After choreographing the highest-grossing stadium tour of all time (you’ve never heard of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, have you?), the always busy Mandy Moore remains as sought after as ever. A few months ago, Moore took his creative vision to the neon lights of Las Vegas to redesign parts of: Wake up:show at Wynn Las Vegas that features aerialists, acrobats, puppets and, of course, dancing.
The Emmy Award-winning choreographer and producer – a newly minted member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences– took a moment out of his wild schedule to discuss waking up how she shaped her career and the issues choreographers face in 2024.
You do so much these days. At this stage in your career, how do you choose which projects to take on?
First and foremost, am I excited about the project? Do I like the music or the people I would work with? Is this an environment I haven’t worked in before? The real problem is that I’m set up for all of this. A lot of times I just do what comes to mind first because I really love what I do.
for: Wake up:the fabulous [producer/director] Baz Halpin is a good friend of mine and he invited me to do the “Earth” part of the show. When I saw the team that was already assembled, I immediately said yes.
What was your approach to this big show in Vegas?
I was watching the show before I went to rehearsal and I saw these people in costumes that looked like trees. I thought it would be great to create more structure and redesign the scene so that they could become a root system. I watched a lot of YouTube videos about how trees move in the wind and researched what trees do in both storms and sunlight so I could imagine shapes in my head. Then I tried to create a movement language to match. For example, a root system through the soil or a branch that shakes from thunder – these analogies were really helpful. The dancers are a team of crampers, lockers and flexers who are hyper-mobile in their joints, so it was really great to work with them and bring the vision to life.
How do you create a distinctive movement vision/vocabulary for each project you do?
A big part of my work is researching and understanding the world I’m trying to create. A lot of time and effort goes into it. Is it a live performance? Is it on TV? is it a movie is it in an intimate space? Is it big? What are they wearing? It’s the who, what, where, when and why. I need to be able to answer these questions before I create. If I can do that, I understand the path we’re on, and the work ends up being unique and the best it can be.
As an active member of Choreographers Guild:what are your thoughts on the progress the band has made so far? And what are the most pressing issues that even established choreographers like yourself continue to face in the entertainment world?
There are some great strides forward in terms of visibility. What comes along with this is the ability to hold larger meetings. We can go to SAG, or to the press, or to a studio and say, “Hey, this came up for our community—are you willing to talk about it?” But there are a lot of protections that we still need—health, pension , leftovers. We are at the beginning of the ascent now that we are united.