An Interview With the Volunteer Dancers

The Maximum Jackson website interviewed Maya and Nandi McClean, the twin dancer sisters who volunteered to be part of Michael’s dance team for performances at London’s summer concerts and took part in the dance audition sessions last week. Here are the words of these two “cool” sisters. "All the offices of reputable international agencies in the United States were contacted, and they were asked to send their top dancers to Los Angeles for the dance audition. In Los Angeles, we turned in our resumes, and before the audition they taught us all the dance moves. We had practiced for that day our entire lives. When we were kids, we started dancing because of Michael Jackson. On Friday we received an email about being invited to this audition, and on Tuesday we had to go for it. So we only had four days to prepare ourselves. We immediately started watching Michael’s videos on the internet. One of our friends was auditioning with the men’s group and told us that they were going to audition the women for Smooth Criminal and Dangerous. During those four days, we kept listening to Michael’s songs. The first day of the audition was very exciting. They had a team of camera operators. They interviewed us. Kenny Ortega, the choreographer and assistant director Travis Payne were also there. More than 200 women came for the audition, and we all entered the hall together, learned the dance moves, and were divided into groups of 12 so the judges could decide about us. Then we performed in front of Kenny, Travis, and the choreographers’ assistants, and they told the dancers who were accepted to take one step forward. Both of us were told to take one step forward. They kept 50 women and 80 men. That day, before we left the location, they taught us the other dance moves so we could perform them the next day. On the second day, when we arrived, one of our friends told us, ‘He’s here!’ Michael Jackson was inside the same building, and he was going to come to watch our performance. We were extremely excited. On the first day, Kenny had said he hoped Michael would come to watch the dancers, but he wasn’t sure about Michael’s presence. Michael came to the hall to watch the men’s performance, and when we entered for the second round, he came to watch us. And then we performed for him. When he entered the hall, his arrival was announced. He greeted us. I sent him a kiss, and he sent me a kiss back. Unfortunately, no words were exchanged because we were there to work, and we only saw Michael from the stage. He was wearing black clothes, had sunglasses, and his hair was shiny and black. One of the male dancers said that when they saw him, he had a white cap on his head. So before coming into the hall, he had taken it off. We were very nervous performing in front of him. Even though he had come to one of Prince’s shows in Las Vegas and had seen our performance as backup dancers and singers, performing for him—so he could attend his concerts and so his eyes would view the selection—was a completely different experience. Out of more than 400 women and men who came for the audition, two women and six men were selected. And we’re very happy to have been among the people who made it to the final stages. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and it brought back our childhood feelings and memories, and made us think about how dreams connect to reality if we believe in them." Source: eMJey / Maximum Jackson