Featured in two of the previous yr’s most viral music movies—Jungle’s “Again On 74” and Ariana Grande’s “sure, and?”—Will West transitions seamlessly, typically immediately, from fashion to fashion. He can speed up from complete stillness to a full flare in a cut up second, then downshift to a Fosse frug earlier than coolly strolling out of body. The younger Brit spoke with Dance Journal whereas capturing a Verizon business in Mexico Metropolis earlier than persevering with south to a different gig, in Santiago, Chile. A part of the live-action remake of Disney’s Alladin in 2019, West returns to the large display screen this fall as a dancer and stunt performer in Depraved, which stars Grande as Glinda.
Firm: Unbiased artist managed by Shannelle “Tali” Fergus
Age: 26
Hometown: Birmingham, England
Coaching: Urdang Academy
Origin story: “I used to be fairly an athletic child,” says West, who began with gymnastics and martial arts. “I watched all the Jackie Chan movies.” After b-boy Jovan Rumble got here to West’s highschool to guest-teach a Boys Dancing class, “he invited me to coach together with his crew, known as Lab Rats, and, from there, I simply fell in love with the power of dancing itself.”
Turning level: In 2017, West had simply booked Thriller Reside, a long-running Michael Jackson revue on the West Finish. “I used to be enthusiastic about that, however my spirit wasn’t in it—it wasn’t my lane, it wasn’t my realm.” With out understanding that West was already dedicated to Thriller, Fergus noticed West at an audition to carry out with pop group Years & Years. “I used to be an enormous fan of Tali’s once I got here to London,” says West. “I watched all of her movies. I used to be obsessed, like, ‘Who is that this human?’ ” Now West’s mentor and supervisor, she helped him get out of the Thriller contract in order that he might be part of the Years & Years tour. “It was wild—a whole shift in my trajectory,” provides West. “Every part modified.”
Stress cooker: Filming Jungle’s 50-minute visible album Volcano was a whirlwind. “We rehearsed for 4 or 5 days, acquired two days off, after which we shot 14 movies in two days. However I really like the fun of being thrown into the deep finish like that.”
West on Volcano choreographer Shay Latukolan: “When somebody’s performing motion that genuinely feels good to do, it transcends the display screen and the viewer will get to secondhand-feel that manner, too. That’s the character of Shay’s choreography.”
What his mentor sees: “I genuinely suppose that Will is a once-in-a-generation expertise. He has a manner of reaching previous himself to folks,” says Fergus. “That’s true of him as a performer and a inventive, but additionally as a human—and I feel if he wasn’t inclined that manner as a human it wouldn’t learn in fairly the identical manner.”
Discovering his voice: Impressed partly by assembly Jungle’s J Lloyd and Volcano singer Lydia Kitto, West shares that “I’m in search of a vocal coach. The truth that I’m engaged on music is not any secret.”
Want checklist: West “would drop every little thing to work with some folks” throughout the performing arts spectrum. “Should you see Tyler, the Creator on the road, inform him I’m coming. I’d like to work with him—and with FKA twigs. Kojey Radical is unbelievable. Oh, and Daniel Caesar: That’s my man. I take heed to his music, like, day-after-day. Jordan Ward is superb. I need to be in a film with Zendaya. LaKeith Stanfield.”
