Featured in two of last year’s most popular music videos – Jungle’s “Back On 74” and “yes, and?” to Ariana Grande – Will West transitions seamlessly, sometimes instantly, from style to style. He can accelerate from full immobility to full speed in a split second, then switch down to Fosse frug before coolly exiting the frame. The young Brit spoke to: Dance Magazine: while filming a Verizon commercial in Mexico City before continuing south to another gig in Santiago, Chile. Part of Disney’s live-action remake Aladdin: in 2019, West returns to the big screen this fall as a dancer and stuntman in: Evil:which stars Grande as Glinda.
company: Independent artist managed by Chanel “Tali” Fergus
Age: 26:00 hours
Hometown: Birmingham, England
Training: Urdang Academy:
History of origin: “I was a pretty athletic kid,” says West, who started out in gymnastics and martial arts. “I watched all the Jackie Chan movies.” After b-boy Jovan Rumble came to West’s high school to guest teach a boys’ dance class, “he invited me to train with his crew called the Lab Rats, and from there I just fell in love with the energy of the dance itself.” “
Turning point: In 2017, West had just booked Live Thriller:Michael Jackson’s long-running West End revue. “I was excited about it, but my spirit wasn’t in it—it wasn’t my lane, it wasn’t my kingdom.” Unaware that West had already committed to: thriller:Fergus saw West audition to perform with the pop group Years & Years. “I was a big Tully fan when I came to London,” says West. “I watched all her videos. I was obsessed, like “Who is this guy?” Now West’s mentor and manager, she helped him get out of thriller: contract so he could join the Years & Years tour. “It was wild — a complete change in my trajectory,” West adds. “Everything has changed.”
Pressure cooker. Filming a 50-minute Jungle visual album Volcano it was a whirlwind. “We rehearsed for four-five days, had two days off and then shot 14 films in two days. But I love the thrill of being thrown to the bottom like that.”
West of: Volcano choreographer Shay Latukolan. “When someone does a move that really feels good, it goes beyond the screen and the viewer feels second-hand that way as well. That’s the nature of Shay’s choreography.”
What does his mentor see? “I really think Will is a once-in-a-generation talent. He has a way of reaching people beyond himself,” says Fergus. “That’s true of him as a performer and a creator, but also as a person — and I think if he wasn’t inclined that way as a person, it wouldn’t read the same way.”
Finding his voice. Inspired in part by meeting J Lloyd of Jungle and: Volcano singer Lydia Kitto, West shared that, “I’m looking for a vocal coach. The fact that I work on music is no secret.”
Wish list: West “would drop everything to work with some people” across the spectrum of the performing arts. “If you see Tyler the Creator on the street, tell him I’m coming. I would love to work with him — and FKA twigs. Kojey Radical is amazing. Oh, and Daniel Caesar. This is my man. I listen to his music every day. Jordan Ward is amazing. I want to be in a movie with Zendaya. Lakit Stanfield.