USA TODAY International Edition
Actress danced ‘for real’ in ‘This Is Us’
Susan Kelechi Watson draws on real-life passion
Spoiler alert! The following contains details from Tuesday’s episode of “This Is Us,” “Our Little Island Girl.”
LOS ANGELES – “This Is Us” star Susan Kelechi Watson finally had her chance to dance like no one was watching, except that a lot of people were watching.
The actress, who plays fan-favorite Beth Pearson on NBC’s hit drama, unearthed a hidden talent in Tuesday’s Beth-centric episode, one that sets up a big future for her character.
Watson, who has a dance background, explained on a visit to the show’s set this month that she learned last fall that Beth’s history would include ballet when she received texts from one of the writers that said, “Girl, can you dance for real? ... But, like, for real, you like it?” Her response: “Yeah.”
Since then, the show has hinted at Beth’s talent in a December flash-forward that showed Beth teaching at a dance academy. In Tuesday’s episode, fans finally got to dive into Beth’s prePearson life, just as they’ve learned about the childhoods of the other characters on the show.
“I was constantly hearing, ‘When are we going to get a back story episode about Beth?’” creator Dan Fogelman says. “We’ve been waiting to do this. And this is an episode of television that was really made by a group of women who I’m incredibly proud of.”
The episode explains Beth’s dancing history, starting when she joined a prestigious academy as a young girl with dreams of becoming American ballet’s first black principal dancer. But as a teen, that dream was crushed by the limits of her body type and her mother’s (guest star Phylicia Rashad) insistence that she go to college.
That experience is not unlike Watson’s own relationship with dance.
“I left dance because ... I was on Howard (University’s) campus, and there was this amazing dancer, Peanut, who walked out and just did her thing. And I was, like, ‘Oh, got ya. I’m going to go ahead and act,’ ” Watson says.
But although Watson gave up dancing professionally, she was able to rock out for the climactic sequence.
“There’s always smoke and mirrors, where you’re taking an actor and making them look like they dance,” director Anne Fletcher says. But “Susan actually did all of her dancing. And it’s a joy to be able to watch her actual character that you’ve been in love with for all this period of time actually express (herself ) through dance, and not have to cut away to shoot a (body) double. It was all Susan the whole time.”
The episode was personal for Watson, more than just putting on her dancing shoes again. She was especially grateful to work with Rashad, and to continue helping to increase representation of black women on TV.
“I just saw myself with Phylicia, and there was this part where Beth says, ‘You know, I’m strong because of you,’” Watson said. “And I thought of the legacy of Phylicia Rashad and what she has left us all with, and continues to do, obviously, with her work on ‘The Cosby Show’ as Clair Huxtable, and on and on and on, but she was my example of representation back in the day.
“There was this sort of ancestral kind of spiritual exchange in that moment of, ‘Beth is here because of you, because people like you have walked through the door and made a path that now people look on a show like ‘This Is Us’ on NBC. And it’s not a strange thing to see a black woman roll through with box braids and a suit on, talking about, ‘I’m going to work and holding down my husband and my family and my kids,’ and this is not going to be strange, you know?”
After confronting her mother in the present day, Beth decides to change careers and pursue dance education.
The decision affects her marriage to Randall (Sterling K. Brown), which has had some “shaky” moments this year.
“This is a really beautiful moment for them,” executive producer Elizabeth Berger says. But “life goes on. And we’re on the verge of Randall launching into this new political career ... we’re on the verge of (Beth) finally figuring out what she wants to do.
“So as exciting as this is for them, real life is going to continue, and there are still going to be challenges that come up along the way.”
Watson puts it simply: “More shaky moments” are coming.