Dance for Your Life

From the moment she can remember, dance was the focus in Stacey Tookey’s life. Born in Edmonton to a mother who was also a professional dance teacher, Tookey and her siblings spent their childhood surrounded by the world of classical dance. Fast-forward from childhood days of practicing in her mother’s first studio in the basement of their home and travelling to locations such as Tokyo and London for competitions to the present day, where Tookey has danced in Celine Dion’s hit Las Vegas show, “A New Day” and has choreographed for the both the U.S. and Canadian versions of So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) which has earned her a total of four Emmy nominations for her work choreographing on the popular network series. Lifestyler spoke to Tookey about her success, where she was when she heard about her Emmy nominations, to her charity work in India.

How does it feel to be Emmy-nominated once again this year?

It’s unbelievable. I mean, it doesn’t get easier, the second time I was just as shocked and thrilled as the first time. I think especially being Canadian and getting that exposure in the States and then being able to bring that back here as well it’s really, really special and I feel so honoured.

Last year, I read that you were asleep and learned of your 2010 Emmy nomination via text message. Where were you this time?

This year, I was actually teaching a convention class so I was teaching about 300 students in a ballroom in Los Angeles… and again, I had completely had forgotten that the Emmy nominations were to come out that day. I went back to check on the time, because it’s very much about pacing yourself in these classes, and I looked back down at it was my husband that, of course, was on it this year just waiting for them to come out and saying ‘Congratulations.’ I was working alongside [choreographers] Travis Wall and Mandy Moore… so of course we’re very good friends, so the exciting thing is that the three of us were teaching in different rooms at the same time when we all found out about the nominations and of course, you know, had a mutual run into the hall, group hug and we’re definitely huge fans of each other and we’re excited to all be nominated.

How do you continue to come up with inspiration to choreograph emotional and personal routines like your Emmy-nominated piece, “Sundrenched World”? 

I draw from everything in life. I draw from personal experience, I draw from relationships — people I know. I get ideas sent to me all the time people saying, ‘This is what I’m going through and I’d love to see it portrayed through a dance’... a lot of the time I’m inspired by the song and I think about what is the singer trying to say and how can I relate that to people that are going to watch because ultimately, I think my goal is to affect everyone that watches. Not just the dancers. I want people to walk away with an impression I want them to feel like they’ve watched a moment that looks really heartfelt in whatever way that means.

What is it about contemporary dance that has captured you as a choreographer?

When it comes to choreographing, there’s something very expressive about contemporary. You can really express an emotion, you can tell stories and it seems, to me, very real what you can portray through contemporary dance… For me, I think it’s self-expressive, it’s the broadest as well and so I feel like it gives you a lot of freedom. I’ve been drawn to it and it’s kind of what drives me.

Describe what it was like growing up in your mother’s dance studio?

From the moment I could remember, I was dancing. Our first dance studio was in the basement of our house, so when I was 1-2-years-old, I remember coming down the stairs and seeing my mom teaching jazz class. Every memory that I have involves dance from growing up. I feel really blessed because, first of all, my mom is an amazing teacher so I fell into really good training accidentally because she was my mom and it really set me up well and also because my love for dance grew from my family. My whole family dances… so it’s in our blood, it’s in our genes. I think it’s an interesting life for sure it’s not really that normal because I danced every waking moment that I had from the time I could remember… it was an amazing life for me to be brought up in.

What is it about dance — apart from growing up surrounded by it — that you continue to love so much?

I think honestly, there’s nothing that makes me feel more alive than dancing. I love expressing myself through movement, I feel we can really touch people through dance and we can express so many different things; it’s a form of therapy and it’s so worldly. They’re professional dancers who I’ve worked with mostly, but recently. In January I was in India and I was volunteering in a leprosy colony in the middle of India, working with children that had been rescued from the streets that had parents or grandparents that had leprosy and I was teaching dance in a little village. Dance affects so many different types of people. I think it’s really brilliant. It brings joy to me to do it and it brings joy to my spirit to watch it affect so many people.

How different it is choreographing and working for film and television mediums as compared to stage or concert performances?

I think the biggest difference you can see is that when we’re taping, you’re watching the stage because it’s a live performance and you see how the number goes and how the audience in the room feels, and you’ll go home and watch the exact same performance that you were just at on TV, and it looks like a completely different performance. The cameras are a huge part of it, how it’s shot and how it’s lit can really add or distract from the performance whereas in a concert type of a stage show, you’re really feeling the energy of the performer and the live vibe of theatre coming to life on stage.

What do you find are some of your biggest challenges working on both SYTYCD series?

Working with dancers that aren’t in their genre and they’ve never done contemporary. Working with Legacy for the piece that got nominated — he was a B-Boy, I mean when I heard that news I was like, ‘Oh no, contemporary dancer and a B-Boy! A B-Boy is not even a hip-hop dancer, B-Boys don’t know steps — they freestyle, so that was a huge challenge. They have 5 and a half hours to pull a routine together in a genre they’ve never done and contemporary takes so much technique… that’s the biggest challenge but I think also it has the biggest payoff when it works. 

Now you’re also nominated against American contemporary choreographer, Mia Michaels, who you at one point were dancing for as a part of R.A.W. Dance Company. What is your relationship like with her?

Mia and I go way back — over 13 years back — and she’s had a huge impact on me as a dancer and as a choreographer as well. I mean, we’re a product of all our experience and I was with Mia for years… Although I think we’re very different there are similarities, there’s a flavour that’s the same and there’s definitely a huge mutual respect so it’s really cool to see because she was one of the first people in my career to kind of put her arms out and take me under her wing. So now, for us to be spoken of in the same sentence, that’s a huge honour for me.

What have been some of your most memorable experiences as a dancer?

Probably my most memorable moment was when I was dancing for Celine. I mean it was just such an extraordinary experience from beginning to end. I was one of the 50 dancers that were chosen from a nine-month audition tour and we created this show all together. I was there the very first day we started making up steps for the show and I was there when the final curtain call happened and it was a 5-year chunk of time, so I mean the people that were in the show became my family, and she treated us like no other star or celebrity has treated dancers in my opinion.

Tell me what it was like working with Celine Dion.

I can’t say enough things about Celine, she is one of the most kind, caring people I know. I look up to her as a complete human being, despite the fact that she is an amazing singer, her spirit and her heart are the biggest I know, she’s an incredible woman and that definitely made my experience really rich.

What have been some of your most memorable moments as a choreographer?

Nothing really beats those moments on SYTYCD because every week is a different experience. Sometimes, I really think the piece is going to be great, I think the dancers I’ve got are extraordinary and sometimes, something falls a little short. But those moments when you love what you’ve created, you love the music, you love the light, you get amazing dancers and they go above and beyond the steps and they bring something else into the choreography and that moment when you can just feel it in the studio — it’s just one of those moments. Nothing makes me more proud than seeing the dancers really shine in that moment it’s just really rewarding when all the pieces come together and I think it’s very rare that it does happen all at the right time on the show.

If you missed out on Stacey’s contemporary routines the first time, visit ctv.ca/SoYouThinkYouCanDanceCanada for videos, photos and more. • 


 

Photo: SYTYCD contestants Jess LeProtto and Clarice Ordaz perform a contemporary dance routine choreographed by Stacey Tookey

Photo Courtesy: Bell Media (CTV)