Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Anything James Brown related is like really hard not to like. If I'm like in a restaurant and.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: It'S playing something plays, I'm not engaging full conversation.
[00:00:13] Speaker A: But at the end of the day I'll be like, pink.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm doing the ad list for sure. I'm. Yeah.
Hello. Hello, my friends. Welcome to Words that Move Me. I'm Dana. This episode is so good. Who just says that about their own podcast episode? Does everyone say that? I don't listen to a lot of podcast episodes.
You're really gonna get your ears full of good stuff today. I also don't know who says that. I'm gonna stop questioning myself now. I just had a conversation with one of my good friends, Sammo Soto, who is worked in as many corners of the entertainment industry as possible, from pop star art spaces to movie musicals to biopics to the Olympics in 2024. Sammo is multi talented and an expert at observing a landscape, identifying areas of strength and weakness, and seeking ways to make weaknesses strong. This person, like, there's no end to the inspiration that you can gain from this person. I'm so excited for you to hear this conversation. But first, let's do some wins.
Do I have a win? I'm sure I do. That was a very realistic sound. Good fart sound. Today I'm celebrating being a seven year old boy at heart. I make great fart sounds and I burp all the time.
What's going well in your world?
That was a noise that wasn't supposed to happen. Okay, okay. Today I am celebrating having a really great dance exchange with Fi, Voba and Jiga. Two days ago, something like that. Fi wanted to workshop some choreography. I have been dying to get in a room with this individual and I can't wait to have him on the podcast also. But got to lean into an area of weakness in my training. I don't have tons of practice with isolation, with animation, with waving in general, and my God, my friends, I hung in there. I was okay at that. Not great area. Room for improvement. But I think I'm going to lean in. It was really fun. So thank you, Fee, and thank you, Jiga for tolerating my beginnerness in that space. And over to you. What's going well in your world?
[00:03:03] Speaker A: Yay.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: All right. I'm so glad that you're winning. Congratulations. Let's just get into this conversation because clearly I'm excited to share. Sam Osoto was the assistant choreographer on the Michael Jackson biopic. He was in the super bowl Halftime Show 2022 Dance with Sabrina Carpenter and pop stars. I cannot continue to list in the Heights, the Color Purple. The list goes on and on. This person is endlessly talented and inspiring. Enjoy the one and only Sammo.
That's good.
That's ridiculous.
Sammo, welcome to the podcast.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: What's up? What's up?
[00:03:53] Speaker B: I'm really excited, and I. I have to shout out my gift that you brought. I give my guests gifts, so in case you didn't already want to be a guest on Words that Move Me now, you really do.
But I rarely receive gifts from my guests. Thank you so much for my hat. Tell me about it.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: So this was an idea that I came up with. Maybe. How old was I? Maybe in my early 20s, paying homage to hip hop. You know, I would say hip hop was. Is responsible for giving me the identity that I have in all the aspects. And I was. It was during a time where New York was changing for me, for the worse. Creative. Creatively.
[00:04:40] Speaker B: Give me a timeline here.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: This is. I mean, not.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Not to age yourself.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: Well, all right. My early 20s, I would say, was, like, around. Like. Like 2010 ish, around or whatever. And I felt like the rawness of New York just started, like, dissipating. Oh, you know, everything.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: The part that you loved.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. The part that really brought out the creativity of the city. And I'm saying gave the city character or whatever the case.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: And that started changing a lot, and I felt like the. The old part of New York, the raw and ugly parts of New York was, like, no longer being celebrated.
So I just came up with this idea, and, you know, I still try to push it till this day.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Can people purchase this hat?
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Nah, I more so give it as gifts now.
[00:05:35] Speaker B: Nice. Yeah, I like that even more.
[00:05:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: The leaning against the commercialization or the commoditization or the, you know, general.
What's it called, the money spending system.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: Consumerism.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: There it is. Thank you, my friend. Leaning against it. Like, you have to know someone to have this hat.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: You have to know you. Okay. Speaking of you, another good segue. All of my guests on the podcast introduce themselves. Some people love it, some people hate it, but I'm gonna throw the mic back at you and ask you to tell us everything you want us to know about you.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: So my name is Samo. Sam Osoto, for those who care.
Originally from New York City, born and raised, and then moved out here in 2016 representing X Fiend's crew.
Primarily a B boy, but then ventured off to plus many Other things.
Yeah.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: That's me in a nutshell.
[00:06:35] Speaker B: In a nutshell. I don't think you know this about you, about me, about you, but the first time I heard of you was when I was one of the associates on in the Heights and Christopher Scott. Oh, my God. The casting process for that film lasted the entire shoot of that movie. We were still. Sometimes the scenes we were gonna cast that week, we were, at the beginning of that week, wound up casting, like, needing more dancers, asking people if you have an auntie or an uncle who can get down and maybe wants to be a part of this scene, whatever. But in an early session, an early casting session, I remember Christopher Scott saying, we have to get sammo. Like, we have to have sammo. And I didn't know who you were or what that meant at the time, but after you became involved, it was like, oh, yeah, I get it. I get why we needed that guy. And we did. We needed you for that movie.
And since then, I don't know. Was that your first movie musical?
[00:07:34] Speaker A: First musical.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: First musical. After that came the Color Purple.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: Yes.
What else am I missing as far as musicals? I think that's it.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: Okay. Do you enjoy working in that space? Being a person who maybe musical theater was not, like, top of your list of shit to get into? Landing on set for movie musicals, was that a place that you felt comfortable? Was it a place that you were even interested in being? Because I know Chris Scott said, we need sammo, but. But at that time, were you thinking, like, I need a movie. Was that a dialogue happening for you?
[00:08:09] Speaker A: I mean, I leaned more towards the film route than I did towards the artist route. I don't know. It just naturally happened that way. Yeah, I've danced for artists and stuff like that, but the movie thing is just something that just, like, fell on my lap most of the time. I mean, I definitely enjoyed doing movies. I think I enjoyed not only the process of it, but more so being able to see multiple people in their craft and their respective craft and stuff like that.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Not always fascinating.
It's just really cool being around just creative people in general.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: You know, so the process of being on a film is much more. More enjoyable than working with an artist.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: Yo, is that happening for you right now? I'm freaky. I used to be the youngest person on set all the time. And that those days are gone. Director's younger than me. First AD is younger than me. Camera operators, like, 26. I feel like it's wild. We're not young bucks Anymore.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: But you know what's interesting, though, is that I feel like this.
Our generation of dance is not necessarily the oldest on set all the time.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: That's true.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: It's like dancers are lasting longer than ever before. You know, people in there, like, early to mid-40s.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: Still rocking, you know, still looking young and, you know, commercial bull. Whatever. Whatever. If that's even a word.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: And I think. I think. I mean, it's no secret that our age people are the ones spending money. So when people make commercials, they want the people who they're selling to to be represented in the commercials. So I remember when I went from being like, high school bookable age to young mom, it was like that I was at one point I was doing, like, young, fun, target stuff. And then all of a sudden I was like, young mom yogurt commercial or something like that, like Honda Odyssey commercial. And it's like, I'm glad that there are still people dancing who represent more people, because dance is lifelong. I just had Tony Basil on the podcast. She's 81 years old. She is so special, my guy. She's so special. She's a national treasure as far as I'm concerned.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:10:31] Speaker B: Eighth wonder of the world.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Wait, how many are there? Seven. She's eight.
And she's a great example of it. Right. But she's also an outlier. Very few people have the lineage that she has. She's vaudeville royalty. Her parents are artists. Her entire life fueled her path. I guess you could argue everybody's life does, but her entire exposure, her training, was like, show business is.
That's what there is for you. That's what you do. So there was never entertaining other paths. I know a lot of people grow up with their parents, encouraging them against a life in the arts. Everything fueled her towards it.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: And so she's unique for many reasons, but we can definitely learn from her. And. And that's that dance is for all ages, especially if you don't stop.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: Well, that. That is the part.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: It's not necessarily. Well, yes, dance is for all ages, for sure. But no matter what you get into, you're never supposed to stop.
[00:11:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: There's no. There's no reason for you to stop. Really. It's like. No, just keep doing it. Maybe it's not professional. Like, you know, the professional route.
[00:11:40] Speaker B: Yeah. It might change. The way you're doing it will change.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: Okay. So is that how you feel about B boying?
[00:11:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: I think you'll never stop.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: No. That's probably something I'LL always be a part of.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: What is that? Like, how's your body doing?
Because I'm like, I dance mostly vertical most of the time, like on my feet and still my knees are fucked. I'm starting just now a little bit. Some back stuff. Are you. I guess the dance itself strengthens you for the dance so you don't find yourself, but you're. You've got a human body. It's going to deteriorate. Can you do it forever?
[00:12:21] Speaker A: So to. To kind of, I don't know, explain the way I went about my breaking journey. I never.
I wasn't really the one to like, take like, big risks with my body. I kind of like trying to be.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: The new move guy or like the first time ever.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Yo, I'm going to land on my neck and you know, nobody's ever done like. All right, I'm gonna save that for. For, you know, the other guys, you know what I'm saying?
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: I was more so, like, let me play within the repertoire of, like, the moves and the areas in which I'm like, comfortable and let me see how I can get, like, super creative in this sphere that speaks to me.
[00:13:03] Speaker B: I feel like I agree. Yeah.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: Yeah. I think that, like, plays a big part in, like, why my style is the way it is. I've been able to, like, build very unique ways of moving through those limits, I guess you could say, you know. Yeah.
[00:13:18] Speaker B: Restraints.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:13:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: And, you know, I'm kind of grateful for that.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: Cool. Gives you endurance, gives you longevity, gives you flavor.
That's like, you know, it's a. It's a slow and low on the burner.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: Versus high heat. Low. Lots of, you know, like bubbles boiling over the pot. No, it's like a slow simmer. It smells good. It's like. Yeah. I think that's my approach as well. I've never been a trick oriented performer. I've never been aggressive.
I sometimes joke with my seaweed sisters, Jillian and Megan Lawson. Jillian Myers and Megan Lawson. They're not actually sisters. I should say that. We always say strength is not our strength and speed also not our strength. We rarely going crazy hard and rarely going crazy fast. And it's okay because the other people are. And it's great.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: There's enough for everyone. Somebody else can do that thing.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: Yeah. I definitely had tricks, but power moves didn't really come easy to me.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: Do you feel like that's because you're six and a half feet tall?
[00:14:28] Speaker A: Maybe also, like, range of motion? Flexibility was like, never really my thing. I hated stretching. I. I hated it. My every single person in my crew was like super flexible and it was just. Wasn't me.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: And I. And I never wanted to work on it. And however, I am more flexible now than I've ever been before. But that. I don't know, I just. Because I kind of like matured and was like, all right, no, I need to do this to some degree in.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: Order to stay doing this.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: 100%.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: Yeah. So I had to keep up with my crew someh.
Because there was this thing that we did where during that time before, I would say in the early 2000s, it was more about crew battles than solo battles.
And so we had like 15 people, my crew. So there was battles all the time, crew battles all the time. And it was a competition within the crew to try to be part of the top five.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: Gotcha.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: And that was based on the performance that you. You've. You've, you know, shown throughout training, throughout previous battles, so on and so forth. And everybody was the judge, like, in my crew. So. So me being kind of, I guess, the weakest link in terms of what we were about, which was the time was like very heavily power blow ups and so on and so forth. I had to try to figure out how can I be of some type of like, service or singular value. Yeah.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: What's my.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: What can I bring to the table? What. Yeah. What's my contribution to this crew? And how can we. How can I, with the limit that I had, help us move forward?
[00:16:16] Speaker B: Yes. You know, but what a great mindset is that in all other areas of your life. Look at the picture.
What is strong here, what is lacking here? How can I add a strength where we have a lack.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: And. And you figured out how to do that.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I figured it out along the way. You know, I figured out how to be dynamic without having power to kill your body. Yeah.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: Whoa.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: I give it up to, like, the people that I was around and the. And you know, throughout my journey, I was like, there's this thing where some B boys just very, like, are very, like, crew oriented and that's all they care about and that's the only people they want to be surrounded by. But although that was part of. Part of it for me too, I also traveled and trained with other people and got inspired by other people around me and stuff like that and seeing how other people flipped it and, you know, created their own little, you know, wave or whatever the case.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: And how every sector of the US or even overseas had a different Type of influence to the game.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: You know, I, I was able to kind of like mold and, you know, be inspired by. By that journey as well.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: By going outside of your immediate network.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Or immediate network. Right.
[00:17:34] Speaker B: So do you think that that way of being like that mindset, that seeking attitude is why you've been able to segue into other forms?
You're a full blown stuntman now, is it, Is it funny to say full blown stuntman? What does that even mean?
I mean, you're a professional stuntman. Like, you get hired to do stunts.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: 100%. Yeah.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: How long have you been doing that? And how did you segue from Strictly Dancing into that as a career path?
[00:18:06] Speaker A: I've been, It's. I'm. I'm still young in my stunt journey. About five years now. Yeah. I started dirt, like, right before the pandemic.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: Okay. How did it happen? How'd the first game come about?
[00:18:18] Speaker A: So full transparency. After in the Heights. All right. I had a moment during in the Heights, there's a rehearsal.
Maybe it was the pool scene or maybe it was the scene in the courtyard carnival.
And I'm sitting, I'm standing in rehearsal, like, looking around and I noticed all the ages around me.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: And I was like, I was like, yo, I've been doing this for a really long time.
Why is it that this 12 year old is getting paid the same as me?
Like, I feel, I feel like that.
[00:19:00] Speaker B: Is a very important question.
[00:19:01] Speaker A: I feel like I'm getting gypped.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: You know, not, not from obviously the opportunity. Yeah. I'm grateful for the opportunity. But. But in terms of me being in, you know, my, my early 30s and wanting to have more for my life.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:18] Speaker A: Or, or, or whatever the case, you.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: Know, like, I don't know. Retire.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, something like that. Yeah.
[00:19:25] Speaker B: This kid is jacked to do this gig for this rate because this kid has a long time before they're working.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: 100.
[00:19:31] Speaker B: Health care pension.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:19:33] Speaker B: And at it. Yeah.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: And I'm. And I'm like, yo, this. Something's not right here. And I can't necessarily blame the system or the industry. I have to make a shift, you know, so th. This was already on my mind. Like, I, I didn't really, like, dig deep, too, too far deep into it, but it was just on my mind at the time and I'm like, damn. In the midst of having an opportunity that I actually wanted, I also realized.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Like, man, wasn't what you want.
[00:20:02] Speaker A: I don't know if this is really what I want, you know? Like, before I got into the industry. For real. For real. I was like. I was like, yo, oh, this is like super dope. This is what I want to do. It's. It pays much better than breaking 100%. So it was like, all right, boom.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: I mean, and those residuals keep coming.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Boom. So. So. So I'm in here. But then when I got inside, I was like, wait, I think I actually want a little more than just this. You know? And I didn't realize that this came with so little financially that I was like, yeah, man, this is not what.
[00:20:39] Speaker B: I thought it was.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: Yeah. So, yeah, moving forward, I stay in touch with, like a, you know, a bunch of old friends of mine and stuff like that. Like, I'm like the type of person that I have, like, lifelong friends.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: You're a connector, 100% connected, and you stay connected and you connect other people. Yeah. Yes. So.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: So I, you know, having conversations with. With friends of mine who I used to break with, but then transitioned over to stunts and full. You know, also, they went into the. The commercial route as well, you know, and they made it into stunts, and they. Their lives are looking a whole lot better than mine.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: You know, and yeah, I had dinner with my boy. Avoid, you know, Av.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: I don't think so.
[00:21:24] Speaker A: Aviel Young, anyway, good friend of mine. Mountain boys.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: Oh, yes. Duh.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: Yes. And I had dinner with him, and he started telling me about the. The stunt game. And I was like, huh, Seems like something I might want to mess around with.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: Seems like something I might actually be really, really good at.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: So. And then there just came a time where I was like, it. I just want to try. Yeah, just want to try. Let's see what happens.
[00:21:50] Speaker B: So what was your first move? You, like, take a class or something?
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I. I went to Jam movement. Yep. The gym. And they. They were throwing a stunt workshop for, like, beginners, and it was like a week long intensive.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: I'm going to go look out. Yeah, I'm.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: There's actually one coming up.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: Oh, God.
[00:22:13] Speaker A: Yeah, this one comes up.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: Comes up all the time.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: So. So I. I encourage people to, like, that's. That's the route that I went.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: It's safe. These people are good at teaching what they do. You're not jumping right into. Was it. What's it called when you roll the car was. What's the name of that rule?
Maybe, like, I just saw the fall guy and I'm like, in my mind, being a stunt person is high risk situations and being in pain. But what it actually is Is highly choreographed precision considered mostly for camera. So you're far, sometimes far away from harm.
[00:22:53] Speaker A: Majority safety focused.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: Totally. Yeah. Which I definitely get down with. So you go to jam.
[00:22:59] Speaker A: I take that workshop. Another one comes around. I take that, take it again.
Then I started getting feedback, and I was like, okay.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: Like, this feedback is like.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: It's like, hey, man, like the. The person who was running the. The workshop, Travis Wong, he comes out to me super randomly. He goes, yo, man, you're one of the best people here. He just walks away. And I was like, it's all I.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: Ever want is for somebody to tell me that.
And.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: And I'm like, all right, bro. Like, I mean, thanks, you know?
[00:23:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:32] Speaker A: And, you know, I just. Whatever. I just keep it pushing. I try not to feed too, too much into it, but feel. Feels good.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: Right, right, right.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: You know? And then third time comes around workshop. Workshop happens again. Intensive. It's a week long. And at that third one, he comes up to me. He's like, hey, man, I just want you to know that. And trust me, I don't ever do this. He's like, I want you to know that if you. If you, like, spend time doing this, I think you're going to make it pretty far.
Like, you. You have, like, a real successful career, mind you. I, like, I have. He doesn't seem like the type of person that just, like, dance like that.
[00:24:12] Speaker B: He doesn't.
[00:24:13] Speaker A: No way. Like, it just didn't seem that way. And I just took it hard. I was like, all right, look, if somebody's saying this, you know, I didn't even ask for it. Like, I didn't even go up to him. Like, I'd be like, yo, man, can you give me some feedback? Like, no, it wasn't. It wasn't any of that. And for him to just go out of his way to say that, I was like, okay, something about this is right.
[00:24:33] Speaker B: So you leaned in and you.
[00:24:35] Speaker A: 100. Yeah.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: I was like. I was like, look, if somebody's coming out, going out of the way to say that, I shouldn't ignore that.
[00:24:41] Speaker B: Cool.
[00:24:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:42] Speaker B: Do you think you experienced any. I talk to people a lot who have multiple interests.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: And they feel a certain way about leaving dance or turning their back on what built them in order to pursue something else. A lot of people have tons of guilt. Do you?
[00:24:58] Speaker A: It kills me.
[00:24:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:00] Speaker B: You feel like you've left or you feel.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: I don't. I don't feel guilty about necessarily leaving, but I fight with.
With the whole outside perception thing.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: Like, what people think.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: Not so much what people think, but for example, I. I've witnessed other people that have transitioned, let's say, into acting. Right. And let's just say on Instagram, they had to kind of just become an actor or an actress or a stunt person and completely stop promoting the dance aspect of their life.
Having to do that because the dance bug is still in me.
[00:25:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:45] Speaker A: You know, I still wanna, like. I still have the urge to choreograph. I still have the urge to perform. I still have the urge to battle and session and all that stuff, whatever. But then I also have to feed into. I want to make sure that the people in the stunt industry look at me and say, oh, no, he's a stunt guy. He's not a dancer.
Primarily, you know, I.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: This is me. This is me, like, wishing the world was different.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: And could see outside of the binary job title. Needs to be one thing. Like, no, that's a dancer. No, that's a stunt person. I don't understand why we can't see a stunt person who can dance.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: Well, just to, like, go into just, like, feedback that I've gotten. Everybody respects the fact that I dance, and that's the background that I have. It's actually very beneficial for stunts because it's choreography at the end of the day.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: Pick stuff up, make changes quick.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Adapt pretty quickly and stuff like that. However, because I'm, like, young in the career.
[00:26:48] Speaker B: Yeah. They need to know you're reliable.
[00:26:50] Speaker A: I need them to know that I'm dead serious about this and I'm not just dabbling.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: Got you, got you. I get that that's available. Yeah.
[00:26:59] Speaker A: And it's super valid. It's a hard thing to work through because I still really want to be creative, dance wise.
[00:27:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: Like, it's still, like, it's still in me for sure. But I fight it because, yo, that's not the direction I'm trying to go right now. And the beauty of it is also that I could always come back to it.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:20] Speaker A: I just need to put it on pause for a little second until I get to a point in my career that.
All right, he's dead ass about this.
[00:27:28] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:27:29] Speaker A: I don't need to question it, so on and so forth. You know, I've worked with the right people. I've already gotten the respect factor out the way.
Now I could come back to it and get creative everywhere.
[00:27:40] Speaker B: You know what I'm saying? So right now we're talking about how you represent yourself, though.
[00:27:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:45] Speaker B: Do you. Are you Actually pausing on dance in your day to day life, how often do you still get down?
[00:27:50] Speaker A: Once in a while.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: Really putting you under the microscope right now.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Once in a while.
[00:27:55] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:27:56] Speaker A: Once in a while I'll pop up to a class or a session or whatever. But yeah, so it's, it's how you're.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: Representing yourself, but it's also how you're spending your time. You're taking stunt mad serious.
[00:28:07] Speaker A: That's the majority of my time is spent focused on that.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: Pausing is not the same as stopping.
[00:28:12] Speaker A: No, not at all.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: What's the difference?
[00:28:14] Speaker A: Well, the beauty of knowing that you could go back to it and you know, for me, the pause is like, okay, I'm gonna pop up once in a while. I'm just not gonna be here all the time. And the once in a while is enough for people to know, oh, that still got it. Like, you know what I'm saying? So, so. And he, he still brings something to the table and so on and so forth or whatever. But that's enough for me.
[00:28:38] Speaker B: Yeah, that's cool to hear. And it's inspiring to see an example of somebody who was not afraid of any of the negative connotations that come with choosing something else. I think when you think of it as something additional, like we said B boy plus versus B boy turned stuntman. I think maybe that's true, maybe both are true. But when you think in A plus type mindset, you're able to keep both. And when you think in either or mindset, it does become more of a stop and less of a pause.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:29:17] Speaker B: But if you think of like, yes, I'm, I want to be. This is how I considered coaching. And there's a huge negative stigma to life. Coaches, career coaches, any kind of coaches, because it's an unregulated area.
I get that there are absolute scam coaches in the world. And that was part of the reason why for a long time I didn't talk about my coaching work. I didn't advertise my coaching work. I didn't want people to think that I had stopped dancing in order to do this thing. I think my dancing makes me a better coach. I think my coaching makes me a better dancer. And there's probably a world where your stunt work makes you a better B boy.
Or like when you get into a dance space, what a breath of fresh air that you don't have to have a fucking pad on your back or a wire on your side or like have to be dealing with your supervisor who's got like, abcdfg a thousand safety checks and things like that. So I think there's a lot to be said for how you navigate a switch of attention to include another discipline. Because I do think they all wind up helping each other. And if you never explore it out of fear, especially out of fear of what people think, then man, I think you'll just always wonder what would have happened and you would maybe end up on a movie shoot 12 years from now still looking at the 12 year old like, damn, we're still making the same amount and I'm no closer to retiring and whatever. Okay, so is the pay for stunt person that much different than for a dancer?
[00:30:54] Speaker A: Hell yeah.
[00:30:54] Speaker B: Whoa. We're going, we're going to.
So I think being a person who knows how to work hard, knows how to seek otherness to your training. Also somebody with a tight feedback loop, mind, body repetition, you know, structures of movement and stuff. All that B boy life gave you makes you a great stunt person. I'm curious what makes you a good assistant associate like on the other side of shit and if you find that factoring into your stunt life at all.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess, I guess it does factor in. I feel like what makes me a really good assistant is knowing that I have a, like a good perspective. Like I've, I've always gravitated or, or and the people, those people gravitated towards me are like, like really high level, like people in their respective genre, you know, Like, I don't know. I don't know why I, I feel like I attracted mop top, you know, being around me and, and you know.
[00:32:05] Speaker B: And yeah, there was a magnetism.
[00:32:07] Speaker A: 100% rich in tone. Like, it's just like. It was just a magnet. It wasn't. I didn't overly try to like be their friend orally, try to like go out of my way. It was just something that just like, you know. And so me knowing and understanding what really good is versus what, what not so good is. I think I, I'm able to like bring a perspective of like, oh, this is like, this is just another way of looking at things and, and it, or it feeds on to the, you know, to vision, I guess. You know what I'm saying?
[00:32:41] Speaker B: Having somebody who sees area for improvement is huge.
[00:32:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:46] Speaker B: Somebody able to say that's okay. Yep, not great.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: Could be better if, and I'm totally okay with being honest. I don't give a if you're my boss. That also like I'm gonna keep it a stack regardless. You know, there's never there's never a day where I'm gonna, you know, Sugarcoat. Yeah. Where I'm gonna think something's trash and be like, yo, that's dope. Like, nuh.
[00:33:08] Speaker B: Not gonna happen.
[00:33:09] Speaker A: It's just not in me.
[00:33:10] Speaker B: Nice. I'm keep you around in my life.
Yeah, that's a huge.
[00:33:15] Speaker A: And. And that's a big thing in the dance world.
[00:33:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:18] Speaker A: Like, I've noticed, like, you know, people just, like, overly, you know, giving something props.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:24] Speaker A: I don't know. I don't. Again, it's just totally exists. But, yeah, sometimes I'm just like, oh, you're full of though.
[00:33:30] Speaker B: I want to talk about why, because the why is important. And I think that we might be able to change the culture if we understand the why. I think the biggest why in that case is a scarcity mentality. People think that there's a limited number of places to fit, and if they see a place that they want to fit, they think that the people pleasing, which is also dance culture. Come on. You say jump, I say how high? You say pirouette. I say ande or ande don't. But that's like, it's a pleaser culture. And so I think people try to fit in by pleasing and by giving, you know, warm feedback to things, even if their taste is different. Which brings me to option number two. Maybe people's taste is also decreasing, which I think is a very real thing. But it's just a pendulum swing. Damn, I wish I had a pendulum.
Genuine thought that I had. I'm trying to illustrate.
Here we go.
So there's this, whatever the pendulum of, like, let's say, like the golden age of film, Right. You had Sid Sharice, the. One of the greatest ballerinas, who happened to have a penchant for theatricality, who happened to have an insurance policy on her legs. Thank you for that fun fact.
Like, you had the best of the best of the best at what they do, and you wind up seeing just them all the fucking time. Right. Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, like, you see, the people. What we have now is kind of the opposite. Everybody has a phone. So everyone is a dance star. And I think maybe because of that, our expectation and the level has kind of dropped. So maybe the cultural temperature right now is that people's taste. Like my brother, for example, sent me some person dancing in their kitchen on TikTok and was like, yo, this person's so good. And I was like, oh.
Oh, that hurts my heart so bad. Like, have our standard, like, But I do think everybody should dance in their kitchen and everybody should be able to share their dancing. It's wonderful. And so, anyways, I think that we may be in a moment where people's taste is actually different, where people genuinely think that something that I don't think is good enough really is. But I think the biggest issue here is a scarcity mentality and people trying to get a job. So I think once we create the memory that there's so much room for dance in the world. And maybe, yes, there are just six spots on tour with Justin Timberlake, but there's so many different ways to make money with dance as the source.
[00:36:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:13] Speaker B: So I think if we do away with as much scarcity, we'll also do away with the bullshit mentality or the bullshitter mentality.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I think. I think what. What changed a lot over time, especially with, you know, Instagram being a thing, so on and so forth.
Like, the currency changed. Like, now the currency is not, like, skill and actually being okay. The currency now is like, oh, how much views can this person get? And over. And then. And then on top of that, like, for example, what your brother sent you, I think what he was more in love with was the relatability of, oh, this person's, like, not a dancer, but.
[00:36:53] Speaker B: But really good.
[00:36:54] Speaker A: But. But could move compared to me.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:36:57] Speaker A: And there's like this, like, relatability thing versus. Versus, like, oh, my God, this person's beyond. It's so beyond that I'm, like, not interested.
[00:37:05] Speaker B: Right, right. You know, and that impulse in him, that dialogue in him was reinforced by huge view counts. So he was like, wait, I'm feeling this way about it. And it's like, crazy. I have to send this to my sister who's a dancer.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:19] Speaker B: So, yeah, that's a real thing. That's a real thing.
[00:37:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:22] Speaker B: And I do. I want to challenge you, though, on one thing at least. I mean, we're speaking from very different worlds. I grew up in a dance studio. I moved to LA because I wanted to be a backup dancer, and I want to go on tour with pop stars.
[00:37:35] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, essentially, I did the same.
[00:37:37] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I suppose our training is very different from where we landed. We landed in similar spaces, but I think.
So I'll speak specifically from the entertainment industry. I don't know.
I can't say with any confidence that it has ever been about skill.
I think before it was about followers and view counts. It was strictly about who you know, and now it matters less who you know. And more, how many of the general population endorse you with their views? Because, I mean, I think there are some viral dancers with relatively little experience that have more of a following than Marguerite Derricks or Mandy Moore. Like, highly decorated choreographers who think they know who to cast for the project based on their experience of professional dancers. And then the client brings them a TikTok star, and they're like, no, we want them. Yeah. And Marguerite and Mandy are like, who? But this is. This is an interesting. It's an interesting dynamic. But I just wanted to say that out loud. I don't think it's been about how good you are ever.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: I feel like the. The who, you know, has never. Has never gone anywhere. I mean, even.
[00:38:50] Speaker B: It's still there. It's still there for sure.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: Still there, you know, And, I mean, I think, you know, that's just the nature of the business is like, you know, your relationships and how well you maintain them over years and, you know, the PA becoming a fucking director and all that stuff, like. And how well you treated them along the way. You know, it's like you. You just never know where. Where somebody's gonna land over. Over time, you know, it's like.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: It's kind of a beautiful thing.
[00:39:19] Speaker A: Yeah, it's.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:39:20] Speaker A: I finally realized over the years that, you know, getting into other ventures is just, like, not that uncommon, you know, like a crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Especially if you're already in the industry. There's people that just fall off and they just, like, leave.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:37] Speaker A: But then there's people who just navigate their way through.
[00:39:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:40] Speaker A: You know.
[00:39:40] Speaker B: Yes. It's a natural thing, I think. And I think people who have multiple interests always, especially do that. I have always had a bazillion interests, except for that one time when I just wanted to be a backup dancer. That's all I wanted. But after that, it was like acting, mime, burlesque, writing, podcast, like hosting Sincerely. And all of these things are their own disciplines. But I keep coming back to, like, me being good at dance helps me be good at being an actor. Me being good at being an actor helps me be good with dance. It's just like, they all feed each other. So I would encourage anybody listening, considering a shift to lean into it and see what exists there. Another thing, nothing ever happens at once. Like you deciding five years ago that you wanted to, or you. Whatever year that was on in the Heights where you thought, man, this isn't it. This isn't what I thought it was, is not the day that you became a Stunt guy. That timeline happens, and there are many, many opportunities within those five years where you could have been like, nah, not for me. It's dance all the way. So. But if you don't start entertaining it or taking that seriously as an option, then you might not find out.
[00:40:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:58] Speaker B: I think it makes sense for dancers to transition. I think we can dance forever, and I think it's natural for us to do other things. I think both equally.
[00:41:09] Speaker A: I think dancers have the biggest cheat code in the industry. Let's say, for example, like, tell me if you agree in. In the. In the hierarchy of, let's say, a set. Right. Extras is tip. Are typically on the bottom.
[00:41:27] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:41:28] Speaker A: Then it's a dancer.
[00:41:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: But there's a big gap between an extra and a dancer in terms of who they could actually rub shoulders with, who they could even converse with, the type of people that they're dealing with. Oh, you're dealing with lighting. They're giving you pointers, as, you know, you're dealing with the director, you're dealing with wardrobe, you're dealing with all these type of people. Right. And wouldn't it benefit you if you find yourself in a room where there's a bunch of doors available to you and to find some type of interest in any of them, just peek in. You know what I'm saying? Go into the room for a little bit. Maybe you just. Maybe you realize, oh, this room isn't for me. Let me leave and come back this way to go to this other. It's like we have the perfect opportunity to. To kind of like, test things out.
[00:42:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:26] Speaker A: That are available.
[00:42:27] Speaker B: We can peek into every single door, every single one. Dances the hallway lined with doors, and we're like lighting. No, wardrobe. Ooh, stunts. Yeah, you're right.
[00:42:39] Speaker A: And I think that dancers should exercise that a little more, I think, because then now you find yourself being of service to the industry in more ways than just one, you know, and one thing is always going to feed the next. You know, just like you were saying earlier. It's like one thing is always going to feed the next, so you might as well take advantage of it instead of pigeonholing yourself to this, like, one little, little, little itty bitty thing, slice.
[00:43:10] Speaker B: Of the, you know, entertainment in.
[00:43:13] Speaker A: In. In, like, you know, to. To compare it to, like, the industry is so small. Dance is just, like, not that important, you know, and the fact that you already have a foot in. You might as well take advantage of the things that, you know, you have access to.
[00:43:29] Speaker B: Yeah. You just pointed out a Huge asymmetry in the world, which. Or maybe it's just a asymmetry in my beliefs, but I don't think you're wrong about the hierarchy. Dance might be a small piece of the entertainment world, but it is a huge piece of life.
[00:43:47] Speaker A: Oh, no. Hundred percent.
[00:43:48] Speaker B: But I'm like, how is that possible?
How come, like, something that everyone does in their fucking life becomes this represented in entertainment? Yeah, I've got beef.
[00:44:03] Speaker A: No, I do too. And I never really. I never really agreed with it because, you know, let's just face it, like, dance is considered like a filler in the industry.
[00:44:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:19] Speaker A: You know, and in a lot of cases, it's considered a filler. It's never the most important thing.
[00:44:24] Speaker B: Right.
[00:44:25] Speaker A: You know, and.
But without it, shit looks real vanilla.
[00:44:31] Speaker B: Two dimensional, boring blends.
[00:44:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:34] Speaker B: Yeah. And I would like to point out also that it exists in more spaces than musicals. Like, it's harder to do this. But I love this game. Challenge you all listener viewers to think of dance, like iconic dance from films that are not musicals. One of my favorite examples is Napoleon Dynamite.
[00:44:54] Speaker A: Oh, hell yeah.
[00:44:55] Speaker B: Not a movie musical. But dance is the hero of that movie.
[00:44:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:59] Speaker B: And there are so many more on. On that list. Right. But I'm reimpassioned now. Like, yes, become a director, Dana Wilson, but also become a choreographer who. I want to redistribute the ratio of dance in entertainment so that it is more representative of dance in the world. Because I really.
I think there's more dance in the world than represented in entertainment. And I think it's partially because people don't know how it works. They don't know how to communicate it. When it shows up on a script page, it just says, and then they dance. I think this is part of the reason why the Choreographers Guild has a mission to create. Actually it exists. A choreographer's handbook. You can go find it right now. Choreographersguild.org resources I think choreographers Guild and the handbook is gonna help explain how to work with choreographers, how to work with dancers, how to do it safely, and how to not need to spend a billion dollars doing it. If you know how much time things take, if you know how to budget for dance, then I think we can have more of it. And I think, I think just people oftentimes don't know how to work with us.
[00:46:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, I think a lot of that comes down to.
All right, so you know how dancers usually majority of the time only cater to dancers.
[00:46:23] Speaker B: What do you mean?
[00:46:24] Speaker A: Like, for example, if let's say there's a performance or there's a concert video. It's. Everything is catered towards the dance sphere, you know, and, and.
[00:46:35] Speaker B: And it's about it. And it's about.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: And so now think of.
[00:46:38] Speaker B: It's about dance for dancers. Made by dancers.
[00:46:40] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. And it's like a director doesn't do things for directors. They do things for the general public. They do things, you know, and I, I think that that idea of, you know, doing things for the dance community is like, hurting us.
Because you're not. Because you're not. You're not actually pulling other, other inviting other people in. You're kind of like creating. And so you know what? Maybe the dance showcase that, that does this really well is, is Congress, you know, the, The. The type of people that show up to that, to that space.
Yeah. Makes them, makes those people appreciate dance ten times more than. Than, you know, not being in space. Because now they understand and they're actually feeling, you know, while. While we're all there and stuff like that. You know what I'm saying? They're feeling what the dance is going through over there. So the appreciation just kind of like goes up, you know, And I think there needs to be more invitation of like, a bigger invitation of people that, like, are not in our world at all.
[00:47:47] Speaker B: Yo, contrarian over here. Again, I think it's normal to, like, go against yourself even in one conversation. But I. Is that not what people on Tick Tock are doing?
[00:48:00] Speaker A: Yes, but then also, these people suck.
[00:48:04] Speaker B: I mean, it's just some great dancers on TikTok. I'm not saying that TikTok dances.
[00:48:08] Speaker A: Some of the. Some of it is super fun. And I shoot, I get, I even get into. I mean, like, you know, a lot of people are dancers. They just don't do it professionally, you know, I mean, dance is huge on Tik Tok because of that, like, it's like accessibility factor. Yeah, yeah. And they love the feeling of it. They love all that stuff or whatever. But when it comes to, like, the professional world, I think. I think we. We just pigeonhole.
[00:48:33] Speaker B: We need to invite more.
[00:48:34] Speaker A: 100%.
[00:48:35] Speaker B: Are you ready for a rapid fire burnout round?
[00:48:38] Speaker A: Let's do it.
[00:48:38] Speaker B: I call it wrist roll with it, which is very adorable.
Okay. Coffee or tea?
[00:48:45] Speaker A: Coffee. Ah, I love tea too, though, but coffee.
[00:48:48] Speaker B: Okay. Dogs or cats?
[00:48:49] Speaker A: Dogs.
[00:48:50] Speaker B: I don't know if you noticed, but that's my buddy. Yo, she looks real cute over there. Morning or night?
[00:48:58] Speaker A: Damn.
Morning. Now growing up, it was definitely night.
[00:49:04] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:49:04] Speaker A: For sure.
[00:49:06] Speaker B: Hardwood Linoleum or Marley Hardwood Pause. Funny.
Samo, can you sing?
[00:49:16] Speaker A: Hell no.
[00:49:17] Speaker B: Sick.
[00:49:18] Speaker A: Me too.
[00:49:20] Speaker B: I help make musicals.
Wow. God bless me. Is there or what is the last song that you belted?
Even knowing that singing is not something.
[00:49:31] Speaker A: That you should be doing. Oh, damn.
[00:49:35] Speaker B: So curious.
[00:49:37] Speaker A: It's probably like a Duele song.
[00:49:39] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:49:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:40] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:49:41] Speaker A: Yeah. It's one of my favorite artists.
[00:49:43] Speaker B: I see that for you very much.
Okay. Is there an album or an artist or a specific song that you listen to before you go like on a stunt gig, like before you get called out to set?
[00:49:56] Speaker A: Not really.
[00:49:57] Speaker B: Okay, how about after like a wind down.
[00:50:00] Speaker A: I'm.
Damn. We. We. We should have had a whole conversation about music.
[00:50:06] Speaker B: I know. How did that not even happen? Well, we did. We had a pre conversation conversation about music. I just made an 11 hour playlist out of all the albums I listened to in high school non stop. And yeah, we. I have some sharing to do from that list.
[00:50:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I think there's certain music that's appropriate for. For like maybe like a certain time of the day kind of thing, you know. And so like at night I kind of.
If I were to listen to anything at night, it would definitely lean more towards like the parties that I came up going to.
[00:50:38] Speaker B: Ooh, yeah. Nostalgia, home, like home sounds.
[00:50:41] Speaker A: And it would be, you know, open genre, funk, soul, disco house.
Like just kind of mix. Yeah. Like the parties that I went to which were like a huge part of my come up, like were top notch. Especially like being in New York and having like the access to DJs that I had and all that stuff. The music was just.
Yeah. So good. But yeah, so. So at night that's kind of like what I lean towards.
[00:51:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:18] Speaker A: You know, past. During the like morning day, it's more so like kind of like world sound.
Maybe it's like, like, I don't know, could be, could be like slow salsa or it could be like some, some you know, African music. Like just, just sounds that are just like a wake me up kind of let me ease my way into the day kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, it's. It's a, it's a very widespread situation.
[00:51:54] Speaker B: Anyway, we're going to add the streets to that list. I'm excited to get into them. Okay. What's your favorite move? Do you have a favorite move? You have a favorite move? You might not have admitted it to yourself, but you definitely do.
[00:52:06] Speaker A: I, I have favorite signatures.
[00:52:10] Speaker B: Go.
[00:52:11] Speaker A: And mine is, I would say is like the toe slide thing that everybody coins.
[00:52:16] Speaker B: I can't wait for you to send me a clip so I can share it.
[00:52:20] Speaker A: No, I think my favorite moves are the ones that I created.
[00:52:23] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah, I need you to send me one.
[00:52:25] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[00:52:26] Speaker B: What is your least favorite move for yourself or seeing out there in the world?
[00:52:31] Speaker A: Just, like a dance move.
[00:52:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:52:33] Speaker A: Damn. I don't know if I have one. I feel like there's. There's always room to, like, make a whack move look really dope.
[00:52:41] Speaker B: I love the way you answered that question.
Any hate. Any move on my hate list definitely could be danced in such a way that it could be fresh.
[00:52:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:51] Speaker B: Okay. Except to see jump, which is just unforgivable. I hate them.
Oh, this is gonna be so hard. It's stupid. But I do have one. So I ask people, what's your favorite song to get down to? Oh, like, undeniable Dance. Like, you cannot.
[00:53:06] Speaker A: I mean, honestly, I think anything James Brown related is, like, really hard not to. Like, if I'm, like, in a restaurant and.
[00:53:17] Speaker B: And it's playing something plays. I'm not engaging with the meal anymore.
[00:53:21] Speaker A: It won't be a full conversation, but at the end of the day, I'll be like, bing.
[00:53:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm doing the ad libs. For sure. I'm. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:53:30] Speaker A: 100%. I'll be, like, mid conversation. I'll be like, in the middle of talking, but, like, I'm sorry, I'm only partially here.
[00:53:35] Speaker B: If. If that. Mine is Superstition by Stevie Wonder, it's, oh, absolutely contagious to me.
[00:53:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:43] Speaker B: Is there an artist that you would like to. I know we. We didn't talk much about your pop star career, but is there an artist doing a thing today that you feel aligned with that you would like to channel?
[00:53:54] Speaker A: Thres.
[00:53:55] Speaker B: I don't know who that is.
[00:53:57] Speaker A: He's.
I believe he's originally from Detroit.
[00:54:00] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:54:02] Speaker A: But resides in LA now. Very electric sound.
House vibes. He. He's. He's collaborated. He's on Kate Trinada's new album.
[00:54:13] Speaker B: Got you.
[00:54:14] Speaker A: You've. I'm sure you've heard him and you just didn't know it was him.
[00:54:18] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:54:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:54:20] Speaker B: Okay, final rapid fire question, which may or may not be so rapid, depending on how word oriented you are.
What are the words that move you?
[00:54:30] Speaker A: I have this thing I say to myself that I've been saying to myself over the years is I didn't come this far for nothing.
The trials and tribulations of just the industry and all that stuff, like, it really makes people reconsider their decision. And, you know, but I, again, I just don't feel that I've got to. I've got as far as I have, the opportunities that I've gotten and that continue to, like, fall on my lap.
[00:55:03] Speaker B: It can't be for nothing.
[00:55:04] Speaker A: It can't be for nothing, you know? And so that's what's made my journey here in LA worthwhile, is me constantly reminding myself like, yo, I left New York. I left the place that I grew up. I never moved out of there ever in my life. And I came all the way to the opposite side of the States to pursue something and whatever. And whatever, wherever it leads me. I didn't come this far for nothing. To, like, reel back to, like where I came from. Like, nah, we, nah, we got. You got things.
[00:55:41] Speaker B: Yeah, that is truly, this is a beautiful sentiment. And I think we can, I think it's true for everyone. No matter where you are in your creative journey, it's a hell of a long way from where you started and.
[00:55:55] Speaker A: It'S a constant, like, oh, I have to start over.
[00:55:58] Speaker B: Beginner mindset for sure. Well, you're good. I think, I think if I have a takeaway from this episode is to be seeking always, like to be proud of where you are. Like, wow, I've come a long way and it's not the end there. Like, it's not for nothing. It's not the end. And to have this kind of, this ability to get the landscape, identify areas of strength and weakness and then lean into your interests and areas where you have potential, strength, but maybe it's not so strong yet.
[00:56:31] Speaker A: Right? Right.
[00:56:32] Speaker B: That is hugely inspiring. And there's no end to that. There's no. That will never stop.
[00:56:36] Speaker A: Yeah, it's infinite.
[00:56:38] Speaker B: Okay.
We could do this literally all day.
[00:56:42] Speaker A: Long, three hour episode. You all have a life, so you.
[00:56:46] Speaker B: Might want to get out into it. Thank you so much for being here. Be sure to like subscribe and share this episode if anything about it resounded with you. Get out into the world. Keep it super, super funky.
This podcast was produced by me with the help of many big, big love to our executive assistant and editor, Riley Higgins. Our communications manager is Fiona Small with additional support from Ori Vajadares. Our music is by Max Winnie, logo and brand design by Bri Reitz. And if you're digging the podcast, leave a review and rating and please share. Also, if you want to connect with me and the many marvelous members of the Words that Move me community, visit wordsthatmoveme.com if you're simply curious. To know more about me and the work that I do outside of this podcast, visit thedanawilson.com.
