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[0:00] Jack Sippel: Hey, Jack. Hey, Brendan. Hey, what are you doing today? We're talking with Dominique Kelley.

[0:07] Brendon Stimson: Oh, my God. Tell me a little bit about Dominique Kelley. Tell me a little bit about Professor Kelley himself. Tell me a little bit about Dominique Kelley. Yeah. First of all, I think one of the greatest people to have as our first guest on this podcast. Talk about being well-rounded, an amazing human. So, Dominique, just to give everyone a glimpse at his amazing career and how well-rounded he is, let's talk about the animation for Disney's Princess and the Frog.

[0:33] Jack Sippel: Yes. The Smurfs movie. Let's see. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Dancing with the Stars, America's Got Talent, Lip Sync Battle, and then has worked with amazing stars, Beyoncé, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, P!nk, Gwen Stefani. I mean, come on. Miley Cyrus, Frank Ocean, Nelly, CeeLo. Jeez. Oh, my God. And he's got a great selection of memes on social media as well, which I think is maybe his greatest achievement.

[1:06] Brendon Stimson: Greatest achievement. Follow Dominique Kelley. We'll make sure we tag him in our post. But he's amazing. So, we'll dive into, we talked a little bit about his professor duties that he's working in right now. We talked a little bit about the Mariah Carey special, how he's choreographed for them, and this incredible journey. I mean, he's truly amazing. He's got it all. He's done it all. He's a great human. And yeah, Jack, what do you think? You want to just start us again from the top?

[1:40] Jack Sippel: Let's do it.

[1:52] Dominique Kelley: How are you?

[1:59] Jack Sippel: Welcome, welcome.

[2:02] Dominique Kelley: Thanks for having me, guys. I'm the first one.

[2:04] Brendon Stimson: You are the inaugural, is that the right term? I don't even know.

[2:09] Dominique Kelley: Inaugural.

[2:10] Brendon Stimson: Inaugural and guest here on, again, from the top. How does it feel?

[2:16] Dominique Kelley: It feels great because you always want to be the first one originating a role, yeah?

[2:20] Jack Sippel: Oh, true.

[2:22] Dominique Kelley: Yeah.

[2:22] Jack Sippel: I've always considered you a trailblazer. And just like, I see, I'm sorry we don't have like a crown to kind of just like put on you for this episode, but.

[2:32] Dominique Kelley: That's okay.

[2:32] Jack Sippel: That's, oh, next time, next time.

[2:34] Dominique Kelley: Next time, next time.

[2:34] Brendon Stimson: Of course. We'll have you back for sure.

[2:36] Dominique Kelley: Of course.

[2:38] Brendon Stimson: So, Dominic, where are you located right now? Where are you?

[2:42] Dominique Kelley: Right now, I am in Los Angeles, California, boarded up in my fortress.

[2:47] Jack Sippel: I've heard, I've heard, I've heard of this L.A. land.

[2:52] Dominique Kelley: They say the La La Land, as they say in the biz, you know, in the biz, in the biz.

[2:55] Jack Sippel: In the biz. Well, for those listening, we all met doing the prom movie. And, you know, he was one of our dancers for the movie.

[3:01] Brendon Stimson: Fantastic standout performance, I will say.

[3:08] Dominique Kelley: Thank you. Wow.

[3:11] Brendon Stimson: Wow, thank you.

[3:13] Dominique Kelley: Um, no.

[3:14] Brendon Stimson: So we met doing the prom movie and then have just bantered ever since.

[3:19] Jack Sippel: It never left.

[3:20] Dominique Kelley: Never left.

[3:21] Brendon Stimson: There's a quick little thing. So I had never been to L.A. I'm a New York born and bred, right? And I got dropped into the West Coast. And my first job was prom.

[3:34] Dominique Kelley: And I had to the next day, I flew in the next day. I was, I had to be the one on one with Meryl. Kind of like doing ballet. And Dominique had been working with Meryl before I got there. But Dominique being Dominique, he booked another job. And he's like, OK, I got to do this. But then somebody's got to take over for Meryl. Boom, I fly out. I have no friends in L.A. I don't know anybody. I get dropped in. And me and Dominique had been texting a little bit about like Meryl stuff. And I realized, I don't, I don't know anybody here. I'm just a lost. And this guy text me and said, hey, you know, what are you doing tonight? I was like, uh, nothing. My first night in. Takes me to dinner. Just like wines and dines me. And we've just been like friends ever since. And sending meme after meme to each other. And it's really just, you know, that's the true level of friendship. Is when you just get woken up by a.

[4:25] Dominique Kelley: A dank meme, as the kids say.

[4:29] Brendon Stimson: I mean, it's my love language.

[4:30] Dominique Kelley: It's true.

[4:31] Brendon Stimson: This I know.

[4:32] Dominique Kelley: It's true.

[4:33] Jack Sippel: And the thing is, speaking to your story, I understand or anybody understands what it feels like to be new in a large, scary place. So I feel like.

[4:43] Dominique Kelley: If I can, you might as well just help somebody out at least the very first day.

[4:47] Jack Sippel: At least, you know.

[4:49] Brendon Stimson: Absolutely. I think you're, you're, you're a king of that, the pay it forward kind of movement. And I think you've always been, I mean, to me at least, because we're going to get the mushy stuff out of the way.

[5:00] Dominique Kelley: Okay.

[5:00] Brendon Stimson: But it was truly like that helping hand that I needed. And all of a sudden I was just like, oh, I feel like I have my feet underneath me. Also just the best example of like leading with kindness.

[5:10] Dominique Kelley: Oh, yeah.

[5:11] Brendon Stimson: I mean, always.

[5:12] Dominique Kelley: Oh, yeah.

[5:13] Brendon Stimson: Because at the end of the day, I feel like if you invest in people, you'll, you'll get a great return, you know, so you might as well invest in friendships and invest in working relationships and just being a good human.

[5:25] Dominique Kelley: Work hard, be nice.

[5:27] Brendon Stimson: Simple.

[5:28] Dominique Kelley: Simple.

[5:29] Brendon Stimson: Easy.

[5:30] Jack Sippel: Well, Dom, we want to talk about the very beginning. Let's take it again from the top.

[5:35] Dominique Kelley: Let's rewind.

[5:39] Jack Sippel: We probably have to pay for that.

[5:40] Dominique Kelley: So what if I'm off key?

[5:44] Jack Sippel: Does it count?

[5:47] Dominique Kelley: I'm calling Natalie Weiss.

[5:51] Brendon Stimson: Book immediately.

[5:52] Dominique Kelley: No, we want to, we want to bring it back again from the top with Dominique. Where did this all start? Like when did you, I don't want to say just first start dancing, but kind of what got you interested in, as we call like the five, six, seven, eight. How did that all connect for you?

[6:06] Dominique Kelley: So I was one of those children that was into everything. I mean, like I played sports. I was at the museum every weekend. I was like a microscope, telescope, kid, dinosaurs, like camp, summer camp, all the things like happened to be pretty good at sports. And my mother told me the only time I sat still for an hour was watching a dance performance. And I was like, oh, okay, interesting. So she took me to my first dance class and it was in May or June, I believe. So for anybody out there who's ever been to a dance class, you want to go at the beginning of the season, like September, not necessarily May or June.

[6:47] Dominique Kelley: So I get in there and the perfectionist that I am, I am livid that all these children know all of these terms and these steps and I don't. Meanwhile, they're in their two twos and I'm from Connecticut. So there's a bougie factor. So they were in two twos, shoes, all those other things. And my mother made me a homemade unitard and I had penny loafers on. And I was like, one of these things is not like the other. I was talking like, I mean, as is like a solid color unitard. Are you in like a full cap print? What's going on?

[7:21] Dominique Kelley: No, no, this was just a solid color, like butterick or McCall's or one of those like sewing patterns. Yeah, within one of those. And I turned to her and I said, ma'am, I don't think this is the thing for me. And she was like, oh, OK, cool. So literally on my own, September, I was like, I think I'm ready. So took dance classes for about three years, like started off in the beginner level. And then by the end of the year, I was like in the advanced level because I just love to learn. I love to do it on my own. And, you know, I did dance competitions for two years. My mother was like, no more of that. You won everything. So moving on.

[7:57] Dominique Kelley: And thank God. Won everything. So moving on. So done. On to the next. So thank God I was discovered by Savion Glover and Dion Walker. And I did my first show, Black and Blue, in Europe at age 12.

[8:14] Brendon Stimson: Oh, my God. I think I was I think I was still collecting Pokemon cards at age 12.

[8:20] Dominique Kelley: So while Dominique was setting the standard, I was getting my like holographic Blastoise card and just like running through the halls like, I got it. I got it.

[8:30] Jack Sippel: Potato, potato.

[8:33] Dominique Kelley: I mean, same.

[8:33] Jack Sippel: I mean, I think same level of experience and professionalism.

[8:37] Dominique Kelley: But yeah, of course.

[8:38] Jack Sippel: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[8:40] Dominique Kelley: So from then on, I think I was 15 or 16 when I did Bringing a Noise, Bringing a Funk. So I went on the American tour of that. And then after that, when I was 16, I helped choreograph my first show with Omar Edwards called Wild Women Blue starting starring Linda Hopkins. And that was in Germany. And then literally after that, I was like, I think I could take a break. So I went to my senior year of high school for a year to be just a human to be a human, because I was just like, I think I can I can be normal for a little bit.

[9:09] Dominique Kelley: Graduated top of my class. Thank God for homeschooling. And, you know, I went to college for four years.

[9:21] Brendon Stimson: And where did you go?

[9:23] Dominique Kelley: University of Connecticut. Go Huskies.

[9:25] Jack Sippel: And I was originally on an animal science scholarship.

[9:29] Dominique Kelley: I'm an animal science scholarship.

[9:33] Jack Sippel: Yes.

[9:33] Dominique Kelley: Animal science. This is literally one of those things. I've just like, I've done it. Need to do something else. I've mastered this. Move on.

[9:40] Brendon Stimson: Once again, you've won all of it.

[9:44] Dominique Kelley: Top of his class. Set something in Germany and just said, you know what? Animal science is next.

[9:51] Jack Sippel: Yeah.

[9:51] Dominique Kelley: And then I got sick of smelling like sheep poo. So then I switched to mass media communications. Graduated, you know, after four years and a week before my graduation, moved to New York City.

[10:05] Brendon Stimson: So you got sick of people and communicate.

[10:09] Dominique Kelley: So both of you know me well, so, you know, that's pretty true.

[10:14] Brendon Stimson: I have my moments.

[10:16] Dominique Kelley: So after a while, I was like, yeah, I think I'm gonna go back to dancing. Think I'm gonna do this. Think I'm gonna come back.

[10:21] Brendon Stimson: And I think you obviously made a great decision kind of going back based on your illustrious career, even as a kid now into a grown adult. It's been incredible seeing you.

[10:34] Jack Sippel: And what I found refreshing is that when I met you, I had no idea. And there was a sweet aspect of like, I'm meeting this well-rounded just human who then I found out was like, oh, you're actually a big deal.

[10:49] Dominique Kelley: I think it was when I took your class in LA.

[10:55] Brendon Stimson: Was it at IAF Compound, right?

[10:57] Dominique Kelley: Yes.

[10:58] Brendon Stimson: And so me and Dom had been like chatting, talking. We were just like friends. And I was like, oh, man, I miss taking a dance class. It was like, yo, come on in. Take this class and see. And I get there. I'm in my Buffalo Bills hoodie. I'm in just like sneaks. I'm gonna hide in the back. And these people come in. It's like 60 people in this class. And they're all just like, hi, hi. They're like just going over to Dom. And it's this huge thing. And I'm like, Dom, are you big deal? It's like, yeah, yeah, come on in. He basically has his own stage door at class.

[11:27] Jack Sippel: It's true, it's true.

[11:33] Brendon Stimson: Everything. You have the velvet band shins. They're out, okay? Protection, the barriers.

[11:38] Dominique Kelley: It's true.

[11:39] Brendon Stimson: I wish I brought a Sharpie.

[11:40] Dominique Kelley: Oh, my gosh.

[11:42] Brendon Stimson: Should have, should have.

[11:44] Dominique Kelley: Oh, my gosh. Missed opportunity.

[11:45] Brendon Stimson: You're amazing.

[11:47] Dominique Kelley: That's amazing.

[11:47] Jack Sippel: But yes, what Brendan was saying. I mean, just following your career and what we know of it. There's so many things we want to talk about. Like the Masked Singer, TV, Mariah Carey. All of the things. The amazing people you've worked with. So talk us through your kind of transition in from. I mean, it's not a full transition. You're still performing, but that transition into the world of helping choreograph in set and finding those connections. How did that work for you?

[12:19] Dominique Kelley: I think it's always been practice. Not intentional practice. But like ever since I was younger in the dance competitions. And I'm sorry for all my dance teachers. I would just re-choreograph things on the spot. I would just be like, I'm not feeling that. I think I'm going to do something different. Or whether it was a group number or a duet or a solo. I just go, I think I have a better choice right here. But throughout my whole dance career, I was still teaching classes. Because I love a side hustle. I like nice things. So I just always want to have my own and be independent. And at the end of the day, I grew up in such a freestyle mentality or improv based. So to me, choreography is just what I would do on my freestyle. Just giving it to other people.

[13:05] Dominique Kelley: So I basically just tried to hone that. And I did a lot of dance team choreography. I did a lot of cheerleading choreography, which helped me do 360. That helped me with spacing. It helped me with transitions. Not only that, doing choreography for whether it's a dance competition or a dance school or a show. At the end of the day, you're still training somebody else in your movement. So I think it's always been there. But then what started to happen is people would go, oh, you're kind of good at this. And it was like, am I? I just thought it was something that everybody did. I just thought it was something like you choreograph, I choreograph. It doesn't matter. And I didn't realize that I had a very specific point of view.

Because I like to do a lot of different dance genres. And I like to retain a lot of the classic elements. But do a little fun twist on it now and then. I'm not necessarily abandoning everything I know. But it's more of like, these are the things I love to do. And then let me put a little flip on that. So the best part about kind of venturing into choreography is literally just venturing into choreography. It's just putting myself out there, which is the most fun thing to do and the most nerve-wracking thing to do.

[14:20] Brendon Stimson: What I think you said beautifully is that when you had the phrase training someone in your movement. I think what's so cool is that you do have such a clear point of view in your movement. And I think what I've always gravitated towards is there's always a reason for the step. I remember even in that class I took, it's just like a little flick of something or a specific risk. There's a reason why it's happening. And you know it through the entire thing.

[14:55] Dominique Kelley: Dominique does his pre-pro, does his homework before the pre-pro begins, and so it's such a level of he's already eight steps ahead when he gets to like the pre-pro stage and then can truly shape something so much faster, and then if it's not working, he's already ahead of the game. Yeah, I almost feel like it's the quote-unquote like old-school approach in the sense of you do your own homework before pre-pro because you have to create what needs to be pre-pro'd. I feel like the true understanding of what pre-production was is I have these ideas I'm bringing to the table, I need to work on them to make sure they work before I take them to wherever the rehearsal is, wherever that final product is going to be built.

So I love that because I feel like there's a lot of people who kind of walk into a pre-pro and be like, okay, let's create something. And that's their process, and that's okay, but I like to be a chef and come in with a mise en place and do it myself and then season my own food. Yum, hungry, tasty. You know, I mean, I think that's part of, and I've been reading books about people's processes because, you know, everything we do is different. There is no rhyme or reason, there is no manual, there is no school to tell you how to do it. So it's been great to kind of commune with people that we have the same process, and it's always great to working with other people who have something completely different. So, you know, always something to learn.

[16:26] Jack Sippel: I love how you mentioned just like jump in, you know, you were talking about that transition to choreography. You were like, someone said, oh, you're really good, and you just kind of kept doing it, right? You had your own flavor. But I feel like a lot of people ask, I know for me, it's like, how did you do that? Like, how did you, and it's just, you just have to jump in and try it. You have to jump in. And I think what you said, like, there's always something to learn. I think the masters of any craft or any discipline, they become the best by always accepting ideas and always hearing ideas and understanding that there is more to learn. We have all a common denominator of working with Meryl Streep, who is considered best of our generation of all time. She came in, and I know she did this with you, Dom, but I mean, when she walked into the ballet studio one-on-one, she was just like, ready to learn, just like a sponge. Okay, teach me.

[17:18] Dominique Kelley: Phone was off.

[17:18] Jack Sippel: Phone was off.

[17:18] Dominique Kelley: Phone was off. In the bag, she decided my time is here. I'm here to learn. Literally, Meryl, I mean, yeah, like it's setting the standard.

[17:30] Jack Sippel: And what she creates, you know what I mean?

[17:32] Dominique Kelley: Just pretty good.

[17:33] Jack Sippel: The process.

[17:34] Dominique Kelley: Pretty good.

[17:35] Jack Sippel: Marginal. No, and it's been really great because other celebrity clients of mine have been asking me, like, how was she to work with? And it's been great to use her as a model to be like, these are the things she does. And not like lying, but to be like, the phone was off. She knew my first name and my last name. She wanted to dig in. She wanted to work her butt. You know what I mean? It's just like, she was the dream person to work with. And then at the end of the day, she was a human. And that is the most important. So when you say like, then I took some time off and I went to high school to be a human. There is a hunger. There is a drive to this business in all facets. But if you forget to be a human, it's going to be very, very difficult for you, I think.

[18:19] Jack Sippel: Yeah, because life imitates art. And then you want your art to imitate your life. And I want to have a life worth living or some stories to share with other people, not only verbally, but through my art.

[18:31] Dominique Kelley: Are those lyrics? Did you just steal lyrics?

[18:34] Jack Sippel: I think Nicki Minaj. I got that from Nicki Minaj.

[18:36] Dominique Kelley: Oh, okay, okay, okay. You just slowed it down.

[18:40] Jack Sippel: I think it's just Cooper Bass, I believe.

[18:44] Dominique Kelley: Yeah, technically, like the Nicki Minaj slo-mo version.

[18:48] Jack Sippel: Yeah, I mean, I'm just a vessel, guys. Life imitates art imitates life. That's Super Bass.

[18:54] Dominique Kelley: Oh, my God.

[18:57] Jack Sippel: I want to dive into the Mariah Carey special that just happened this past winter. We need to talk so much about that. A, how did that get started? I don't even know. I know you talked about diving in, but talk about that process leading up to the creation of Mariah. And then what the heck? That was unbelievable. I saw it. It was crazy.

[19:22] Dominique Kelley: Thank you. It was crazy. What was that experience like? It was four years in the making. I'll make a long story super short. I got asked to dance for her four years ago. It was in New York. We did Diva's Unwrap, Diva's Christmas, something like that. It was great. I saw how everything happened. And then the next year, I was asked to choreograph for her because they knew I did choreography. And they said, we want somebody who does tap, jazz, musical theater, contemporary, like somebody to just really come in and help with the Christmas show. I did that for two or three years, and I got brought on to work on her residency. And then we did the AMAs. And we also did like James Corden, a lot of other things that I was happy to really put my stamp on.

And then all of a sudden, I get a call. I mean, we were going through the pangs of the pandemic, and I'm not a Grinch, but I'm not necessarily one who puts on Christmas music. So I was like, oh, I'm going to kind of miss that this year. Like, that sucks. A week later, I got a call to be like, yeah, we want you to choreograph the show. And I said, with? And they said, no, no, just you this time. So I had the like, oh, I can't wait. And then immediately after that, it set in the magnitude of the project. And I started sweating. My skin broke out. Like, all of those anxiety moments that I never thought would happen, happened. And also remember, too, by this point, I did not work for six months.

So of course, all of the like, can I still do this? Is it still happening? Like, why do they want me? What can I bring to this? Happened. And overwhelmed with a lot of the information, because I came on late. I was like one of the last people, because just realizing any major project, whether it's musical theater, TV movies, people would have been working on this for a long time. They knew everything. I was new to the process. So thank God I had a week of pre-pro and literally just vomited out every reference and idea I had. And it was the most wonderful feeling to be in the studio just moving, because I believe a lot of us forget what that feels like. Like you can't text somebody that you can't send a meme about it. You can't just do it on FaceTime. You have to be in the room where it happens. Oh, somebody, Lynn, Lynn. We're going to have to pay for that.

[21:49] Jack Sippel: Oh, sorry. So then basically getting on set and then just rehearsing with all the dancers. Again, there was a lot of times that it got overwhelming, but the great part was I had my musical theater references. I was like, oh, I want this to be like Hello, Dolly. Or I'm like, oh, I want this to have a little Memphis and a little bit of Ain't Misbehavin' in it. And like, oh, this one is going to be rooted in 42nd Street. And I want this. You know what I mean? So the clearer I got with my position and my references, the easier it was to basically string things along. I just thought of it as knitting and then quilting and then putting it on the bodies. So it was a great atmosphere to do that because we had the best of the best.

So it was a wonderful experience all the way around between the guest artists. Mariah was a dream, an absolute dream, because Christmas is her favorite. So when you bring everybody there, I mean, like production members, we were all crying and rejoicing and the energy was just so palpable on set. So it was wonderful, a wonderful experience I'll always remember.

[23:02] Jack Sippel: That's amazing. So how long did you have from, I guess, the notice of you getting that call saying, hey, you are choreographing this amazing special to when the time came of you needing to set choreography on people? How long did you have to kind of make a vision and make that plan for yourself?

[23:20] Dominique Kelley: Two weeks, I believe.

[23:20] Jack Sippel: Boom. To do a full special. To do what? It was like a 55-minute special, right?

[23:26] Dominique Kelley: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And at least like eight production numbers?

[23:26] Jack Sippel: I had five. I had five production numbers. And at some point, there was 50 people on stage at the same time, most doing different tracks. So it was definitely an undertaking. And it was one of those level up moments. We've all done a show or have had an experience where you're just like, I feel like I grew an inch on this project. And the knowledge that I gained, I will not be able to even write that down. Like it's just instilled in you.

[23:52] Jack Sippel: Yeah, grew an inch and aged a decade.

[23:54] Dominique Kelley: Pretty much.

[23:55] Jack Sippel: Yes. Yes, absolutely. I love that. The level up moment. I love that. Because it really shows you what you're made of. It really, it's one of those things where you pull all the references, even from like your teachers way back, or your parents, or, you know, I had that moment too, where, you know, and you can probably ask yourself this, what do you tell yourself when you're going down in flames? Because people, and I was like, what do you ask yourself? And they're like, or tell yourself, they're like, you can do it. Come on, get with like, come on, you've done it before. Not me. I was like, sir, if you don't pull it together, these people are looking at you right now. You better pull it together. You know, so I had to snatch myself up a couple of times. And there was a couple of tears by myself. Sure. But at the end of the day, it got done.

[24:39] Dominique Kelley: Absolutely. I think it's what I love to say is like only forward, you cannot go backwards, only forward, and just that there is no other choice.

[24:47] Jack Sippel: No, no other choice, no other way.

[24:49] Dominique Kelley: Because if you like if you fold, oh my god, you know, I had to go I had to go back and grab that. And now I can only go forward. So I'm gonna...

[25:00] Jack Sippel: Oh, well done. Well done. Well done. I think the glint I mean, I know this is listeners only, but there was a glint in Dominic's eyes, he said, and I was disappointed.

[25:13] Dominique Kelley: Disappointment. Well, because now you are I mean, you are now I mean, can I call you Professor Kelley at this point?

[25:20] Dominique Kelley: I think you can.

[25:24] Jack Sippel: Oh, my. Because during this time of, you know, not many gigs happening. We are in a pandemic currently when we are recording this. But the I think the as far as the knowledge that we are trying to always be sponges and things like that, and Dominic, you've gone above and beyond to be learning and educating yourself, that now you've mastered that moving on to now educating others. I mean, it's that pay it forward mentality. I just want to be one of those people that we all reference. Like we all have that person who told us we can and then, you know, they were hard on us with love, but then we learned so much. So yeah, I am an adjunct professor for Pace University, and I am teaching choreography for camera.

Now, before the pandemic, that was a lot of fun. You get to be in the room with people showing them camera, camera angles, all of that stuff. But what gets hard is now we're doing that remotely. So it's just time to get creative in the best way. Yeah, but I'm excited for the students. I'm excited for the artists that they're going to become, you know, because at the end of it, we didn't have this. I know I didn't have this. I didn't know anything about it. A lot of what I knew, it was watching TV or just hearing word of mouth, but to actually have people who are working professionals give this knowledge and not only just tell them like, this is how you do it, but it's inspiring them to be autonomous and to be artists and to think of new ways how to do things and also like strike down the patriarchy and racism and like all the other things. It's nice to see the young ones really trying to push the needle ahead.

[27:10] Jack Sippel: Absolutely. And I think that there is something so incredible about like, because now that we that that is becoming more mainstream and like of learning this knowledge beforehand, I think it'll just kind of open the door for new trailblazers to know the knowledge and then, I mean, execute it properly.

[27:26] Dominique Kelley: Exactly. There was such a thing of like trial by fire. Jack, you can attest this too. I mean, Prom, that was my first choreography gig as far as being an associate choreographer for that. But it's this thing of, I've never done any kind of camera work. And so to kind of like learn on the fly, day one of just like, oh, this is how it's done. This is what we can do. This is what we should do. And man, I mean, by January, I mean, everybody saw me like the first day. I was like, I feel like I'm drowning. There was a few moments of just like, that's my heart. And by the time we got to February, when we were shooting the number that Dom and Jack, you guys were both in, I literally was just like, oh, I know what this is.

This feels like old hat now. We even like, I got to work so closely with the DP, it was Matty Levitek, and just be able to work with him so closely and like finagle how we can change movement around to better like make the artistry. And I was like, oh, this is massively fun. So it's that deep dive and trial by fire that I think if you are unafraid of it, you will just grow.

[28:29] Dominique Kelley: Yeah, it's being unafraid to learn and to have your ego smashed to bits. Like you have to be okay with being like, I'm going to suck, but I'm going to try really hard not to.

[28:43] Jack Sippel: Truth. There's, okay, so there's something I gotta, I gotta ask, and because it's one of my favorites. I mean, I love Disney. I love everything Disney. And I think there's something so cool and so unique about a specific job that you've done, Dom, that there's like this motion capture with animation that I didn't even know existed. So you got to talk to us about Princess and the Frog, and how the transformation central, transformation central, the voodoo man himself, if people don't know, Dominique, fill him in.

[29:24] Dominique Kelley: So I had the honor of playing the body movement in reference for Dr. Facilier for Disney's The Princess and the Frog. And it was the hardest job of my career. The hardest. There was no motion capture. They literally drew me. So I had to do, I had to do all of that. The aerial, the turning switch leap, barrels, that's all me actually doing it.

[30:21] Brendon Stimson: Welcome back to Again From The Top. Today, we have an incredible guest with us, the talented Dominique Kelley.

[30:51] Jack Sippel: Dominique, it’s so great to have you here. Your career has been nothing short of amazing.

[31:21] Dominique Kelley: Thank you so much for having me! I’m excited to be here and share some stories.

[31:51] Brendon Stimson: You’ve worked on some really high-profile projects, like Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special. What was that experience like?

[32:21] Dominique Kelley: It was a dream come true! Working with Mariah was surreal. She has such a strong presence, and the energy on set was electric.

[32:51] Jack Sippel: I can only imagine! And you’ve also contributed to Disney’s The Princess and The Frog. How did that come about?

[33:21] Dominique Kelley: That project was really special to me. I grew up watching Disney movies, so being part of that world was incredible. I was fortunate to collaborate with some amazing artists.

[33:51] Brendon Stimson: It sounds like you’ve had a lot of opportunities to work with incredible talent. What do you think has been the key to your success?

[34:21] Dominique Kelley: I believe it’s all about investing in relationships and being kind to others. When you lift people up, it creates a positive environment, and that’s where the magic happens.

[34:51] Jack Sippel: That’s such a great perspective. Kindness really goes a long way in this industry.

[35:21] Dominique Kelley: Absolutely! It’s important to remember that we’re all in this together, and supporting one another can lead to amazing collaborations.

[35:50] Brendon Stimson: Speaking of collaborations, do you have any upcoming projects that you’re excited about?

[36:20] Dominique Kelley: Yes, I’m currently working on a new project that I can’t share too much about yet, but it’s going to be really exciting!

[36:50] Jack Sippel: We can’t wait to hear more about it!

[37:20] Dominique Kelley: Thank you! I’m looking forward to sharing it with everyone.

[37:50] Brendon Stimson: Let’s talk a bit about your dance background. How did you get started in dance?

[38:20] Dominique Kelley: I started dancing at a young age, taking classes in various styles. I fell in love with it and knew I wanted to pursue it professionally.

[38:50] Jack Sippel: That’s fantastic! Did you have any mentors who influenced your journey?

[39:20] Dominique Kelley: Yes, I had several mentors who guided me along the way. Their support and encouragement made a huge difference in my career.

[39:50] Brendon Stimson: It’s so important to have that support system. What advice would you give to aspiring dancers and choreographers?

[40:20] Dominique Kelley: My advice would be to stay true to yourself, work hard, and never stop learning. The journey is just as important as the destination.

[40:50] Jack Sippel: Wise words! Thank you for sharing that.

[41:20] Dominique Kelley: Of course! I’m always happy to help others on their journey.

[41:50] Brendon Stimson: We appreciate you being here today, Dominique. It’s been a pleasure having you on the show.

[42:20] Jack Sippel: Yes, thank you so much! We can’t wait to see what you do next.

[42:50] Dominique Kelley: Thank you both! It’s been a blast chatting with you.

[43:20] Brendon Stimson: And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. We’ll see you next time on Again From The Top!

[43:50] Jack Sippel: Bye everyone!