AM: Love that! Going back to Gimmie the Light video, what do you think it is about this video that after all of these years, that reaction is still there? The feeling is still there. Since that video, we have seen tons of amazing things and technologically there are different things, but the song and visually there is that feeling that you still get when you see it. How does it have such staying power?
TS: I’ll tell you something, I feel that it’s because it is so organic and it’s so freeing like you can’t even explain or break it down to how everybody moves in that music video. It was just captured in the right way and it was just a vibe! Like, you can’t fuck up a vibe! Like you can’t not feel a feeling – you know what I’m saying? It wasn’t technical at all! It was just people moving and grooving in a way that was just something that felt good naturally in your body that connected to the music perfectly. Individuals captured it and it made it cool. It was swaggy, it was fun! You had PonyTailz doing the Spidermen, you had Dainty Crime which was a crew of guys in there jumping up and down, it was entertaining. It also didn’t feel like you couldn’t do the moves. Everybody at home wanted to try because it felt like, “oh I think I could do this.” That’s what makes it so good and continues to be so.
It’s like YMCA, everyone can do that and you want to jump in – that’s what I think it is.
AM: I think so too and conversely, we were on set shooting one of our covers and Hotline Bling came out. I hadn’t seen the video yet and we’re all prepping for the shoot and I was asked if I had seen the video. We’re watching this video and I knew it was Director X, but the vibe had elements of Gimmie the Light as well. Of course, I find out that you did that and I can see why I felt those homages to the other video. What was it like being on this project and obviously another Toronto connection – and it was fire!
TS: Yo, Hotline Bling, what made it so special from the beginning is because it was Director X, who had me involved and of course, it was Drake. I remember Drake saying, I need that Tanisha Scott/Gimmie the Light moment. So, I’m like, “let’s do it brother” and I had previously worked with him before. He said he just wanted to let loose – almost like not taking anything too seriously and to just move and vibe. So I was like, let’s go – literally. What made the video so amazing is of course it was beautifully shot, but it was that synergy once again. It was the visuals, it was X's understanding what it takes, it’s Drake that’s part of it. Let me tell you one thing, that man has his finger on the pulse of not what’s new or next, but 2 slots or 4 years ahead. He knew more than anybody, he knew that this was something. He is so smart and he said, let’s just vibe and we had fun. We freestyled and we literally just had fun on set joking around and it became what it became.
Who would have seen me coming up with dances that actually became a meme, people are doing it and it’s a signature Drake move! It was a blessing because I’m working with my friends and we’re honestly friends where we trust each other so much that there’s no micromanaging of anything. It’s like, I’m going to do this and this makes sense to this and it makes sense to that – so let’s do that. Then Drake is like let’s do this and we just made it happen. So trust and just going with your gut and not just doing things that you think is right or what someone else thinks is right.
AM: Well once again, it’s just beautiful and it will be 20 years from now where there will be those relevant elements that have a different vibe in respect to Gimmie the Light but it still has that warmth –
TS: That simplicity.
AM: It’s so simple and I do love an over the top production as well, but I also like when things are paired down and you can focus. No matter how many times you watch it, there’s something that pops up and it just figures that you were involved as well!
So it’s always fun to see your work as a dancer and a choreographer but it’s interesting to see you as both in the same project. Does it feel like a balanced moment when we get to see you as both the dancer as well as the choreographer?
TS: That to me – being a dancer during doing something that’s choreographed, unless I’m freestyling – doesn’t really feel good. But, if I’m on camera choreographing doing what I do, that feels balanced. But if I’m dancing, I can’t perform to my best when I know that I have choreographed for other people are around me and I’m looking for where they are in their space. I’m still thinking as a choreographer as well as what is my artist doing and I feel like I’m cheating – it doesn’t feel good. Because when I dance, I zone out and I let go to be free. In that moment, I’m not on guard. When I’m choreographing and I’m on camera doing choreography or creative, I feel like I’m at home. I’m able to not just express what it is that I do and get the job done, but I want other people to learn as well. There are other levels to creative direction and different aspects of it as well as even for the dancers. There are a lot of things that we can do because the longevity of a dancer is not that long so you have to think of other things to do that can still play into your love of dance – you don’t lose it, but you just evolve.
AM: You look at a person like Debbie Allen who she can still –
TS: I mean queen, queen, queen!
AM: You just look at her and even when you watch her in something that she isn’t dancing in like when she is in Grey’s Anatomy, she has a flow to her movement that when she crosses over to the other side of the room, you’re transfixed!
TS: Preach Kimmie!
AM: I love flow and it doesn’t just exist in dance, but when you see those who are dancers and they still have that style in other portions of their life, it’s beautiful to see! You can tell the flow and musicality that some people have even when there isn’t anything being played.
TS: She doesn’t know this and I never met her but she is such an inspiration.