Ep. 58- Paul Becker
Questions asked and topics discussed
Pauls journey into professional dance (2:40)
What is it that you learnt from moving to Vegas as a young dancer (8:44)
Paul’s personal practice of staying grounded (11:17)You are known to advocate for dancers, have you always been that way? (12:09)
What is residual income for choreographers in Canada (13:40)
How do you differentiate yourself from the other choreographers? (16:20)
You have created some pop up work shops and do a lot of work with younger dancers looking to get in the industry.Why was it import to you to start creating these experiences? (19:45)
What have you seen in these auctions that you see works well and what do you see that their nerves get the best of them? (21:51)
Reels (24:57)
How important is social media to you now as a choreographer, director and producer? (26:34)
What dancers should know when working with dancers and camera’s (32:27)
Top 3 things you look for in a dancer? (35:30)
The two time World Choreography Nominee, Paul Becker is arguably one of the hottest young choreographer/directors on the film & tv scene, and certainly one of the busiest. He choreographed his first film at the age of 19, and he proved he was well on his way! Besides his work with The Jonas Brothers, a few notable recent gigs include the 2019 Academy Award nominated film Ralph Breaks the Internet (Disney Animation), the Seth Rogan produced comedy Good Boys, Deadpool 2 (with Ryan Reynolds), Noelle (starring Anna Kendrick and Shirley Maclaine), Netflix’s The Kissing Booth 2 & 3 (with Joey King), and the highly anticipated YA comedy for Netflix Let it Snow (starring Isabela Moner). Paul is also currently the series choreographer of Freeform’s new series Motherland.
The Walt Disney organization practically looks on him as an adopted son these days, and the list of projects he brought to life for Mouse Central would be long enough to keep most guys his age content. He was first introduced to the Disney organization, while choreographing The Muppet’s Wizard of Oz, and later Muppets: Letters to Santa. He has choreographed numerous films for the Disney Channel including the hit remake of Adventures in Babysitting (with Sabrina Carpenter), Girl vs Monster (with Oliva Holt), and the mega hit record breaking musical franchise Descendants in which he and Kenny Ortega teamed up to create the choreography.
Kenny Ortega says “he and Becker are alike in their “vast appreciation for dance history, classic films, Gene Kelly and filmmaking … I came to discover that Paul is really a renaissance man with an amazing appreciation and knowledge of dance, filmmaking, music and simply art.” Let’s leave the last word to Ortega, who says Becker’s transition from great choreographer to great director “is only a matter of time.”
Becker’s roots are as a dancer with various high profile credits, including memorable turns in the film Chicago. It was on Chicago, in fact, that he was inspired to become a choreographer after working alongside Rob Marshall who directed the film.
Becker’s impressive body of work ranges from choreographing over 300 film and tv projects, CW's Charmed, and Valley Of the Boom coming to NatGeo this new year. Past works: American Horror Story: Hotel, Overboard for MGM, Twilight, & Mirror Mirror and Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch to Diary of a Wimpy Kid 1-3, & was the series choreographer for A Series of Unfortunate Evens(Netflix), Once Upon” a Time(ABC), CW's hit show Riverdale, CW’s Hellcats, and created every finger spell through finger tuts in SyFi's hit show The Magicians. In the variety world, he served as producer and creative director for Canada’s Got Talent as well as a judge and choreographer on multiple seasons of So You Think You Can Dance Canada.
Paul does not just limit himself to only film and tv… His love for the stage is vast. He created epic stage spectacles for The Jonas Brothers, Kanye West, Pitbull, Don Omar, Miley Cyrus, Ciara and more. He directed and choreographed the epic 2016 Pan American closing ceremonies, and recently choreographed Ashanti’s performance in VH1’s special “Dear Mama”. He reimagined two huge tours for the Greatest Show on Earth: Ringling Brother’s & Barnum & Bailey Circus, and currently has four Sesame Street Live tours touring the globe at this moment.
Paul is following in the footsteps of choreographers turned directors like Fosse, and Rob Marshall as he just wrote, directed, and choreographed the film Breaking Brooklyn for Lionsgate Studios starring Academy Award winner Louis Gossett Jr.