew across the room with almost embarrassing volume. I've known Sean for 20 years and to see him there was a super surprise. Sean was always an amazing dancer, working with MJ, Paula, Janet, Prince, the list goes on and on and he's a sweet person. Now he's a resident choreographer for SYTYCDC and also guests on the American version of the show. It's always great to see a familiar face and feel that common energy of having shared the same space, time and career. After the day was complete I got to share some time with Sean and Longi over dinner. Sean and I could not remember when or how we had first met each other...well it was 20 years ago, but Sean is one of those people that I've just always known. I find in the dance world that you intermingle with other dancers with such random lengths of time whether it's at an audition, a commercial or film shoot, a tour, or a club that it's like we just share space and time that has no beginning or end. After dinner Longi and I went back to watch the show and Sean had choreographed a musical theater piece set to a song from "Wicked" and let me tell you...It Was Wicked!!! His choreography, staging, and partnering elements were simply dynamic and amazing. It was by far the best piece of the evening. And then I went to bed and here I am about to board the plane back to Atlanta filled with gratitude, inspiration, and nostalgia.
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