Lights, Camera, Bankhead : The choreographer adding life to Hot 100 hits

ATLANTA – The sights and sounds of the Eastside district in Atlanta are easily felt on a summer’s Friday night. Cars are blasting a mix of old school party music, and restaurants are packed with patrons.

At Dance 411, located at Moreland Ave SE, a line of women dressed in black leotards and big hair stretched into the parking lot. Already a creative space for budding talent, the center has become the hub for major dance productions.

The man of the hour arrived in the space like a son visiting home after a tour on duty.Rocking a baseball cap with the caption “11,” and his signature sweatpants and big ring on his hand, Bankhead greets his friends at the dance center as he would family.

A busy night of teaching, producing and curating talent is not foreign to Sean Bankhead. He’s spent the past decade building his career during nights like this at Dance 411.

As I began setting up for the on-air interview, Bankhead puts on DJ Khaled’s latest song with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller. The Carlos Santana sample rocked the walls of the empty studio. The choreographer, born in Philadelphia but raised in Atlanta, candidly revealed his admiration for the music video and Rihanna.

“I would love to work with her,” he gushed.

The desire is likely to happen in the future.

Bankhead has created signature moves for the music industry’s biggest artist. Missy Elliot, Fifth Harmony, Ciara, Erykah Badu, are just some of the talent Bankhead has worked with over the years.

11Alive sat down with Bankhead before he launched audition for his latest project with Lee Daniels.

Deb's son.

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RD: When you look at your overall body of work, what comes to mind?

SB: Wow. That’s one of the biggest things that I try to improve on is my body of work. That speaks a lot for the artist. Once we are gone all we have is our art so I’ve really been focused on that since a really young age. One of the things that I’m passionate about is quality work, always growing, always trying to set trends, always trying to step outside my comfort zone, always pushing myself. So my work is my everything. It’s the most important thing that I have really.

RD: How has Atlanta influenced you as a person?

SB: It’s so funny because I was born in Philly and I grew up in Atlanta. Atlanta is home and is where I was culturally impacted the most.

RD: When did you start dancing?

SB: I started dancing when I was 2. My mom always said I would always bop in the car seat. I've always had rhythm. I just remember watching music videos of Michael Jackson and Janet, Missy and Aaliyah, and Britney Spears. They were the ones I tried to emulate. I learned watching music videos. I didn’t take many classes. Music videos and performances are what got me interested.

RD: What makes Atlanta so influential to pop culture?

SB: It kind of just made sense, it was just all God-ordained and I love it. A lot of people look to ATL for inspiration so I made the decision to stay here instead of going out to LA. I moved to LA for 3 years and I was like I don't know, I feel like ATL is more me, and now in ATL there are more feature films being shot in ATL than LA right now so I think I made a great decision.

RD: How do you think Atlanta’s dance culture has influenced on the world?

SB: A lot of times, we will be at the club, dancing, and doing some cool stuff and it will turn into some "trendy thing". The next thing you know I'm in a rehearsal with Fifth Harmony and we’re dancing around and then suddenly that dance that we were doing in the club in ATL to the new Future record is featured in the biggest girl group's music video.

RD: What was your big break?

SB: I’ve had a lot of great opportunities I'm still kinda baffled. I think the first major job that I did, I always tell this story,because it's the first thing that comes to my head, but when I first moved to LA with my best friend Jaquel Knight.

I was staying in his dorm and he got the call to do Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” (music video). At the time we didn't know, he didn't know, it was his first job, he didn't know how iconic it would be. So anyways he did the job, he did the video.

The video comes out, and of course hits and shakes everybody. He got back to LA and he was like I got this job can you come fly to NY real quick. I was like yeah what is it? He was like “Can you dance with Beyonce on the Tyra Banks show?” I was shocked. So that was like the first job that I was like okay. I can do this. I think I had just graduated high school so it was cool. So it was me and this other guy Jonte, we were the only two other guys to do Single Ladies. Fun fact.

RD: What is it like working with such influential artists?

SB: It's just wild, and it’s a dream come true, and I’ve learned so much that its helped, I've always been you know the saying, “always be the quietest person in the room”. I like to just sit back and observe not only how they work but how they communicate how they deal with certain issues, how they walk into a room, how they're accepted by other people. I watch a lot of things, and I’ve learned a lot from people like Fatima Robinson and Missy who has whipped my butt. I've never worked with anybody as hard working and as passionate as Missy so she taught me a lot.

🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌 @missymisdemeanorelliott @dantecorde @dance411 @royalxrae @levitators

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RD: That is a big deal considering your work with Beyoncé is pretty huge….

SB: Yeah but I think with Missy, we were a little bit more hands on and I did a video prior to “I’m Better” we did "WTF". We did for a month here in this studio, which I had never really did. I never rehearsed for something for like a month. It took it back to you know, kinda ‘90s, Bad Boy, Hype Williams --- when people cared about music videos, so it was cool. She was here at every rehearsal too.

RD: You’ve gotten to do some directing, I saw that Be Humble video, that was such a cool clip. Is that something you want to go into?

SB: Thank you, oh yeah, I’ve always been directing, and I've always been directing dance conceptualized videos. A couple years back, I thought dancers were kind of like losing their face in the limelight like we're always wearing masks or we're always in the dark so there are some really talented dancers out here, so kinda just wanna put them in the forefront. So I started shooting "music videos" just featuring them years back.

So "Humble" was definitely like a progression of me like doing this for a very long time. Lee Daniels actually gave me the opportunity to direct a music video called American Funeral which is going to be coming out soon, it’s a serious video though which was great cause I can do more than just dance stuff.

RD: Speaking of Lee Daniels and “Star”, tell me about that experience?

SB: it’s crazy once again, it’s just this dream that happened it’s so funny because of course when Empire came out everybody was excited. I wanted to be a part of Empire so bad. I just thought it was so cool. I thought I could add something to it.

He came to ATL, he's like looking for a choreographer and Frank Gatson, who works with Beyoncé and he was like, “meet with Lee, I'll put in a good word for you” and we met and like kicked it off the bat! We were crackin' up and just had a lot in common. He literally called me after I walked out like 20 minutes later and was like, "you got the job" . So, it was cool. He is incredible and crazy and.... Lee Daniels.

I love Star, I think it’s a really good show and I'm really excited for season 2.

#Star

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RD: And you're working on season 2?

SB: That’s what we are having the audition today for. So, I'm trying to find some dancers that I haven't seen before. It's going to be an interesting piece too, it’s not hip-hop and it's not jazzy. Lee Daniels really loves Bob Fosse, which I do too so this piece is very Fosse-inspired.

RD: When it comes to auditioning, ideally what are you looking for?

SB: I'm looking for stars. It just hits me. It happens always organically something about you I'm attracted to. It’s a lot, it’s your dancing, it's your character it's the way you're dressed, it's your personality, it's your confidence. it's when opportunity meets the right time, and just for you to kill it. I just like people who are ready, who are confident in the face so I could put a camera on them and they are just beasts.

RD: When you did the choreography for “Work from Home”, did you know it was going to be so big?

SB: Well I hoped so. you know that's always the goal. In the back of my head I'm always like do dances that your mama can do, because if your mama can do it then everybody can do it. It's easy to learn and you know everybody's in the club or at the park or at the party doing the dances. So, that is actually always my attention is to keep stuff catchy. It's so crazy because this is the thing that everybody goes to (does dance move) but you associate a dance move with the song.

RD: You’ve had a big influence on the creative direction of Fifth Harmony’s performance, how does it feel to have that type of creative control?

SB: It's great, you know and I started with them from the ground up too, so I know their strengths I know their weaknesses. I push them the right amount. I've seen them grow so much. I'm so proud of them and we have miles to go and they're hungry they are determined. They deal with a lot and they always put their best foot forward and they respect me. They're loyal. So, I really love those girls.

RD: Is there any artist that you listen to that you still want to work with?

SB: Yeah, Rihanna (laughs) also Rihanna, and then Rihanna. And Rihanna…and Rihanna..get that out there. and Rihanna.. okay sorry haha

RD: What would you like for people to see in years to come?

SB: Progression and growth and me just always being able to kind of out-do myself and just be like, "Wow Sean still got juice, or like wow Sean still killin' it, or wow he's consistent.” Just other opportunities opening no matter if that's acting, modeling, hosting, just doing it all.

HUMBLE. @RoyalxRae ...for the culture. https://t.co/tDuxAb4Vfh pic.twitter.com/j6ab4pgmzt

— Sean Bankhead (@itsSeanBankhead) May 10, 2017

RD: For someone wanting to be in your shoes right now, what's some advice?

SB: Listen…like actually listen. Think before you speak. People who you look up are in those positions for a reason. They know way more than you do, so listen. Watch and sit back instead of feeling like you got it and humble yourself to accept it because you'll learn so much.