On stage with Michael Jackson

Chris Grant was the first dancer Michael selected for the This Is It concert tour, which was canceled due to his death. Grant talks about the impact Michael had on him: "I actually grew up with Michael Jackson. My grandmother bought me Moonwalker (Michael’s film from 1988) and I watched it every day. I wanted to be exactly like him. I always tried to perform. If there was a party, a family gathering, or anything, I would dance and perform for everyone."Rehearsals for the This Is It concert "I was scared. I didn’t think I’d be selected, but I went. It was a three-day performance test. Thousands of dancers (4,000). Michael came on the third day. I had never toured before. I was the newest dancer from Florida. Others came from Los Angeles and had previously performed as dancers in other artists’ concerts and had that in their resume. I had done ‘Making the Band’ for MTV on my resume." "If Michael hadn’t been there, I don’t think I would have been selected. Michael saw me—he saw what was inside me. I saw him stand up while I was dancing, but I didn’t know why he did it. Later, I was told he did it in response to my dancing and that he saw himself in me." First meeting with Michael "When we came down from the stage to go meet him, he was like the statue on the cover of his album History. He was wearing a black glove and sunglasses. His hands were really big and solid. He completely covered my hand with his. He told me I was amazing... I just stared at him. I think I told him he was terrifying. I don’t know." Michael’s character and energy "Michael was the kind of person who, with one look at you, could tell who you were and what you did. He would say certain things as if he knew you. He knew I was anxious. He told me to save my energy for the audience. He was always positive, and his opinions were appropriate and fitting." "Sometimes I could feel the energy inside the music, I could feel his energy, and I danced with all my strength. And he would stand there and look at me. I thought maybe I was overdoing it. But he would shake his head and smile. It was like he was saying that everything I was doing was good." "He was very warm and friendly. I had never felt anything like that. I was so happy. His energy was unlike anyone else’s." Rehearsals "At the beginning, he would drop by occasionally. Until we went to the Staples Center, he didn’t start rehearsing with us. He was killing the stage, doing all his dance moves. It was insane. The moment the music started playing loudly, he would begin. We looked at each other: ‘Does he want to drive us off the field?’ It was still like his old days. He proved that. But he was anxious. He was 50 years old and hadn’t danced for long hours in a long time. He had to get his body familiar again with all the movements he always did in his dances. I think he was afraid that on stage he might look weak to us. The final rehearsal "He was his old self. He interacted with us, gave us cues, and made changes. At first, he let each person do their own thing. Then it was like he was saying, ‘This is my show, and we’re going to do it the way I want.’ I loved it. That’s something I always wanted to see. At first, I thought because he was older, he might be taken advantage of. But you could tell he had something to say, but he wasn’t saying it. But on the last day, he took control of the work." "He knew what he wanted. Dancers would say to themselves, ‘It’s good—he speaks his mind openly.’ The dancers kept Michael in mind." The day Michael died "We didn’t know what to do, what to say, where to go. There’s a feeling in you that you’ve finally reached something you’ve always wanted, but before you can grab it, it’s taken away from you. It’s like someone is messing with you and wants to mess with you. I touched it, but did it really happen? I have memories in my mind, but in reality we never had the chance to sit in a corner and feel what was happening. During rehearsals, everything happened fast, fast, fast. And then all of a sudden, everything was gone." "I still haven’t understood it. I know I was part of it. It’s a lot to say that I was Michael Jackson’s This Is It tour dancer, and it was never performed. I don’t think I’ll ever understand it." Source: eMJey / bocamag.com