Victoria-born choreographer dances with the stars
Victoria-born choreographer squeezes hometown master class into his busy schedule
You’d think that, by this point in his career, Paul Becker would be able to stage an elaborate production number for
Dancing with the Stars without breaking a sweat.
The Victoria-born director and choreographer dances with the stars for a living, after all.
His many creative partners to date include Miley Cyrus, Ariane Grande, the Muppets, Neil Patrick Harris and Kristin Chenoweth.
What makes Becker’s contribution to Monday’s edition of the hit ABC-TV show more sweatinducing than usual is that it will air live.
“It’s a one-shot thing, so it is stressful,” Becker said from a Los Angeles studio where he was rehearsing Descendants stars Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart, Sofia Carson and 22 other dancers.
It was for a big group number to celebrate the Disney megahit’s hotly-anticipated sequel that premières on July 21. Like the original, pivotal sequences were filmed at Hatley Castle.
“You really have to push the dancers to be absolutely full-out. It’s a lot of pressure, and you have to have your shots planned ahead of time,” said Becker, reflecting on what it takes to pull off the potential showstopper he was asked to stage by his mentor, legendary Hollywood directorchoreographer Kenny Ortega (High School Musical).
Becker’s Dancing with the Stars spectacle is a remix of the first movie’s rouser Rotten to the Core and Ways to be Wicked, to be featured in Descendants 2.
“It’s really high-energy choreography. It’s pretty deadly. I’m hoping to blow everyone away,” said Becker, who choreographed the original Descendants with director Ortega.
Descendants was 2015’s top-rated TV movie, drawing 100 million viewers worldwide. Disney plans to première on several networks, including Lifetime and ABC.
Becker couldn’t take part in Descendants 2 because of other commitments last year, including working with Harris on Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.
“It was crazy,” the former Spectrum Community School student recalled.
Other projects that have kept Becker busier than ever include Riverdale, CW’s Archie Comicsinspired teen drama series; DC’s Legends of Tomorrow; and The Magicians, the Syfy network’s fantasy series that found him focusing on “finger-tutting,” a dance using intricate finger movements that characters use to conjure up spells.
Becker’s other big project was choreographing dance moves for an hour-long musical episode of ABC’s Once Upon a Time that airs May 7 at 8 p.m.
“I had the pleasure of getting to hire dancers from all across Canada for that,” Becker said. “I’m always so excited about getting to give people opportunities.”
The Stages Dance School alumnus will do that again on May 28, when he comes home to teach another of his inspirational pop-up master classes at which dancers can learn, strut their stuff and audition. “I’ll be seeing more talent hopefully for possible future jobs,” Becker said. “I always hire people from classes. It’s just a good opportunity and a fun day of dance for everybody.”
Becker brings some of the industry’s busiest choreographers to his cross-Canada events, and will do so for his hometown edition at Mount Douglas Secondary School (visit beckercreations.com for more information).
This year’s guest faculty includes Luther Brown, best known for his choreography for Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson; and Hamilton Evans, the Britishborn YouTube phenomenon.
There’s an art to choreographing compelling dance sequences for the screen, said Becker, whose chief influences also include Gene Kelly and Rob Marshall (Chicago).
When he designs movement for films or TV shows, he said, he ensures his choreography for the dancers can be complemented by the camerawork.
“It’s all one to me,” Becker said. “I don’t look at the dance moves separately [from] the camera that is shooting it. It’s just as important filling the frame with movement and beauty.”
It helps that “I just love movies,” said Becker, who credits Ortega with teaching him about the language of camera-friendly choreography.
Becker has also just finished working with Katy Perry, whom he described as “just fantastic” to collaborate with while shooting a new commercial in New York for the pop star’s line of fragrances.
Although he admitted he could use a vacation, there will be no sleeping in for Becker the morning after Dancing with the Stars airs. He’s scheduled to fly to Vancouver to work on a Hallmark movie before jumping back into A Series of Unfortunate Events.
“The only time I really get a vacation is Christmas because that’s when the industry shuts down,” he said.
Good timing, since that’s when his dance drama Breaking Brooklyn, starring Louis Gossett Jr., will likely hit theatres.