(upbeat music)
- What's up? It's Chris Heria.
I'm at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas
and I'm right about to link up with Amer
who's a break dancer for the "Michael Jackson ONE" show
by Cirque du Soleil.
This is gonna be the third collab with Cirque du Soleil.
We've already done the "KA" show and "O" at the Bellagio
and now we're gonna be doing "Michael Jackson ONE"
and I'm really excited.
They're gonna give us a tour of the place
and show me a couple new moves.
And we're gonna see if calisthenics
can translate into break dancing
or I'm just gonna be really horrible
and we're gonna admire Amer.
Either way, we're gonna have a lot of fun.
Let's head on in.
What's up, my brother? - How you been?
- [Chris] Good, good, good.
(upbeat music)
♪ Whoo ♪
- My name is Amer Rizvic.
I'm from Sweden and I joined Cirque du Soleil at 2017.
Today, we're gonna teach Chris
how to do some basic footwork, top rock,
and a couple of freezes here and there.
So the difference between breaking and calisthenics
is B-boys try to move to the music,
and the similarity is pretty much
that we do use a lot of handstands
and, like, body weights to carry our bodies.
And I think that if you're a good B-boy,
you can be a good calisthenics performer, and vice versa.
To be honest, I think that Chris is gonna do very well,
beyond expectations.
The only thing that I can see him struggling
is with the flow of the whole choreography.
- Ana, what's up? How are you?
- I am good. How are you?
- Good. You guys remember Ana from the last time?
She's Cirque Soleil's coordinator
and she's gonna show us around.
- Let's go. - Let's go.
- How long has the "Michael Jackson ONE" show
been around for?
- [Amer] The "Michael Jackson ONE" show
has been around since 2013,
so actually we are coming up
on our 10-year anniversary this year.
- [Chris] This is a beautiful stage, man.
- [Amer] This is the whole theater.
So tonight, you're gonna see some spectacle on stage.
- [Chris] For our first off on the backstage tour,
my favorite room, the training room,
where performers work out and do evaluations
every six months for Cirque du Soleil,
and even review the footage of their performance
after the shows.
As we pass the stage for "Michael Jackson ONE,"
Amer explained to us what made this stage unique.
"KA" had the moving platform,
"O" had an ocean that would appear and disappear on stage,
but "Michael Jackson ONE"
uses moving LED walls and projections
combined with augmented reality
for insane visuals and holograms on stage
with live performers.
(upbeat music)
- So all of these designs are made by Zaldy
And Zaldy is one of the actual designers
for Michael Jackson.
- [Chris] Wow.
- So he was involved with creating the looks for our show
and also "Michael Jackson: The Immortal" tour
This is actually my look in the show.
- Oh, yeah? - Yeah.
- Do you wear one of these as well?
- I sure do.
This is me tonight. Stay tuned.
Now we're entering the dance studio.
"Michael Jackson ONE," Cirque du Soleil.
Here is where all of our new dancers come in
and they have a one-on-one session
with our dance master or dance captain.
Also sometimes, the whole crew,
the whole group of dancers are called in
to do dance cleanings
to make sure that everything is on point.
- Tight. - Yeah, and tight.
The first choreo I was thinking
was a basic top rock down to footwork.
- [Chris] Okay.
(lively music)
- That's the first one.
- Yeah, that was crazy.
(both laughing)
- Okay, the next one is gonna be...
(lively music)
You start with your left, kick.
- [Chris] Bang.
- The right one is gonna go right over you
and then from there, Chris,
you're gonna take the right one, kick,
the same way you kick the the left one.
Kick over with the left.
So again, from the top.
One, two, one, two. Two, one, two.
(record scratching)
We're gonna make it even more simple.
- [Chris] Okay.
- We're gonna do a regular basic top rock.
So we're gonna go right,
Back, left. - Back.
- Bam. - Bang.
- Let's do this a couple of times.
- So I go down?
- Yeah, open arms- - Down, bang.
- like you're full of attitude.
Like, "Yo, what's up? What's up?"
- What's up? What's good? (chuckles)
- Exactly, just keep doing it. Keep doing it.
You should get the motion of it.
- I mean, like, this is the hardest one,
to be honest with you.
- No, it's all good. Don't worry.
- Out of all the Cirque du Soleil numbers.
- (laughs) It's all good.
B-boy stance. Kind of cocky, yeah.
You're gonna use your left leg, jump back.
From there, you're gonna go to the back of your knee,
go down and catch with your fingers.
From here up, open up. Nice.
From here, we're gonna do the basic six-step
which is the foundation key for all footwork.
From here, bro, you're gonna place your left one
in front of you like this.
Nice, there you go.
Right leg of yours is gonna go around you
and then you're gonna do this.
- Okay. - It's gonna look like...
- Whoa. That's sick.
- I'm gonna kick imaginary soccer, go around you,
open up, close.
Yeah, there you go, bro.
- All right. - There you go.
- All right, all right, all right.
- Open up. Nice.
That's good bro. I like that.
And the way you're gonna end this,
'cause, you know, B-boys are always stylish,
so even if you don't get a lot of spins...
- It's chill. - Just chill.
- Just be like...
See, I love this because even if you kind of mess up,
it's all about style.
- All about style, bro.
It's like skating. - Just like skating, yeah.
- Okay, so from the top, let's go slow.
Five, six, seven, eight.
One, two, three, four. - Boom, boom, boom, boom.
- Five, six, seven, eight. - Bam.
- Go down. - Bam.
Oh, yeah. - There you go.
Open up, open up. - This one.
- And here we go. - This one.
- One, two, three, four- - One, two, three, four-
- five, six. - five, six.
- You go into this position.
Nice. - Bam.
- And now you know what to do.
Hey.
- Bam. - Whoo.
(hand thumping)
Let's go.
- That's what's up, baby.
- Nice, bro.
- After learning a bit of choreo,
it was time to try some more advanced B-boy move
from windmills to baby freezes,
and my new favorite, headstands,
definitely some moves I'll have to continue
practicing in the future,
especially the flare.
Danell from the Cirque du Soleil show "KA"
has showed me his way of learning the flare
in one of our last vlogs.
You should check it out.
I'm gonna show Amer a move now.
I feel like it's only right we exchange skills.
We're gonna go for the 90-degree handstand pushup.
I'm sure you're gonna crush this. Go.
I know in break dancing you guys do a lot of stabs.
- Yes.
- This one, we're actually...
It's gonna be more strength-based,
so we're gonna put our hands to the side.
So we're gonna use a lot of shoulders,
tricep, chest and core.
- And then when you place your hands,
are they outwards or inwards?
- I think having 'em slightly outward is gonna help
when you come down like that,
versus if they're really inward.
When you come down, it's gonna be heavier on the wrist,
so I would probably twist it a little bit out.
Dude, you freaking killed it, dude.
- Calisthenics is hard. (Chris clapping)
- Dude, what you're doing is hard.
- Yeah, but, I mean, it's different techniques.
- I really am super stoked about the headstand one.
I'm gonna take that one back home with me.
I'm gonna keep trying it.
Hopefully I can get some, like-
- Bro, I think so. - head spins on that.
Amer, it was an honor, bro. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Chris. - I'm learning
from a legend, bro. - Thank you so much.
- I can't wait to see you guys train tonight.
- Oh, man, I cannot wait to show you
what we are all about. - For sure.
And if you guys are ever in Las Vegas
definitely make sure to pass by Mandalay Bay
and check out "Michael Jackson ONE."
And Amer and the crew from Cirque du Soleil
are gonna be putting on an amazing performance.
- Thank you so much, Chris. Thank you.
- Excellent. - My man.
- Dude, you're the man, bro.
Appreciate you. - Bro, I love you. Thanks.
- You're a beast, dude. I've seen you on Instagram.
Definitely follow this guy if you're not already.
- It's so crazy because, you know,
before I even start the Cirque, I was watching your videos.
- What?
- Yeah, and here we are in Vegas, collaborating, bro.
- Dude, that's the universe right there, baby.
- Here's a quick one, real quick.
- Sure. - This is the actual suits
that Michael Jackson wore in the "Smooth Criminal" video.
- What? - 1988.
- [Chris] Actually, that is one of the sickest music videos.
That one and the "Thriller" music video
is literally one of my favorite music videos of all time.
That's legendary right there. That's amazing.
I sat down with Amer to find out more
on how he got into break dancing,
and eventually Cirque du Soleil.
How about you tell me a little bit about yourself,
like how you got into break dancing
and when you first started, what motivated you.
- When I was a young kid,
I was always inspired by, like, watching television,
like everything from '90s, "Ninja Turtles," "Power Rangers,"
and I was always into martial arts.
And then also, like, watching Michael Jackson
back in the '90s,
I was always inspired by the way he was moving and dancing.
So to myself I was like,
"How can I combine my two passions?"
So I picked up breaking back in 2004
and I've been going strong ever since together with my crew.
We have won the Swedish championships four times.
And right before joining Cirque du Soleil,
I made sure that we won the last one
before I actually came to Las Vegas.
- Back in that room, you were telling me
that you take inspiration from different elements,
whether it's an eagle, an animal,
or different, you know, elements to life.
What are some elements that you take that inspire you?
- Back in Sweden, I'm known
for doing signature Michael Jackson moves.
So every time he does like a kick-
- Perfect. - I implement that
in my breaking.
Even though it's breaking and acrobatics,
I make sure to put a little bit of Michael Jackson flavor.
And I also think that's one of the biggest reasons
why Cirque were actually interested in me
because they saw that I could do both breaking
and also I used the MJ style.
And for Michael Jackson specifically,
they were looking for B-boys.
So I'm one of the original B-boys in this show.
- You happen to already be inspired by Michael Jackson
and incorporating like his movements,
and Cirque du Soleil paid attention.
- Exactly.
- What were some of the challenges that you faced
coming into Cirque du Soleil?
- Being a B-boy, B-boys are not used to counting music.
Everything that we do
is basically free. - Free.
- Yeah, freestyling.
As soon as I was done, my day was over at work,
I came back to the hotel room,
the choreo, I was drilling, day in and day night,
until I locked it in.
- Sure, what's your favorite song on the set?
- I really like "Beat It."
- That's one of my favorite songs
of Michael Jackson. - Let's go.
- Hell, yeah.
- Let's go. - That's like top three.
- Tight.
- So it's like the best of the best songs?
The whole show - All his hits.
All of Michael Jackson's hits, you can expect in this show.
- All right, well, we're just gonna have
to cut this interview and go straight to the show.
- Let's go. (Chris laughing)
- "Michael Jackson ONE" was one of the best performances
I've ever seen in person.
And after the show,
we got to go backstage and meet some of the cast.
It was pretty cool and really humbling
to find out that a lot of these guys
also are subscribed to the channel and watch the videos.
And who knows, maybe in one of these vlogs,
I'll be joining these guys
in one of these performances.
If you wanna see that, definitely smash the Like button,
make sure you're subscribed,
and comment down below so we can make that happen.
And big shout out to Cirque du Soleil.
It's been an epic vlog series.
I really appreciate the hospitality,
hosting us and always welcoming us with open arms,
and giving us an exclusive behind the scenes of what goes on
and what it takes to become a Cirque du Soleil performer.
And if you guys are ever in the Las Vegas area,
definitely check out Cirque du Soleil,
especially the "Michael Jackson ONE" show.
This is one of the most insane shows I have ever seen.
Definitely a tribute to his legacy
with a bunch of hidden gems throughout the show.
But there's only one way to find out
and that's to go see it for yourself.
Las Vegas, Nevada, Mandalay Bay.
And like always, thank you guys so much for watching
and get ready for the next vlog.
It's gonna be a banger.
But in the meantime,
check out the last Cirque du Soleil video we did
where I trained with some of the coaches
from Cirque du Soleil
and they had me trying some of the things
that the performers were doing in the actual show.
And I'll see you there.
Mad love, peace out.