Watch Luka & Jenalyn's New Dance Video + Read Our Exclusive Q&A
Luka & Jenalyn had amazing runs on both seasons 1 and 2 of NBC World of Dance. From their innovative lifts and tricks to their emotional performances, they're always a joy to watch. Since performing on the show, they've been hard at work on a number of projects and they just launched a new dance video to Lukas Graham's "Love Someone" (check it out below).We caught up with the duo for an exclusive Q&A about what went into the video. Check out what they had to say about this new project below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkdOZD5kb1Y&feature=youtu.be
WOD: What was the inspiration behind the video?
Luka & Jenalyn: This video was simply inspired by the love we have been fortunate to see around the world, in person, as well as through various platforms and videos such as the one made by Lukas Graham about this very song. Love is such a broad emotion and it can be expressed in many different ways.With this, we were inspired to showcase a warm and uplifting love story shared between a young couple. Through the lyrics we were able to try to illustrate the simplest and purest form of love, and highlighting some of the obstacles that may present themselves in life, all the while representing them in a more positive manner. It is our hope that this video helps you experience the sweetness of pure love through the eyes of this couple.
WOD: Why this song and concept?
Luka & Jenalyn: We were fortunate to have been contacted by Ramsey Kouri, a Warner Bros. Records executive who saw us perform at the World of Dance Championships in Los Angeles this past summer. He was inspired by the performance of our routine “Unsteady” and thought of us when the opportunity came up to create a dance concept video for one of their artists’ newly released songs.It was certainly exciting to find out that the artist was Lukas Graham, famously known for his hit song “7 Years”! As for the concept, We are really looking forward to growing beyond our younger selves, showing pure happiness and joy through simple and effective partner work/choreography and storytelling. The amazing song by Lukas Graham, sparked something within us as artists, and having the opportunity to show the versatility in our style of dance was definitely out of our comfort zone. However, we were willing to challenge ourselves and saw this as an opportunity to grow and mature as people and dancers.
WOD: Did you work with any choreographers or other team members?
Luka & Jenalyn: The support and guidance from Warner Bros. Records definitely served as great direction in the creative stage. When it came to creating the video, the combination of the brilliant Aidan Carberry (from Poreotics) contributing to the choreography of this piece, as well as the very talented Brittany Nguyen working as the lead videographer, made this project a whole lot better in all aspects.
WOD: Tell us about the planning and rehearsal process. What was unique that stood out to you?
Luka & Jenalyn: We originally had a very different concept and idea for this choreography. It was actually filmed beginning to end in a college library, but after reviewing the footage, we decided to relocate to a location with a more beautiful and toned setting. It ended up being an outdoor public walkway in downtown Toronto that would fit the feel we were trying to create in the first taping.The headaches from reshooting and re-editing footage was definitely strenuous, as well as the lack of control of people around you and the weather causing us to have multiple 5 am call times to shoot. However, in the end, every experience is a learning lesson, and after all the hard work, the final product made it all worthwhile. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did creating it!
WOD: Anything else you'd like to tell our readers?
Luka & Jenalyn: We would also like to give a HUGE thank you to the whole team that was involved in this whole process from start to finish! We are so grateful to Warner Bros. Records and David Gonzalez, Matt Everitt, and the rest of the executive team at World of Dance for presenting us with this amazing opportunity, as well as our whole team here in Toronto, Canada that filmed and managed the project!Thank you to Aidan Carberry for being part of the choreography process, as well as Brittany Nguyen for being able to film this piece and be a part of directing and editing and last but not least, thank you to Emmanuel & Myra Pacheco for managing all the logistics and helping our visions become reality! We could not do it without you all and we hope to continue doing more projects together in the future.
