Ahead of this week’s Canada’s Drag Race finale, we caught up with Hollywood Jade to get the tea on his experience choreographing this season’s queens, his creative process, and the Drag Race dance sequence that made his jaw drop.
Canada Drag Race’s Hollywood Jade
Hollywood Jade is a dancer turned choreographer with a knack for production and direction for both theater and video. Having worked in the entertainment industry for over 10 years, Hollywood has been featured as a dancer, actor, tv personality and host, and reality show judge. Some of Hollywood’s most notable clients as a choreographer include Snoop Dogg, The Dream, and Divine Brown, and he has appeared as a dancer in music videos for artists like Jully Black, Hillary Duff, and Kelis. In 2011, Hollywood produced his first full-length show called “Hollywood Presents Urbanesque.”
Hollywood’s creative passions are evident when you talk to him about his work. On the dream artist sequence he’d love to create for Drag Race, Hollywood said:
“Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, or Jully Black. I am very familiar with these women’s music catalogue (live & recorded) and I would be able to breathe some fresh light into a Drag presentation of their work.”
When we asked what has surprised him most about working with the queens this season, he laughed:
“Nothing!! Hahahahaha!! I started working with Drag queens early on in my dance career (I may or may not have even done drag myself once or twice and won a pageant or two), so I understand the challenges that they face with not only retaining the choreography but also showing up and performing it, with all the tucking, tapping, syncing, gluing and not to mention the wigs........ it’s a lot harder than any of them make it look. The most surprising thing about working with the queens on Canada's Drag Race, for the few that I was familiar with, was seeing how the environment changed even the way that they learned. Drag Race is no joke y'all!!!!”
Canada Drag Race’s Priyanka
Canada Drag Race’s Tynomi Banks
Hollywood also spoke about his creative process, and the narrative components of choreography and dance, saying:
“It all starts with the music!!!! I am a lover of a good narrative and that’s why I love Drag Race so much. The songs always have great speaking points which makes them easy to create from, and it always goes back to finding common ground with each performer. In the "Not Sorry Aboot It" challenge, each girl had a verse, that’s 10 verses, each with its own narrative and point of view, giving Tynomi Banks what I designed for Priyanka would have made no sense in context, so it all starts with the music and I let it be the leading force…I am a firm believer that as a Choreographer/artistic director that it is my job to enhance what is presented to me, take what natural abilities people have, and highlight and showcase that. There isn’t a secret per se, its more about having a vision when you enter, but being able to adjust that so it is reliable to each performer… and in true drag form, you either rise to the occasion or you in danger girl!!!”
Canada Drag Race Queens: Back Row, BOA, Jimbo, Rita Baga, Kyne, Priyanka, and Tynomi Banks Front Row: Iilona Verley, Scarlett BoBo, Kiara and Lemon
In wrapping things up, Hollywood left us with his best advice for up-and-coming queens:
“Hone your skillset and honor your craft!!!!! Though Drag has become a universal phenomenon, it is still an individual sport. You have got to know who you are at your core and stand firm in that. Do your homework - Study the art form, know who has paved the way for you and give respect, some queens have been working longer than most young queens have been alive and we must give those of them who are still here their dues.”
Catch the finale of Canada’s Drag Race this Thursday, September 3! US viewers can stream the finale on WOW Presents Plus or on Mondays on LogoTV.
