A Blueprint for success: Duo jets off to US
Upper Hutt’s Connor Masseurs and Lower Hutt’s Toa Paranihi have come a long way from dancing around their family living rooms as children.
Their hip-hop dance show, Blueprint, scooped them an award at this year’s Wellington Fringe Festival and the duo are taking their act to the international version of the festival, held in San Diego this month.
On top of that, the duo regularly jet around the world to dance as backup for Taiwanese singer-songwriter Jolin Tsai.
And it all started with a dash of superstar Michael Jackson.
‘‘We were both heavily inspired by Michael Jackson. It’s hard to come across a dancer not inspired by him,’’ Masseurs said.
The pair, both aged 21, started dancing professionally three years ago and are no strangers to the world stage.
They graduated from the New Zealand School of Dance and were picked to become backup dancers. Tsai’s head choreographer is originally from Auckland and asked the duo if they wanted to come on board.
Flying to China to perform in front of 20,000 people is becoming the norm for the two dancers – but it does come with risks.
‘‘I get more nervous doing that than I do doing my other stuff because it’s someone else’s name. If we stuff up it takes it away from her,’’ Masseurs said. The International Fringe Festival will be the first time the two have taken centre stage overseas.
‘‘If we’ve done something international it’s always that we’re contributing to a piece of someone else’s picture.’’
Masseurs said it would be tricky performing for an American audience – they were used to dancing in New Zealand and Wellington and knew what audiences liked. America could be a different kettle of fish. The pair faced a hard grind as they reworked their show, Blueprint, and started fundraising for their San Diego trip.
They won their spot in the festival only a couple of months ago and it had been a tight turnaround to get everything sorted for their American performance on June 23.