The Man Behind the Throne Page #3

didn't introduce me to Vincent.

I was doing a video with Michael

called The Way You Make Me Feel.

And Michael had told me that he

did not want to dance in the video.

And I went down there

several days before we were filming

to check on the pre-lighting,

and I heard music

coming from way in the back.

I go back,

and there's Michael and Vince...

...and some dancers

choreographing something.

And Michael introduced me,

reluctantly, to Vince.

And I just thought, you know,

"You said you weren't gonna dance."

But here they were

choreographing this

very elaborate piece back there.

Michael was like that.

He was kind of cool.

So I met Vince,

and Vince choreographed the piece,

and then he eventually

staged the whole video.

That you're the one for me

- The way you make me feel

- The way you make me feel

- You really turn me on

- You really turn me on

He cast gang members

for some of the cast,

from two dangerous gangs

in Los Angeles.

So we had

a lot of police on the set.

Vince saw the gang members...

They did this

kind of street-corner posturing

and he put that in,

and it worked beautiful.

And, actually, Michael kept a lot of

the moves, even till he passed away.

- The way you make me feel.

- GROUP:
Ohh!

I did a Pepsi commercial

with Madonna.

This is a very good story.

When I met Madonna

to do this commercial,

she actually

didn't want to work with me.

When I had

my first meeting with her,

not having known her or met her,

I wondered who she wanted

as a choreographer for the piece.

And she said she didn't want to sing

and she didn't want to dance -

that her contract

didn't call for that.

But I wanted Vince to work on

the other performers in the piece,

just to give it some energy.

And she walked into the set while

he was rehearsing the other dancers.

And she came over to me and asked me

to introduce her to Vincent.

When you call my name

It's like a little prayer

I'm down on my knees

I wanna take...

And next thing you know,

she's in there, dancing.

In the midnight hour...

And he gave her every suggestion,

changed her completely.

Just like a prayer

You know I'll take you there...

There's a pre-Vincent Madonna

and a post-Vincent Madonna.

And the post-Vincent Madonna

is a better performer

than the pre-Vincent Madonna.

She knows how to use her body

much better

after Vince got a hold of her.

"Stick your butt out, honey."

OK, a little dance history.

This is an Ann-Margret step.

This was created for Ann-Margret.

If you watch Ann-Margret movies,

this is what she did.

So...

A signature move.

Now, you can think that you're

waving away the fart smells

if you want.

But I would prefer

that you think that,

"My ass is so f***ing hot, kids..."

"...it can't even be touched.

"The flames are just shootin' out,

baby!" Alright?

That's the move.

So, don't do it out here,

because it doesn't make any sense.

You're gonna do what they're doing,

which...

"Montreal, July 10.

"My cold is doing much better.

"Thanks for the love

from those who sent it.

"What a fantastic week.

"I love sharing my stories,

"giving dance history lessons

about great choreographers

"of whom these kids

have zero knowledge.

"Bonnie and I got through staging

a huge chunk of the show,

"at the end of the day, playing with

the final beats of Viva Las Vegas."

"I love this part of the process

SO much.

"The joyful way we play and work

in the studio, I just love it.

"I can't imagine ever giving it up."

Oh!

Yes!

Oh, this is so sick.

We were working on Black Or White

and he wanted to have this

crazy, strange section in it.

That section

wasn't specifically choreographed,

it was just that the two of us

worked together

on a lot of different pieces.

We were working around

and I did something that went...

...like this.

And Michael said, "Oh, my God!

"I love that. What is that?"

"I don't know."

"Kind of cool. Let's take that

and make it into a move."

So at the end of Black Or White,

you see Michael

grabbing his crotch about 50 times.

And then he went even further

and did some unzipping of his pants.

Express yourself

You've got to make it...

And then when I choreographed the

video Express Yourself for Madonna,

there was a movement where

she's at the top of these steps.

She said, "Vince," and she's

yelling at me from up there,

"Vincent,

what I do with my other hand?"

And I said,

"Well, honey, grab your crotch,

"because you've got bigger balls

than mostly everybody in this room.

"So go ahead and grab 'em."

The 'crotch grab', yeah.

When I had choreographed

the video Express Yourself for her,

she wanted me to work on the tour.

Madonna hadn't really...

She wasn't the queen yet.

But Madonna thrived

on creating controversy.

She loved stirring up the sauce.

She actually named the tour

Blonde Ambition,

so I took that and ran with it

and thought,

"OK, well, then, this is great."

- 'Cause you...

- Heads.

...made me feel...

- Reach.

- Yeah, you made...

I was going to do this one piece,

Like A Virgin, and I said,

"OK, then this is really cool.

Now I know what I'll do with it.

"I'll put you on a big bed."

And at first,

I had the two guys, the dancers,

and they were going to be just these

beauties on the sides of the bed.

And then Gautier designed

these big, pointy bras,

so instead, I made them eunuchs.

Hold her.

There you go, that's the idea.

Like a virgin

Touched for

the very first time...

This tour,

this was the first time, really,

that anything like this

had happened,

with these kinds of major sets,

with the star dancing and singing

as much as she did.

Like a virgin...

The whole crucifix

and dancing with all the guys

that were dressed up like priests...

Feels so good inside...

Every number was a dance.

When you hold me...

She was so fit.

She danced hard, hard.

It was insane.

This tour really pushed her

over the top.

It was Madonna.

There was nobody else.

My most favourite review that I ever

got was from the Pope, actually.

"With the Blonde Ambition tour,

"Satan has been re-released

into the world."

I thought,

"Oh, my God! I did that?"

"Montreal, August 9.

"Oh, my God.

"Two and a half weeks,

and I'm out of here.

"We're moving into

the Montreal home stretch now.

"Unbelievable.

"My first presentation went

beyond our wildest expectations.

"All of the powers that be

were like little kids.

"Guy Laliberte, the owner of Cirque,

snapped photos all through

"and smiled like it was

his 16th birthday.

"One of the producers tipped

his baseball cap to me

"and said, 'I'd give anything I own

"'to get inside your head

for one day.'

"I hung around

for the party afterwards.

"It was a good thing.

"But arriving at my apartment,

I emotionally crashed.

"Sometimes all of this

giving and giving and giving

"leaves me lost and forlorn.

"I never feel like

a creative genius.

"I always feel like an honest mule

who wears his heart on his hoof."

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