Citation :Shane Sparks: The TV Squad Interview
Posted Jun 28th 2008 11:26AM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Interviews, Celebrities, So You Think You Can Dance
Shane SparksOn Tuesday I headed over to the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, CA for a taping of America's Best Dance Crew. I sat back in the V.I.P. room while the taping was going on. The show, which tapes at Stage 23, has a gigantic set this season (probably due to the first season's enormous and unexpected success). The taping is so boring though. While I was watching, they spent about twenty minutes taping the first thirty seconds where Mario Lopez starts things off. Each time they tweaked something he said, he got a little more annoyed. The audience never seemed to get tired of doing their job, applauding like maniacs.
But before anything started I got to interview judge Shane Sparks. Find out more about what Sparks had to say about his involvement with America's Best Dance Crew, his absence on this season's So You Think You Can Dance, Wade Robson, and the JabbaWockeeZ after the jump.
Gallery: America's Best Dance Crew
Supercr3wPhresh SelectContestant on America's Best Dance CrewShane getting interviewedShane in a red baseball cap
Sparks is an awesome choreographer; you've probably seen his work on So You Think You Can Dance and in the 2004 film You Got Served. The ABDC judge came over right after he spoke to TV Guide. As he was getting photographed, the cameraman was trying to get him to do dance moves and joking with him. Shane did a few poses, one of which was a crotch grab. Then he walked over and was introduced to me by a WB publicist. He said, "Oh wait, did you just see what I did?," a little embarrassed that I might have caught the crotch grab. I laughed, "Oh yes, I did." He erupted in laughter. The rest of the conversation just took off from there. I had some questions planned, but Sparks was so easy to talk to that I didn't even need them. He's truly a fantastic person: sincere, full of joy (not just putting it on for the press), and gracious. And he has an infectious laugh.
KS: So, how did you get involved with this show?
SS: Okay, I'm going to go from the beginning of it because a lot of people don't know. There's this international hip-hop show that happens every year in Long Beach. But, I've been a judge for that with Howard Schwartz for five years.
KS: Is that the competition that Rize is about?
SS: No, that's a different one. It's big like that but it's a totally different thing. This one is for hip-hop / street and that one is more krump. That one's called Battle Zone. This is an international hip-hop contest so people come from New Zealand, from Mexico, from Africa, from Japan, Korea. So, I did that for five years. I judged it with Howard. So, then I got So You Think You Can Dance. And I would still come and do the [international hip-hop competition] whenever I could. Based on that contest, Randy Jackson, I guess he got wind of the contest and he's like, 'You know what? This would be a dope TV show.'
So, it was in the talks but it was but it wasn't 100%. I was like, 'If it happens, Howard, I better be a part of it.' And he was like 'You're first choice. Don't worry about it.' So, I was at the international championship last year and he called me, he was like 'We're down here. The show got picked up. I going to have a meeting with you and da da da.' Randy walked up to me (never talked to him before in my life). He was like, 'Shane, I got some stuff I want to talk to you about.' And I was like, 'Are you serious?' And maybe about a month or two later, I got a call. I still had to audition because they still wanted to see my personality as like a host.
KS: You had to audition? But, didn't they see you on So You Think You Can Dance?
SS: The thing with So You Think You Can Dance is they only had me on there a couple times. And I wasn't really able to be myself. If you go back and watch when I was judging, I was so contained because the show isn't about street. It isn't about hip-hop.
KS: I bet it was weird to judge ballroom.
SS: Exactly. And I very very uncomfortable doing that. But, I did what I did. And even though I didn't know what I was looking at most of the time, I know what looks good and I know what turns me on. So, I didn't really have 100% say in what I had to say on that show. But, Randy was like, 'I see your choreography. You're very respected in the dance world. So, let's bring you up for a judge.' So Nigel hated it! They hated it! They were like, 'What are you doing?'
KS: I was just going to ask about how Nigel took it. Are you going to be on the show? I know you did "Elevator" last week. It was sick by the way.
SS: Did you see that? I loved that. That came out so brilliant. When they said, 'Shane, you're going to be doing a piece.' I was like, 'Okay.' And they said that Flo Rida was going to be on the show. And they said to pick some songs. So, I got ten songs. Three of them cleared. I was like 'Please give me "Elevator"!' And they said I couldn't use "Elevator" because he was performing on the show. It would been weird to have two songs.
KS: Did they think that two songs would be too much promotion?
SS: Yeah, and I was like, 'If I can't do "Elevator," you're going to kill my whole vibe. I've already created this [piece]. That [piece] I had created a month before they even did it. When they said, 'It's a go.' I was like, 'Woo!' [wipes brow to show relief].
KS: It was great too. I love how your choreography (and Wade's too) has grown. It's more conducive to a television show now whereas in previous seasons, it's been very fourth wall stage show. It's like 'I've got this group over here so I want this camera with them. Then I want this going on over here.' Much more attention to camera angles and much more use of the set.
SS: Yeah. I'm gonna tell you something. You know who I learned that from? Wade. I watched that boy. I watched that boy do his [pieces] on that show. He'd be so focused and so intense about what he did. I've admired him since I was younger. Even though I'm older than him. He's so sick at what he does. And I was watching him. I would notice how he would do certain things. And I was like, 'If I'm gonna be competing in this world, and be respected as a director, producer, choreographer, I've got to move to that next level.' Cause I was used to doing shows were it was right in your face. I'm a battler. I come from the streets. We do choreography to battle you head on. Not to come from the right and left and all that stuff. So I watched him. I was like, 'Okay, I need to get people coming from around here, coming up from the floor.'
KS: I have to ask one more So You Think You Can Dance question and then we'll go back to Dance Crew. Are you going to be judging this season or choreographing for the couples?
SS: No problem. Actually, no. I can't do anything visual. They can't show my face at all. If you noticed, when my choreography was done -- Give it up for Shane Sparks! And they didn't show me. Did you notice that?
KS: Not at the time. But now that I think about it.
SS: Yeah. You might not have noticed. But they can't show me.
KS: I see. I heard that you and Wade weren't doing the show. But, then they did your choreography, so I was wondering if things changed.
SS: Well, a lot of things worked out. We have stuff coming up in our lives now, as dancers and choreographers. And we have to do what's good for us. We can't just stay in one place. We're getting all these offers and some of the offers conflict. But we want to move on. So, MTV had a talk. And Nigel had a talk with Randy and they worked it out. And I love them for that. It's a blessing to be on the two hottest dance shows in the world. And I respect them too for making that decision because neither show is going to lose anything by having me on both of them. And I think they were afraid: 'If we have him here, everybody will watch this. If have him there, everybody will watch that.' No. People are going to watch regardless.
KS: Are you going to do any of your pieces on Dance Crew?
SS: I don't know. I want to really bad.
KS: Maybe for the finale?
SS: Yes, I would love to. And that's something that, maybe in the future, Randy will come up and be like, 'Let's do a number together.' But I think right now, they just want to keep me focused on being a judge.
KS: So, one thing that's great about these dance shows is that they get professional dancers out there and gets them more work. What comes after Dance Crew for one of these groups? What can they do with the Dance Crew title?
SS: I can only talk from JabbawookeZ point-of-view. I talk to those boys all the time. They're doing BET tonight. They're touring all the time, doing special performances. They're doing videos now. They're marketing themselves. There's so many things that are happening for them that could happen for any crew on this show if they market it right, get a great manager, and get a great agent. Cause a lot of people win shows and they don't know "the business" of this business. You've got to have a good PR person. And somebody that you trust. And someone that really wants to see you succeed. 'Cause if you think about it, the first winner of So You Think You Can Dance, what did he do? You know what I mean?
And then he was swept away to go charm another member of the press. Be sure to watch America's Best Dance Crew on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET / PT on MTV.
source:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/06/28/shane ... interview/