“Grease is the thing that really made me want to dance,” says choreographer Jamal Sims, “seeing John Travolta dance was like magic for me.”
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies is a spinoff prequel to the 1978 musical Grease. Four years before the original film’s events, the series follows the pink-jacket-wearing girl gang as they rouse Rydell High in the fight against conformity. Sims took inspiration from the choreographer of the original film, Patricia Birch, who he says was “in my bones” during the production.
“I knew every step from the original,” says Sims, “so I felt like when I was coming up with material, there were ‘isms’ that Patricia would put into her choreography that I would put into my choreography. I wanted to pay homage to her, but I also wanted to feel like it was fresh and new.”
While he was choreographing each number, Sims had to make sure none of the characters would get lost in the mix. “It was really important that we always keep our characters in mind and always fill the frame, says Sims. “So, no matter where they are or what they’re doing, I want to make sure their characters are always involved.”
The most challenging number of the season was “World Without Boys”, which Sims says he “blocked out” because it was so difficult. “Our visionary director Alethea Jones, she came up with this idea that we were going to shoot the whole thing in reverse, so the dance is in reverse,” says Sims. While he initially though this wouldn’t be much of an issue, since they could just reverse the footage to capture the dance backwards, he discovered a wrinkle in this plan. “I didn’t really think about how they’re lip-syncing, so the lip-syncing has to go forward while they’re going backwards,” he says. “We decided that we were actually going to choreograph backwards moves, so that they could lip sync while they were going… Literally until the day we shot, we were trying to crack the code and it was pretty difficult.”
Sims also directed the sixth episode of this season, “Sloppy Seconds Ain’t My Style”, which he found to be a natural progression of his work. “Directing and choreography are kind of hand in hand,” says Sims. “When I’m choreographing a piece, I’m thinking about wardrobe, I’m thinking about lighting, I’m thinking about story.” Sims says he had all of these in mind when he choreographs, even when someone else is directing. “When I started directing, it all kind of fell in place and it felt like this was the most natural place that I’ve ever been in my career, doing choreography and directing at the same time.”
Click the video above to watch the full interview.
