[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: What’s your first dancing memory?
Courtney Miller, Filmmaker/Producer/Author/Editor: My first dancing memory? Oh boy, it’s me dancing in my mother’s living room at 14 years of age with my twin sisters. We were all dancers. We all grew up in the entertainment business as dancers first. We would watch Michael Jackson on MTV back when MTV actually showed music videos and we would record the music video and we would learn the dance steps.
The interesting thing about that is because of the fact that the TV is facing us, we were actually learning the dance steps in reverse. We would learn the dance steps, perform them for my mother, perform them for friends and family and then later on down the line, I actually got a chance to work with Michael Jackson and perform Thriller. Even though I knew all the dance steps, I knew them backwards, so I had to relearn the whole thing on the correct side of my body for all the dance steps. That was fun.
Film Courage: How old were you when you decided you wanted to be a professional dancer?
Courtney: I knew I wanted to be a professional dancer very early on, so probably around the same time period 13-14 years of age. I knew I wanted to dance professionally. I knew I wanted to dance for Michael Jackson. That was my only goal in life and so I did everything I could to watch all his videos, to mimic his steps and good thing again, I have my sisters with me so we can rub off of each other and everything.
It’s funny because everything kind of comes full circle. Now that I’m a writer and director, one of the pilots that I’m currently shopping around or will be shopping around very soon to Hollywood, is a story loosely based upon my life. The opening scene is me as a 14-year-old kid teaching my sisters Thriller. It’s really funny, it’s loving, it’s comical but it goes back into a full circle regarding our love and my love for Michael Jackson and those dance steps back then.
Film Courage: When did you start dancing professionally?
Courtney: My very first job as a professional dancer was on my 18th birthday. I was still in high school (a senior in high school) at a performing arts high school here in Los Angeles called the LA County High School for the Arts. I was a dance major there and on my 18th birthday, January 6th, I got a chance to go to an audition for…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Courtney Miller is a 5-time award winning director who has worked with the biggest names in entertainment including Michael Jackson, Usher, and Britney Spears. His award winning short film REPAIRations! – The Musical, has garnered him meetings with top studios and networks including Lionsgate, TBS, and Viola Davis’ company, Juvee Productions. He has directed commercials for Nike & Apple, and has written several television and film screenplays in the Drama, Comedy, Musical, and Horror genres’.
CONNECT WITH COURTNEY MILLER
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