This yr’s Tremendous Bowl was watched by greater than 120 million individuals within the US, virtually as many as watched the moon landings. And within the half-time present, proper behind R&B famous person Usher, there was Sean Bankhead dancing. “It was a extremely overwhelming sensory expertise,” says Bankhead. “It was sizzling, muggy, sweaty and it stunk like a soccer sport.”
Bankhead, 35, formally hung up his dancing footwear just a few years in the past to give attention to choreography for the likes of Missy Elliott, Normani, Katy Perry, FKA twigs, latest Grammy winner Victoria Monét and Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion (whose 2021 Grammy efficiency of WAP he masterminded) however he couldn’t flip down the prospect to bop with Usher, one among his childhood heroes. “I tousled so many occasions. We carried out on the precise grass and there have been chunks lacking. Nevertheless it was a rush.”
It has been fairly a yr for Bankhead to this point. In addition to the Tremendous Bowl, he choreographed Lil Nas X’s controversial J Christ video, and Canadian singer Tate McRae’s efficiency on the Brits. “I had a baaaaall on the Brits,” he says, in his Atlanta drawl. “The Brits are far more enjoyable than American awards reveals. I had no clue! There was an enormous social gathering and everybody was drunk as hell.”
Bankhead is the person of the second, however in some methods his type harks again to the music movies he grew up with within the 90s and 00s: Michael and Janet Jackson, Aaliyah, Britney Spears – that’s the place he discovered to bop, not taking a category till he was 16. “I didn’t even know what a choreographer was. I used to be simply so enamoured by what I used to be watching on TV.”
His schooling got here from going to golf equipment. Snap music was large within the Atlanta hip-hop scene, catchy songs like Soulja Boy’s Crank That coming with their very own dance routines. “I might name myself a switch-hitter,” he says, borrowing a baseball time period for ambidextrous batting. “I went to the homosexual golf equipment and I noticed ballroom tradition up shut. I’d go to the ‘hood’ golf equipment and discover ways to do the ‘lean wit it, rock wit it’ dance. I’d go to the white golf equipment and thrash round like Britney and study my pop type, then go to reggae golf equipment and discover ways to do dancehall and Afrobeats. I’d all the time observe the social gathering.”
All these influences make it into his dance work, however he’s additionally a skilled percussionist. “So I can create rhythms with my physique that match the beat or create my very own beat. Individuals are like, ‘Wow! The place did that rhythm come from?’”
At first making dance a profession appeared not possible. At auditions, he was “a younger skinny child and again then they have been in search of buff masculine dancers”. So he began posting his personal choreographies on YouTube. There’s one up there entitled Beyoncé Tour Submission – Bankhead didn’t wait to be requested, he simply put himself on the market. “I used to be so hungry and bold. I’d simply create, within the hope that somebody would see it.”
Finally, it labored. Today Bankhead works with a few of music’s greatest artists, together with Beyoncé. For diamond-selling rapper Cardi B, he choreographed the movies Up and Bongos, that includes Megan Thee Stallion. Each have placing dance routines however are additionally unapologetic flesh-fests, with curves escaping from bikinis and numerous booty – the strikes as specific because the lyrics. Does Bankhead ever have the dialog: how attractive is just too attractive?
“We don’t,” he says. “In actual fact, it’s normally extra like, ‘I wish to present extra ass and I wish to present extra crotch.’ They don’t seem to be ashamed of their our bodies, they love their sexuality. And I’m proper there supporting them.”
He insists that Cardi B, whose performing persona is uber-confident and a tad intimidating, is admittedly “so candy, so form, the shyest individual”. He says the identical about himself. “I’m very reserved, very chill. However then you definitely see my work and assume, ‘He should be some fabulous diva.’”
With rapper Lil Nas X, Bankhead labored on the “creatively ballsy” video for the track Trade Child. Set in a jail, it featured a unadorned dance routine within the showers (tastefully pixelated). This was the ultimate scene of a two-day shoot, on an outside set. “It’s loopy, it’s freezing, it’s three within the morning,” he remembers. “Individuals have been slipping and falling. I stripped right down to my underwear and was leaping and screaming simply to make them really feel extra snug.”
Bankhead’s obtained a watch for a viral second. The #OnMyMamaChallenge he created with Victoria Monét on TikTok has had greater than 150 million views. Visuals and choreography “could make or break music”, he says. So are choreographers getting sufficient credit score? “Sure and no. It’s time for us to be financially recognised. Songwriters will receives a commission for the remainder of their lives in the event that they write a success track. However choreographers don’t get any sort of residual revenue once we create a viral dance that makes the track blow up. I get a flat price. I may very well be owed tens of millions.”
Partly for that motive, Bankhead is now seeking to construct his personal model. He’s obtained plans for TV reveals and trend collaborations. You’ll be able to count on to see him in entrance of the digital camera quickly. If Bankhead has discovered something, it’s that nothing occurs except you set your self on the market.
