A still from the movie Born To Dance. Photo / Supplied
If you want to sound like you know what you're talking about when you head along to see energetic new local dance film Born To Dance, we've got a few phrases for you.
Blow ups?
"So blow ups are like flips, and getting chucked in the air," Tia Maipi, the star of the film explains.
Dot Dash?
"That's like formation dancing."
Cannon?
"That's like a domino effect, people doing something all one after the other really fast."
Hundies?
"That's where you just go hard out, like a hundred per cent."
Yep, Maipi knows what he's talking about. The 19-year-old Huntly local, who plays Tu, has been a member of the gold-medal-winning Royal Family dance crew for the past four years, and has won numerous hip-hop titles including the Hip Hop International world championships in Las Vegas. But he started dancing almost on a whim.
"For me dancing all started off with Michael Jackson's passing. When he died, all of the family were hard out into Michael, they loved him, so we decided to do a tribute to him and put on a performance. So we re-enacted his music videos, which was a lot of fun. And we got our local friends to come and watch, and we got good feedback about it, and so we decided to take it to the next level, which was actually competing."
World renowned dancer and choreographer Parris Goebel (who has worked with Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson and the Monsters of Hip-Hop) was holding auditions for The Royal Family in 2011, so he auditioned and he has been dancing with her ever since.
Goebel was the choreographer for Born to Dance, a key collaborator involved right from the beginning of production, but Maipi still had to audition for the film.
"It was just dancing at first and then callbacks came and a handful of people were chosen to try for the character, so that's where it all started really. There was a lot of auditioning, feedback, you try to improve, work harder. At first, I was like 'Acting? I don't wanna act!' But then I tried it out, and I don't know, it just felt good."
The fact that he felt some affinity with Tu's story certainly helped. Even if his family has been very supportive of his dancing and his dad's not in the army like Tu's, Maipi understood Tu's world.
"The first day of rehearsals was just me, and Tammy [Davis, director] got me to do a whole lot of thinking about the character, about who Tu was and what his story was, and I wrote a lot of stuff down and showed him. And Tammy was surprised, he was like, 'Oh mean!' and I was was like, 'Well I just wrote down most of my life really'. So we had a similar perspective, I was able to relate."
Stan Walker, who plays Tu's best mate, Benji, in the film, technically didn't have to audition - they asked for his input quite early on in regards to music and whether he'd be interested in being involved. They initially thought he could play a small role as an MC during the competition but several months later they'd changed their minds.
"They came back to me and said, 'We actually really want you to have a big part in the film'. So I was like 'Ok, sweet as, all good with me'. And so they actually wrote Benji as a character, into the film."
Benji is a cheerful guy and fellow dancer who works alongside Tu at the recycling plant. He's supportive of Tu's dreams of making dance a fulltime occupation. But he's also involved in a little drug dealing and seems to have got himself into a tight spot with some unsavoury guys.
"I think Benji was birthed partly as a counterpoint to Tu, to bring out some aspects of his character. And that was great because I know a lot of people can relate to Benji - either they've lived through that or they know someone like that, and whether it's drugs, or something else. I think when people see the film, they won't see Benji just as a drug dealer, they'll see that he's dealing drugs. You know that saying 'Monkey see, monkey do'? I think you can easily end up a part of that world when you're brought up in it, unless you make a change. So the movie is about redemption too, really."
One thing Walker wasn't expecting, was to dance. Obviously he dances on stage during his live shows, but dancing Goebel's choreography was a whole new deal.
"I got to the studio on the first day, and I was dressed up and I had my boots on and a jacket on, everything. And they were like 'Ok, so we're gonna run through some dances', and I was like 'What? I have to dance?' And the first thing I had to do was dance in front of the whole room!
"I was so shamed. I felt so unco' and awkward. But that's how I found out I was dancing in the film. I just made sure I positioned myself at the back every time we learned a new dance," he laughs.
The film's storyline involves Tu being scouted by a rival crew. K-Crew, the world champions who seem to have rich and fabulous lifestyles, are looking for some new blood and after they see a video of Tu, they ask him to come to the North Shore for auditions. Of course Tu feels conflicted out of loyalty to his current Papakura crew, 2PK, and keeps it a secret from them.
It's not something Maipi has had to deal with in real life but, aside from the rich and famous lifestyles (which don't really exist for Kiwi dancers, even the world champions), the idea of inter-city rivalry between crews is pretty accurate.
"People who know the dance world will relate to the storyline I think" he smiles. "I guess it's like Sweet n Sour versus Palace," Walker elaborates, referring to real life Auckland crews.
"You know Sweet n Sour were from the south, it's kinda rugged, with a lot of sass, doing it for the love of it, versus the more slick style of Palace, who're champions who do it for the business."
"That's kind of how it is." Maipi nods. "And the thing was, I was kind of with the business side of it in real life I guess, but in the movie, I'm doing it for the love of it, which is cool. That's where it starts for everyone.
"It was fun working on that final competition scene, how K-Crew are really robotic and slick and clean, and then 2PK are really loose and inventive. I was really happy with that choreography."
Even though it was a very different experience from actually participating in a dance competition (there were a lot of cameras for a start, and doing the different takes over and over, without a crowd to perform to, was a big change), Maipi loved it - so much in fact, he's keen to do more films.
"Definitely! Even if it wasn't a dance movie, I still would be keen to give it a go. I really enjoyed it so I'm keen as to carry it on and see what else I can do with it."
Walker was similarly impressed.
"It was wicked as. It could have been cooler if we'd had fight scenes, or guns, or Beyonce was my girlfriend, and we had a love-making scene or something like that, and we had to pash for an hour, that would've been better" he grins. "Nah it was wicked to be part of it, and work with all these young guys - they really are amaaaazing dancers."
Born To Dance is the feature directorial debut for Tammy Davis, best known for his much-loved role as Munter in Outrageous Fortune, but also with two short films and television work to his name.
He got involved about four years ago, when the project was conceived by producers Daniel Story, Jill Macnab and Leanne Saunders, and despite not being overly familiar with the world of hip-hop dance crews, he immediately found himself drawn to the story.
"I just saw it as a really exciting project, and I read the script, and it resonated with me. It was really early days when I got involved and it took us a while to figure it all out, but as much as it's a dance film, it's also a story about dreams and how we attain them, and what we let get in the way."
He wasn't fazed by his lack of experience in the dance movie genre as there was a strong feeling right from the beginning that they didn't want to imitate anything from America - they wanted to create a fresh local story.
"I really didn't want to make Step Up 6," he laughs. "For one, we didn't have that kind of money, but also my strength is acting, and I wanted to communicate a story that will resonate with people. So I hope people come to see the dancing, but take away the heart of the film as well."
They also had Parris Goebel on board as choreographer and adviser from the beginning.
"I relied on her heavily when it came to making decisions about the casting. We knew we couldn't get actors to play the roles unless they could dance really well. And you can't go looking for an 18 or 19-year-old Maori boy and hope that he's just going to be able to dance like someone from Parris' crew. So we needed dancers who could also act, and listening to Parris about Tia, and fighting for him to get the role, that was really important."
The film has its world premiere at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival this weekend and seems to be getting great feedback internationally, but Davis' key hope is that it helps Kiwi dancers to receive the recognition they deserve in New Zealand.
"I hope it will put a spotlight on the talent we have. We already have these amazing dancers, amazing crews, but people just don't know about them. One day I was talking to Michael Metuakore, who plays Tino, and I said, 'Mikey how many medals do you have?' And he goes, 'Oh, ah, four or five'. And I went, 'Does anyone say hello to you when you walk down the street?' 'No.' And that's a pity because everyone should know how good these kids are. They're winning their gold medals, and they really should be celebrated as much as our sportspeople. So it would be great to see them getting the support they need."
Who: Tia-Taharoa Maipi, Stan Walker
What: Born To Dance
Where and when: In cinemas from Thursday September 24.
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