Exclusive: Dominique Kelley Breaks Down His Viral Choreography from THE GREAT GATSBY
Jan 3, 2025
BroadwayWorld is taking you backstage at The Great Gatsby with a four-part video series spotlighting its incredible creators. Watch in this video as Kelley tells us more about the choreo that has taken Broadway (and TikTok) by storm! Watch in this video.
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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The smash hit musical The Great Gatsby continues to play to packed houses here at the Broadway theater
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where I drop by to catch up with the show's choreographer, award winner Dominique Kelly
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Well, first of all, I'm thrilled to be sitting with you here. at your theater right before her performance
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How does it feel to be back? It feels magical. It's like being back home
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And the thing is, I do not live in New York, so anytime I come back, I'm visiting
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But it's like visiting your kids or visiting your cousins or your favorite grandparents
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and it's just so wonderful to be back and see the whole cast. Okay, so you watch the show again
0:50
So what was it like watching it for the first time in a few months
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After watching the show, like after not being around, it's kind of weird because there was a lot of things
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I didn't remember. I was like, oh yeah, we did that. And, you know, when you're creating a
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Broadway show, there's so many changes that happened. So it was great to come back and be
1:07
rekindled with the work. And, you know, of course I saw some things where I was like, I'm glad
1:11
that evolved as something else. But there were other things that when I watch, I remember the creation of it, which was wonderful. So let's talk about the creation. What I love about
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this version of the Great Gatsby and everything is you've taken the best of the 1920s and put
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a new spin on it, right? Yes. Yes. It's everything. that I love about the 1920s, like one of my favorite time periods is the Harlem Renaissance
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And that movement and just it harkens back to Harlem and getting down into the floor and
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using your body because times before that people had to dance together
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But in that era when it came to the advent of jazz music you can dance by yourself And that something that we can relate to now because whether it a TikTok dance or you going to a club a lot of people are dancing by themselves So I wanted to incorporate things that we know
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with something that we may not have seen before. Dance steps have really never changed
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They've just evolved over generations, right? Absolutely. So when you went back to look at the dances of the 20s
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what did you want to take from the 20s and add it into now
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I wanted to take the fun of it. I wanted to take like, you know, taking out some of the turmoil because prohibition was such a lively time, even though, you know
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alcohol, sales were kind of illegal, but people still found the way to have fun in spite of
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And I think that speaks to America. That speaks to like so many generations that if you're going through a tough time, there's fun
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So I wanted to show the fun. And then I also wanted to show the down and gritty and the dirty parts of it because, you know
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it's very nice to be buckled up and stuffy, but fashion changed the way we danced
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So the slits came higher. and then we unbutton the clothes, and I wanted people to be able to feel the fun
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and the joy of the party. It's also an energy, isn't it? Absolutely, it's an energy
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And the thing is, like, it's not really manic, but it's very joyful and exuberant
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And that's one thing about our show. More is more is more. And even with the choreography
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you will see everybody being exuberant and also being individuals. You know, this show is seamless
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the way you and Mark Bruni worked together with director and choreographer
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So what kind of conversations did you have because there's so much like dance and movement that slide us in and out of scenes in the show
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I think direction and choreography always go hand in hand. And it was a nice collaborating with Mark Bruney because we would try to one up each other with great ideas
3:27
Like for example in New Money there a moment where there a champagne cart going across And we had it stationary and I was like wouldn it be fun if the champagne cart can go from one side to the other And then he goes and then also wouldn it be fun if people come around And I was like and then we add into there So it nice to be collaborating with somebody that tries to one up you with a great idea by you know tagging onto yours
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How much pre-work did you do for the Great Gatsby? How much did you add on to your actual dancers and ensemble
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Ironically, we did the first like movement lab in December 2020. I knew no one. I might have known Tanari, which was one person in the
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the whole cast. And I came on, I was the last puzzle piece because all the other creatives
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were hired. So I literally came in and Mark Bruney lovingly lied to me. He said, you know
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we'll work on like two dance numbers. We turned out six. Six numbers in about two weeks. And then
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from then on, we just sculpted. And a lot of what you saw was from that workshop in two hours
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When you're just flowing and going and it just feels right. Like for example, T pretty much
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remain the same. Rurring on is close to the same. And the Met, those pretty much remained the same
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Other things have shifted, but for the most part, once we found something that worked
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we like to stay with that and then like create things around that
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So like, you know, a good amount of changed, even from paper mill up until here, we've changed some numbers
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and realized what worked and what didn't work and, you know, the story we wanted to tell. But for the most part, the bones of the show remain the same
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So what do you look for, like when you were casting the Great Gatsby or recast the show
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what do you look for in the room? I know it's going to sound very Hollywood, but I'm always looking for stars
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I'm looking for individuals. I want people to negotiate with me in the room
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I want them to be my muse, and all the dancers you see up there, even down to our swings and understudies, they are their own people
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They do the choreography differently. Also, too, everybody has their own costume
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You don't really have to jump into somebody else's. So they have their own lived experience and they bring it If they feeling a little more femme today if they feel like a finance bro if they feeling like an earthworm whatever they feeling that day they can bring to it
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because there's pockets of the choreography where it's free to them to just choose
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and to be an artist because it's very hard doing eight shows a week sustainably for your body
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but also for your mental. So I wanted to give the gift of creativity and improv for our cast members
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Okay, it's really exciting for our audience who may not know the great cast, is now having a new production, you know, this production, you have a brand new production in London
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Yes. You must be so excited. I am so excited. I am living the life I prayed for
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I mean, never in my wildest dreams would I expect that I would have this embarrassment of riches
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But to get to do it again is wonderful. And I know we created lightning in a bottle, but I believe lightning strikes more than once
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And I'm very excited to go over there and just get to, you know, slot people into certain tracks
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but then also go like, what do you bring? Because you get to just meet different people and different artists and then
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basically give them the gift that you've already given Broadway. What a journey you've been on with this show
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You know, everybody creates a show and they all hope that they open, they get great reviews, and they get to run
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This show has that. You know, I mean, at what point did you realize, oh my gosh, we're a hit show, we're running
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Like, when could you breathe? I'm still not breathing. I still pinch myself every time
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I mean, the fact that I've been away from the show for six months is a blessing because a lot of shows don't even last that long
7:00
So to say that, like, I went away and came back and the show still looks great is amazing
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It's still not real, and I don't think it'll be real probably for another year or so
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It just won't be real to me because this is something I've dreamed about my whole life
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Well, it was great catching up with you here and have a great time in London
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Thank you, thank you
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