Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / LaurieAnn Gibson Full Interview
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: My next guest will be starting as a judge on
- 0:02Speaker 1: Fox Is prime time television dance competition show So You
- 0:06Speaker 1: Think You Can Dance Season sixteen, where she'll be joined
- 0:10Speaker 1: by judges Nigel and Mary. She's one of the most
- 0:13Speaker 1: important pop culture influences and entertainment today. As a director
- 0:18Speaker 1: and choreographer, she counted numerous international superstars as one of
- 0:22Speaker 1: my favorite Katy Perry, another one of my favorite, Lady Gaga.
- 0:26Speaker 1: Did he a con Nick Minaje among her clients? Please
- 0:31Speaker 1: welcome to money making conversation, laur Anne Gibson. Yes, you
- 0:39Speaker 1: know what, you got a lot of credits. It's you
- 0:41Speaker 1: gotta you gotta ramp up for somebody's success as successful
- 0:44Speaker 1: as you are. Wow, that's awesome, right, I mean yeah,
- 0:49Speaker 1: it's all relative. It is all relative. That's how I think,
- 0:52Speaker 1: you know, really, glory to God and thank God I
- 0:57Speaker 1: have the capability, right, Well, you got it. You know.
- 0:59Speaker 1: The thing about it is that, you know, I've been
- 1:02Speaker 1: in entertainment for a while, uh, you know, started doing
- 1:05Speaker 1: stand up in officially Record eighty six and became a
- 1:09Speaker 1: television sitcom writer and a producer and managing talent. And
- 1:13Speaker 1: along the way, I've seen, you know, the whole dance explosion.
- 1:18Speaker 1: I remember Steve Harvey uh uh, participated in a dance
- 1:22Speaker 1: movie with back in two thousand one, you know, and
- 1:26Speaker 1: and so just to see it. The evolution Where do Where?
- 1:28Speaker 1: Where does dance play? How to dance? Became a part
- 1:32Speaker 1: of your life. Ms. Gibson. I mean, you're right, evolution
- 1:36Speaker 1: and explosion are two very relative words to dance right
- 1:41Speaker 1: now in the entertainment industry. But you know, as far
- 1:44Speaker 1: back as I can remember, I've been dancing. I believe
- 1:47Speaker 1: that I was dancing in the heavenly realms when I
- 1:51Speaker 1: asked my mother to put me in dance school. I
- 1:53Speaker 1: was very young. I was at six or seven. Um,
- 1:57Speaker 1: there's no time in my life that I can remember
- 2:00Speaker 1: not dancing, not feeling the energy of entertainment. You know.
- 2:04Speaker 1: Obviously for me, I attested, as you know, the gift
- 2:09Speaker 1: and that God has given me and bust me with.
- 2:11Speaker 1: So it's always been a part of my life. I
- 2:14Speaker 1: was born in Toronto. At seventeen going on eighteen, I
- 2:17Speaker 1: took a greyhound bus to New York City, where I
- 2:20Speaker 1: went to study at Alvin Ellie American Dad's Theater, and
- 2:25Speaker 1: from there my career started. I, um have had one
- 2:29Speaker 1: of the best training possible from that school, and you know,
- 2:34Speaker 1: I stand on the shoulders of great and and then
- 2:37Speaker 1: I went to a heavy d audition where I met
- 2:39Speaker 1: Puff Daddy and I fell in love with hip hop.
- 2:42Speaker 1: And then I started uh choregraphing for Mary J. Blage
- 2:46Speaker 1: and that's what really started my choreography career. Could you
- 2:52Speaker 1: say you start You've been dancing all your life. There
- 2:55Speaker 1: was a passion that was a low. How did that
- 2:56Speaker 1: translate to wanting to be able to you know each
- 3:00Speaker 1: because that's a that's a different skill set because not
- 3:03Speaker 1: only you're teaching one person, you tend to have to
- 3:05Speaker 1: teach a group of people to stay on beat, to
- 3:08Speaker 1: to to to match the consistency. Also, if you if
- 3:12Speaker 1: you're tour with a star talent, they have to play
- 3:14Speaker 1: a role in the dance movement. How do how does
- 3:17Speaker 1: that translate to your abilities? I think that that uh
- 3:21Speaker 1: as a dancer is one thing, but I think you're
- 3:24Speaker 1: right the evolution of a dancers definitely the choreographer and UM,
- 3:31Speaker 1: what I do as a creative director is making sure
- 3:36Speaker 1: all of those components come together. You know, when you're
- 3:39Speaker 1: dealing with the artists. That's about artists development. They work differently.
- 3:43Speaker 1: You know, not every dancer has the gift to corey
- 3:46Speaker 1: graphs and not chore Not all choreographers have the gift
- 3:50Speaker 1: to creative direct or understand the direction aspect of it.
- 3:55Speaker 1: So you know, for me, I'm very blessed I have
- 3:58Speaker 1: all of those kids and they work in tandem to
- 4:01Speaker 1: create such things as you know, the Bad Boy Reunion Tour,
- 4:04Speaker 1: the Monster Ball, uh Nicki Minaj's Pink Print Tour. So
- 4:08Speaker 1: there's a lot of different components that come together. Um
- 4:12Speaker 1: when designing something from an artist hearing their music, understanding
- 4:17Speaker 1: their vision than creating the dance deps and understanding what
- 4:21Speaker 1: that experience is like, what do the clothes feel like,
- 4:24Speaker 1: what does the lighting feel like? It's an entire evolution
- 4:27Speaker 1: of a vision because really, when you look at it,
- 4:31Speaker 1: like everybody has a skill set and when one comes
- 4:35Speaker 1: to you, do they come to you asking you to
- 4:37Speaker 1: set up the show, set up the format? Are they
- 4:40Speaker 1: are you work with the client and they said, and
- 4:43Speaker 1: you know their abilities? Or how does they work when
- 4:45Speaker 1: you when you put together a tour? And also do
- 4:48Speaker 1: you have are you involved in the casting of the dancers. Yes,
- 4:52Speaker 1: I'm always involved in the casting and not everyone has
- 4:55Speaker 1: that ability. But as a visionary, yes, it's important to
- 4:58Speaker 1: me to be able to choose who will execute the
- 5:01Speaker 1: movement and why. I'm not someone that just operates off
- 5:04Speaker 1: of the look of someone. But it's more about the
- 5:07Speaker 1: gift for me. So yes, I do choose my dancers, um.
- 5:11Speaker 1: And it's different with every artist you know, UM, most
- 5:14Speaker 1: of the artists. Now, yes, I will create a direct
- 5:17Speaker 1: choreograph and see the entire vision through, but on the
- 5:20Speaker 1: way and the journey, No, it wasn't always like that.
- 5:23Speaker 1: I had to earn that, I understand that I had
- 5:25Speaker 1: the ability to do that, so it was It's different
- 5:29Speaker 1: with every client, um, which makes it unique to each situation,
- 5:33Speaker 1: which means that you have to be very creative. I'm
- 5:36Speaker 1: on the phone with she's on the phone with this
- 5:38Speaker 1: interview with Laurie and Gibson. She's talented, one of the
- 5:42Speaker 1: brilliant director core choreographers in the game today. She's a
- 5:46Speaker 1: new judge on the sixteenth season of the Fox Dance
- 5:49Speaker 1: competition series. So you think you can dance now? Of course,
- 5:53Speaker 1: that title, you know, applies to a lot of people,
- 5:56Speaker 1: including me, because you know, I think I can dance
- 6:00Speaker 1: a one time in college I was a breakdancer, so
- 6:03Speaker 1: when I was looking at it, when of course I
- 6:05Speaker 1: don't qualify for that Asia group anymore. Eighteen the thirty
- 6:08Speaker 1: showcasing talents from dance styles from contemporary, tap, hip hop, ballroom, animation, breaking,
- 6:16Speaker 1: and more. All those genres which genre as cites you
- 6:20Speaker 1: the most when you're judging are we will be judging?
- 6:25Speaker 1: I mean they're all exciting to me because you know,
- 6:27Speaker 1: I am trained and I do all types of dance
- 6:30Speaker 1: so um, including ballroom, tap, jazz. So for me, it's just,
- 6:35Speaker 1: you know, it's a combination of things. I love the
- 6:38Speaker 1: passion in the person's eyes. They what's in their heart,
- 6:42Speaker 1: what's in their soul? You know, how much do they
- 6:45Speaker 1: love the dance. It's not about the style for me
- 6:48Speaker 1: as much as it is as it is about to dance, okay,
- 6:54Speaker 1: so so so is the emotion because I'm I'm I've
- 6:57Speaker 1: seen some of the preview that I see people flying
- 6:59Speaker 1: across air now like Peter Pain. You know that they
- 7:02Speaker 1: really have elevated the whole concept of you know, the physicality,
- 7:07Speaker 1: the the the the like city evolution of what you
- 7:10Speaker 1: can do the our form of dancing, because I have
- 7:12Speaker 1: to say that dancing is now well maybe it always
- 7:15Speaker 1: been in our form, but were on the on the show,
- 7:17Speaker 1: there's been there around for sixteen season. They have to
- 7:19Speaker 1: keep keep challenging the consumer to be able to come back.
- 7:24Speaker 1: So what what what what surprises you the most about
- 7:27Speaker 1: this particular dance competition show. I think, like you said,
- 7:31Speaker 1: they have evolved and they continue to evolve, which is
- 7:34Speaker 1: important because yes, the dance has always been what it is.
- 7:37Speaker 1: It's just now we have the opportunity and the platform
- 7:41Speaker 1: to put it in front of millions and for people
- 7:44Speaker 1: to just really see how powerful the dances. We've always
- 7:47Speaker 1: been athletes who've always been incredible storytellers and who she marries.
- 7:55Speaker 1: So I think, you know, it's great that we can
- 7:57Speaker 1: be brought to popular culture away this show does. And
- 8:02Speaker 1: you know, now they have the three sixty cameras and
- 8:04Speaker 1: you can utilize technology to freeze frame a movement so
- 8:09Speaker 1: you can just see how athletic and how amazing you know,
- 8:13Speaker 1: the art of dance really is. And obviously you know,
- 8:17Speaker 1: if when I was young, I didn't have this opportunity.
- 8:20Speaker 1: So ultimately, so you think it's a dance is such
- 8:22Speaker 1: a great, incredible opportunity to get directly in front of
- 8:26Speaker 1: America and also in the business and and you know,
- 8:30Speaker 1: have the ability to showcase your gift very early on
- 8:35Speaker 1: in your career. Wow, she's on the phone, She's a star.
- 8:38Speaker 1: She's on my show Money Making Conversation. We'll be back
- 8:41Speaker 1: with more with Laurie and Gibson. I want to find
- 8:43Speaker 1: out how does she get involved as being a judge
- 8:45Speaker 1: on the show. How did she get that call? How
- 8:48Speaker 1: did the call come to her? You know, what was
- 8:50Speaker 1: the emotion when the call was finally made? All that
- 8:52Speaker 1: on Money Making come and says she's a star, She's
- 8:55Speaker 1: a dancing star, she's superstar and her feet can move.
- 9:00Speaker 1: On the main conversation, she's a renowned choreographer, director, television
- 9:08Speaker 1: personality artists. Her name is Laura Gibson, and she's the
- 9:13Speaker 1: new judge on the current sixteenth season of the hit
- 9:16Speaker 1: Fox dance competition show A series So You Think You
- 9:20Speaker 1: Can Dance? The new series new season premieres owed Uh
- 9:24Speaker 1: this is always a premier is in from nampm. Nine
- 9:28Speaker 1: to ten pm Eastern Standard Time on Fox Now. Since
- 9:33Speaker 1: you've been on the show and since the show has
- 9:35Speaker 1: been airing, tell me how people have reacted to your
- 9:40Speaker 1: judging style. Well, I I've been on a show called
- 9:47Speaker 1: Making the Band, I've had some television appearance. That's what
- 9:52Speaker 1: I'm saying. You have you come with like it says,
- 9:54Speaker 1: with a personality. That's why I said TV personality. You're
- 9:57Speaker 1: not an un you know, Roushane McDonald is not gonna
- 9:59Speaker 1: be a is George because I don't have that cache
- 10:02Speaker 1: that resume. So you come with positivity. Yeah. I think
- 10:08Speaker 1: for me, my style of judging is about inspiring. And
- 10:11Speaker 1: I don't like to use the word judging because you know,
- 10:15Speaker 1: ah to judge one another's, you know, such a lame perspective.
- 10:20Speaker 1: But it is a place of education and coaching inspiration,
- 10:25Speaker 1: and that's more or less how I approached the chair.
- 10:29Speaker 1: And when I see young dancers in front of me,
- 10:31Speaker 1: I remember being one myself and I'm still a dancer.
- 10:34Speaker 1: So I understand the art of dreaming and and perseverance
- 10:40Speaker 1: and what it takes. And and also it's not being easy,
- 10:44Speaker 1: you know, So to be able to plant a seed
- 10:48Speaker 1: early in someone fight, a good seed, a seed of
- 10:51Speaker 1: hope and perseverance and safe and success and that's what
- 10:55Speaker 1: I'm really looking to do. And that's kind of from
- 10:58Speaker 1: the chair and my perspective. Well, you do judge. Everybody
- 11:04Speaker 1: has to judge to a certain degree, and unfortunately that
- 11:07Speaker 1: means there's a winner and a loser. That means that
- 11:10Speaker 1: every week there's a cutdown process and means it's a winner.
- 11:15Speaker 1: You're all winners. It's just how you look at the
- 11:18Speaker 1: glasses that half empty or half call, you know, and
- 11:20Speaker 1: I always look at it this goal. But you're right,
- 11:22Speaker 1: there can only be one winner in this particular competition,
- 11:26Speaker 1: right right, And that's not a bad thing because that's
- 11:28Speaker 1: why the show is successful. You you root for people,
- 11:31Speaker 1: you you you you champion different people when you you
- 11:34Speaker 1: ride the emotion. Because that's why that's why I were
- 11:36Speaker 1: just saying from your standpoint. You know, you, how you react,
- 11:40Speaker 1: how you are as you say mentor some of these
- 11:43Speaker 1: people you have to mentor you give me their advice
- 11:44Speaker 1: and their styles and things like that. So I have
- 11:48Speaker 1: you on this particular show, have you developed a style
- 11:51Speaker 1: that that that that you feel that or you just
- 11:54Speaker 1: care in the same personality you've done on the previous shows. No,
- 11:58Speaker 1: I think this is a particular a different show because
- 12:01Speaker 1: it's uh to my community. You know, it's a dance show.
- 12:05Speaker 1: I've never done a dance show like this. So yes,
- 12:09Speaker 1: completely different styles now now, now this is where I
- 12:13Speaker 1: want to be educated. I hope you not dissulted by
- 12:16Speaker 1: my asking because I don't know. So when I so,
- 12:18Speaker 1: I got when they're talking about the different dance styles.
- 12:21Speaker 1: I know what ballroom dancing is. That's I know that
- 12:23Speaker 1: particular movement and everything. You know, I think I said
- 12:26Speaker 1: what exactly I know what tap is, and I think
- 12:30Speaker 1: I know what contemporary is. If you can explain what
- 12:33Speaker 1: is contemporary and what is hip hop and what is animation, well,
- 12:40Speaker 1: these are categories that you know, people tend to make up.
- 12:43Speaker 1: It's all dance. Most importantly, contemporary is the study of
- 12:48Speaker 1: modern dance. You know, you have ballet contemporary. It is
- 12:51Speaker 1: just that a contemporary approach. And there are different forms
- 12:54Speaker 1: of contemporary. Obviously, Alvin All the American dance theater is
- 12:59Speaker 1: the one that I said. Whether you have different h techniques,
- 13:03Speaker 1: whether it be Graham more important or applicant, these things
- 13:07Speaker 1: fall under contemporary. Obviously. Hip hop is you know, out
- 13:12Speaker 1: of a circumstance from a community that has now with
- 13:17Speaker 1: into popular culture. Thems on breakdancing, tutting to h a
- 13:24Speaker 1: lot of different street styles. But hip hop is about liberation,
- 13:28Speaker 1: you know, and it's about the creativity and dance. And
- 13:32Speaker 1: for me, it all goes back to history. I mean
- 13:34Speaker 1: African dance, the rain dance. When you go to war,
- 13:37Speaker 1: you have dance. So Dad has been in our culture.
- 13:40Speaker 1: When David dance, he was worshiping God. He danced all
- 13:43Speaker 1: is loincloth sell off. Dance is a form of language
- 13:47Speaker 1: that has been around since the beginning of time. And
- 13:51Speaker 1: it's not going anywhere because everybody's danced your way out
- 13:55Speaker 1: your mother's room. You know the fun thing about it,
- 13:58Speaker 1: everybody thinks they could dance. Know who who doesn't remember
- 14:01Speaker 1: the doesn't money maker? You shape? But you know the
- 14:11Speaker 1: baby dancing, it's a cute dance you know that will
- 14:13Speaker 1: go viral or baby that. There's certain people ages will
- 14:16Speaker 1: go viral if you see them dancing. You see a
- 14:18Speaker 1: little cute baby dance that will go viral. You see
- 14:20Speaker 1: a real old person dancing that will go viral. You
- 14:24Speaker 1: see Rash mcdunald dancing. I think here, you know you're
- 14:29Speaker 1: gonna get some comments. I might not go viral. But
- 14:31Speaker 1: I'm trying my best. I'm doing my I'm doing my
- 14:33Speaker 1: you know, my morv and Gabe. You know, the movement
- 14:37Speaker 1: is out there. I'm doing my little, my little running
- 14:39Speaker 1: man movement out there. But it's just the fun part
- 14:42Speaker 1: about it. It's just like you said, everybody, if you
- 14:45Speaker 1: if you can't dance, you can feel the emotion and participate.
- 14:48Speaker 1: That's the beauty of dancing, right exactly. And then the
- 14:58Speaker 1: question that I guess the asked me to the question
- 15:00Speaker 1: of the integral part of the formula and building your
- 15:03Speaker 1: success and identifying it and then realize because you told me,
- 15:07Speaker 1: you know, took a bust down from Toronto, went to
- 15:09Speaker 1: New York, joined the most probably the most important UH
- 15:14Speaker 1: dance studio in especial the African American community. You had
- 15:19Speaker 1: to believe in yourself because you're in the city. Did
- 15:23Speaker 1: you know anybody when you came to New York at
- 15:25Speaker 1: that time? Or you just went down on faith and ability?
- 15:28Speaker 1: I just yeah, that's right, I went down and say ability.
- 15:32Speaker 1: And so was there an audition process or how did
- 15:34Speaker 1: that work for you? There was UH and I didn't
- 15:39Speaker 1: have a roommate. And when I got to the audition,
- 15:41Speaker 1: I looked on the board and I picked someone to
- 15:44Speaker 1: live with. So it was definitely, um something head shocked,
- 15:49Speaker 1: recommend the weak minded, but it was definitely faith. And
- 15:55Speaker 1: when you believe and you have a passion, any of
- 15:58Speaker 1: a vision, and it's so strong in your soul and
- 16:02Speaker 1: in your spirit and you can't do anything else. That's
- 16:07Speaker 1: the type of face that I had to tap into.
- 16:10Speaker 1: So when you're younger, it's easier. As you get older,
- 16:13Speaker 1: you have to remind yourself of that face and um,
- 16:17Speaker 1: you have to call on it constantly. So uh yeah,
- 16:22Speaker 1: that was my reality and obviously it's just still part
- 16:26Speaker 1: of our reality because we're always continuing to evolve. Awesome.
- 16:31Speaker 1: I'm speaking to Lauren Gibson. He's the new judge on
- 16:34Speaker 1: the sixteenth season of Fox dance competition hit show. So
- 16:39Speaker 1: you think you can dance one like a couple of
- 16:41Speaker 1: cautions here, I want to wrap up with you. This
- 16:43Speaker 1: has been an amazing interview for me because I was
- 16:46Speaker 1: I always trying to bring people on the show that
- 16:47Speaker 1: that I think taking taking let people know that if
- 16:52Speaker 1: you want to go forward there, they're they're overcome the fear,
- 16:55Speaker 1: because you can't live fear. Win and I believe that's
- 16:58Speaker 1: what you're saying, and you're interview is that And sometimes
- 17:02Speaker 1: you don't have a plan, but you did have a
- 17:03Speaker 1: plan and since because you knew where you wanted to go,
- 17:06Speaker 1: and you knew what you wanted to accomplish when you
- 17:08Speaker 1: got there, and then and then when you got there,
- 17:10Speaker 1: you just took advantage of your success. In other words,
- 17:13Speaker 1: like I moved. I remember when I left IBM, I
- 17:15Speaker 1: moved to New York. I got a very had a roommate,
- 17:18Speaker 1: just like you. All I knew is that I wanted
- 17:20Speaker 1: to be the funniest guy in the world, and I
- 17:22Speaker 1: wanted despite everybody telling me the altar against you, you
- 17:26Speaker 1: will not make it, Rashawn, and I look back and
- 17:28Speaker 1: those are just the layers of my success. But it
- 17:31Speaker 1: started back then when I made the decision to move
- 17:33Speaker 1: to New York. Right, how who whoo? Who champion your move?
- 17:40Speaker 1: You decided to move to New York? And and and
- 17:43Speaker 1: and why did they? Why did Why would this so
- 17:45Speaker 1: important to have somebody tell you go ahead, follow your dream?
- 17:50Speaker 1: I think you know, I have an amazing family. My
- 17:55Speaker 1: mom was not able to follow her dreams, so from
- 17:57Speaker 1: a very young age, she encouraged her girl to go
- 18:02Speaker 1: after their passion was something that she couldn't do um
- 18:07Speaker 1: based on the ignorance of you know, her parents and
- 18:10Speaker 1: the time. So she encouraged us very young without any
- 18:16Speaker 1: you know, just like without telling us how to do it.
- 18:20Speaker 1: She just encouraged that mindset. And what that did was
- 18:24Speaker 1: it it opened the door to our spirit, to our purpose,
- 18:29Speaker 1: to our connections very early to God and to understanding
- 18:34Speaker 1: that voice. And I connected very early to my passion.
- 18:38Speaker 1: Not a lot of people are able to that, but
- 18:40Speaker 1: I did, and once I did, I just never stopped.
- 18:43Speaker 1: I always had a clear understanding of something that would
- 18:51Speaker 1: later reveal itself, which was the limitation in men and
- 18:55Speaker 1: what their oppressive thought can do to you. So I
- 19:00Speaker 1: never ever listened to authorities that spoke against the passion.
- 19:04Speaker 1: And my mom always taught me that very early as well,
- 19:08Speaker 1: when someone says you can't do it, or you're too black,
- 19:10Speaker 1: or you're too short, or you're there, you know, she
- 19:14Speaker 1: made it strong very early and understanding that you know,
- 19:18Speaker 1: super flawed, Yeah, that is important. So I understood very
- 19:22Speaker 1: early how to fight love it. This is Loria and Gibson.
- 19:27Speaker 1: She's a new judge on the current season, sixteen season,
- 19:29Speaker 1: or the new think I shouldn't say knew they hit
- 19:32Speaker 1: Fox Dance competitions here, so you're thinking you can dance.
- 19:36Speaker 1: The show could be seen on Fox every Monday, nine
- 19:40Speaker 1: Eastern on Fox. Uh, Loria Gibson, thank you for coming
- 19:43Speaker 1: on my show. Um, thank you for being a person.
- 19:46Speaker 1: You are a star. Understand that you know. I say
- 19:50Speaker 1: that to individuals that I bring on the show because
- 19:53Speaker 1: you have a legacy, You have a resume, and I
- 19:56Speaker 1: always tell people when you're hype and your resume meet,
- 19:58Speaker 1: you're the real deal. And Laurie and Gibson, you are
- 20:01Speaker 1: the real deal. There's nothing hype about you.