The Step Up 5 Chronicles

Step Into The Vortex

My phone rang and I answered.
"Hi Jordan, this is Bruce from BCF Casting calling. Unfortunately your oo!ing on
"omorrowland has een canceled."
"#h," I said disappointed. $o, I%m not losing the est oo!ing I%&e e&er had, I thought. "I
understand. 'isten, I !now (tep Up ) is shooting in *ancou&er currently. I ha&e a history in the
dance community and follow the franchise. I would lo&e to e considered for the production if
possile.
"Uh, I%ll see what I can do."
"hirty minutes later I pic!ed up my phone to hear a female &oice, "Hi Jordan, +hat%s your
a&aliailty for the ne,t wee!. "his is concerning a lot of wor! on feature film, (tep Up )."
"I ha&e full a&aliailty-"
"#!ay, you%re oo!ed for (tep Up )-"
""han! you so much- .id Bruce ha&e anything to do with this/"
"0ossily," she replied in a cute &oice.
""ell him I say than! you-"
"raded "omorrowland for (tep Up ). I was o!ay with that-
111
I arri&ed at my call2time for 3456am at the 0acific $orthern 7,iit. "wo2hundred ac!ground
performers congested into a large uilding on the grounds. Cranes and semi2truc!s of e8uipment
were unloading and uilding a massi&e set piece in the middle of an arena.
I approached my contact person, 'ori, at the sign in tale. "Jordan 9ardiner for 3456." (he
handed me my paperwor! and legal documents. I transitioned through the gear machine of
wardroe, hair, and ma!e2up until I loo!ed my est. :fter this, it was usually long hours in
holding until the set was ready to shoot.
My long time friend, ;e&in 0aynter appeared une,pectedly.
"<ou got the call too/" He said.
"I did. +e%re on (tep Up ) ay-"
"I don%t e&en !now what this is...I hate cattle castings."
.uring fi&e hours in holding, I came to !now a girl named Bethany Mc$a. (he was a 8uir!y
girl who lew me away with her professionalism. I egan spea!ing aout *ancou&er :cting
(chool and e&erything I learned there. (he agreed on e&ery it of information I had and further
touched on it in ways I ne&er thought of. (he had an unparalled !nowledge of our shared field.
"he set was finished and the film e8uipment was in place to shoot.
"he production%s director, "rish (ie, stood on a chair to address the two2hundred ac!ground
performers spea!ing into a microphone. "+elcome to (tep Up )-"
"+elcome to hell," ;e&in whispered in my ear with a sarcastic smir!.
""his is the fifth installment of $orth :merica%s iggest dance franchise. Most people would
pay good money to see what you%ll e seeing today= instead we%re paying you. +e ha&e some of
the est dancers in the world performing in this film and we%re pri&ledged to ha&e them with us.
(o do the >o we rought you in for and >ust en>oy the performances."
7&er since I had seen the trailer for the first (tep Up film, I had een in the midst of achei&ing
my prime aility in rea!dance, and it ecame my dream to e in a (tep Up film. I had a feeling
that there would e a second, and ne&er anticipated a third and fourth film in the coming years.
:nd after I had let go of my dream and dancing career, somehow I was in a (tep Up film. 7&en
though it was merely ac!ground performing, I made it into the franchise I%d always dreamed of.
0erhaps something really was out there helping me out.
"he director instructed the two2hundred ac!ground performers to congest the stadium with a
o,ing ring in the center. "he o,ing ring was the first round in a competion called "he *orte,
which was set in 'as *egas.
: crew named .e&ine Inter&ention first appeared in the o,ing ring to perform. "he dancing
was spectacular and I happened to e in a position far ac! enough to see a screen that the
camera feed was sending. "he camera pic!ed up the right angle and lighting effect to ma!e it
appear li!e an entirely reathless le&el of entertainment.
:fter the first couple hours of seeing the same dance crew perform the same dance se&eral
do?en times, ;e&in and I decided to entertain oursel&es. +e got >ac!ed on uncountale cups of
coffee and started pitching random trailers to eachother in deep, raspy &oices.
"#ne ac!ground performer finally had enough. +hat happens when one man on little sleep,
has seen the same act o&er...and o&er again/ Find out on %"he (tep Up ) Masscre. Coming to a
theater near you-"
"#ne man gets trapped in a closet with a midget and can%t get out. He then learns the midget is
a &ampire- +ill he escape/ %:n!le Biting Midgets% coming this #ctoer-"
: hot runette neary ga&e us the strangest loo! we%d e&er seen. : %I thin! you%re retarded%
!ind of loo! and another ac!ground performer ehind us started howling with laughter. He
thought our senseless humor was the funniest thing he e&er heard and introduced himself as
(unny (harma.
:fter the >o!ing around, and playing *egas Clu 9oers etween ta!es, we finally wrapped the
scene and mo&ed onto another dance crew. "hey were !nown as the 9rim ;nights. "he 9rim
;nights play the antagonist in the film, and this is the iggest, most adass dance crew around.
It%s going to ta!e the I'Mentri, and "he Mo to compete against them.
+hen the shooting started, I didn%t ha&e to fa!e my cheering and e,citement for the camera.
+hat I watched for my inspiration on a screen was now li&e.
"he same process o&er4 se&eral do?en ta!es of the same performance. But I was pumped up
and lo&ing e&ery moment of the dance no matter how times they re2shot it.
+hen the 9rim ;nights completed their segment, ac!ground was called ac! to holding.
"rying to ma!e my way around the two2hundred actors, I too! an alternate route and ended up
passing through an area I wasn%t supposed to e in. I thought I was eing smart y wal!ing
through the ac! hallways and rooms of the arena, ut I was wrong. (o as a way to a&oid getting
into troule, I in&ented a contingency plan li!e I usually did. I acted li!e I elonged and noody
8uestioned me. I wal!ed right past a short runette who was proaly more gorgeous than
anyone on the entire set and for some reason she loo!ed familar to me. I continued wal!ing past
her and then it hit me. I whipped ody around for a second loo! and it was confirmed= she was
the lead female in (tep Up @. I smiled to myself and !ept wal!ing.
+hen I got ac! to holding, I chugged ac! another coffee ecause I was in an e,cited fren?y.
I met a lot of famous people ut she was the most famous person I%d seen at that point. :nd she
was the se,iest 2girl I !new of. "he high of my lifestyle had hit a new le&el.
:ll the friends I made and introduced to my circle and those who were introduced to me,
during my set2time ecame a8uaintted. (uddenly our holding tale acame the most popular in
the )6 or so tales that were estalished. +e were laughing with wild stories and stragglers from
other tales egan to surround us.
I thought this would e the est time to mention who I wal!ed y on my lone ad&enture
through the ac! halls.
"<ou%ll ne&er guess who I wal!ed y on the way ac! from set. I decided to ypass the crowd
and accidently went into an area where all the main characters are. Briana fuc!ing 7&igan
wal!ed right y me." I said so proudly.
"#h, you didn%t !now she was here/ :ll the characters from the last (tep Up films are here
and they%re going to e the ne,t dance crew in the scene."
"#h...um, yeah. I !now." I lurted out, suddenly feeling &ery silly.
#ther actors and actresses egan stories aout how they accidentally met &ery famous on set
y their own error.
%(o I%m not that special,% I pondered to myself. "hen this shit happens all the time. %I can deal
with that. Bring on the accidents-%
+e started a card2game that was popular amongst *ancou&er ac!ground performers called
:sshole. I didn%t rememer playing it since I was in middle school. "he game was still fun and
rought ac! good memories, without the mention of the new spin that ac!ground performers
had on it. +e !ept laughing at the results of each game.
+e were again called ac! to set eing introduced to a crew called I'Mentri,. It had e&ery
most important character from all the crews in the past four films. I'Mentri, was clearly the
protaganist crew in the film. "he crew the audiences were designed to lo&e.
I was eye2fuc!ing the hell out of Briana 7&igan and she aw!wardly caught my glance and
smiled at me. I turned my head away 8uic!ly to not seem o&ious. But she !new and I !new that
she !new.
(he caught me aout three more times ewteen ta!es chec!ing her out. I%m so not good at this,
I thought. I need to learn to e more sutle.
"he camera started rolling and they threw on a mind2lowing performance using all !inds of
water, chal!, and smo!e effects.
I was proaly most e,cited to see Chadd (mith on set, also !nown as Madd Chadd and the
root guy. He too! that iconic, cheesy, root arm swing and turned it into a new genre. He made
it into his lifestyle until he could mo&e his entire ody in the most sutle, partial mo&ements. .It
ecame his second nature.
#n set, we generally had a select group called specifics. "hese specifics played uniform roles
in film and tele&ision. "hey were generally the police officers, security guards, military soldiers,
doctors, and paramedics in productions. :nything that re8uired more than ci&ilian clothing was
li!ely a specific.
"he specifics of the shoot were for ody uilders and old2fashioned reporters with enormous,
single2flash cameras.
#ne of the specifics on set was my friend, John 'epas!i. +e called him JJ. JJ and I connected
&ery well and we ecame great friends on set. :long with Bethany, ;e&in, (unny, (chi&a, and
:urora.
(chi&a and I met through a gentleman named :rtin. I met :rtin on my first day on set in
*ancou&er.
:urora, I met on a pre&ious production called "Fairly #dd (ummer." : M#+ from
$ic!elodeon. I was capti&ated y her 7uropean2French accent and as!ed her to teach me her
language.
"he film and tele&ision industry rought me the greatest community of friends, and I wouldn%t
trade them for anything.
.uring shooting, whene&er the actors had dialogue, we ac!ground performers had to mime
the clapping and cheering. +e acted energetic and cheerful, ut couldn%t ma!e any noise. "his
was the only way the dialogue can e heard and then samples of our audio are added after. "his
was common for dancing and clu scenes. "hey would play a sample of the music and cut it
efore they started rolling the camera, and we had to continue dancing to the tempo in silence.
"he day ended after fourteen hours on set, and we left home for another early call2time. "he
ne,t day would e another fourteen hours and I had to mo&e into a new house that night. I drifted
into a three2hour somer and started the day o&er again.
Hair, ma!e2up, wardroe, three more cups of coffee and ac! to filming. "he day didn%t start
off too ad. "he crew would shoot a scene and commonly announce a %lense change% which was
another word for twenty2minute rea!. I was doing some rea!dancing of my own to !eep my
lood pumping etween scenes. :nd as usual, it caught attention. "he runette who ga&e me the
weird loo! for my epic trailers called for me. (he was sitting eside (chi&a. I loo!ed at the
un!nown runette and slowly wal!ed o&er with my shoulders held high.
"<es/"
"+hat%s your name/"
"Jordan. <ours/"
"Isael.
+here%d you learn how to do that/"
": little &ideo2logging wesite !nown as <ou"ue."
""hat%s ama?ing."
""han! you."
"he director called us ac! to shoot.
'ater into the e&ening, I could finally say that I fell asleep standing up for the first time. My
ody started stealing micro2naps and my rain would send a >olt through my ody to wa!e me up
again. (unny as!ed what was with me. I e,plained that I !ept falling asleep. He was in awe that I
could do it standing up. Auite fran!ly, I was in awe that I could do it too.
"he ne,t rea! we had, I ran to craft ser&ices to chug ac! two more coffees. My sleep
depri&ation stali?ed and I was ale to !eep myself awa!e a it longer.
Bethany found herself eside me and she was nearly as sleep depri&ed as me. +e got to the
point that we acted high as !ites ut were in fact soer. +e thought e&erything was funny and
started &ocali?ing weird noises. +e fuc!ed with shots where she would stand directly ehind me
and throw her hair o&er my shoulders. It would appear to the camera that I had i?arely anormal
hair.
For the last scene, Isaella Mi!o came onto stage playing :le,a who is a famous, fictional *J
who dressed in these outrageous and e,traordinary fashion peices. 7&eryone came out to her
e&ents >ust to see what she would e wearing ne,t.
Isabella Miko playing her role as Alexa on Step Up 5
"hat was it- +e were wrapped and were sent ac! to holding. I located where many of the
lead dancers were hanging out and >oined con&ersation with them. I tal!ed to Briana 7&igan,
:dam (e&ani, Byan 9u?man, Chadd (mith, Chris (cott, and Martin and Facundo 'omard.
I felt li!e I was on Cloud $ine. I was apart of the franchise I so dearly loo!ed up to. $ow I
was tal!ing to and hanging out with the people I only dreamed of meeting and eing li!e. :nd it
made me humani?e them. "he Hollywood world suddenly felt normal to me.
Briana Evigan and myself on set Bags !nder both o!r eyes
It was interesting when I disco&ered who Byan 9u?man was. I wal!ed up to him thin!ing he
was >ust one of the supporting dancers. +e carried casual con&ersation until I as!ed him my first
8uestion.
"How long ha&e you een dancing/ I%m wondering how much training it ta!es to get to your
le&el," I e,plained.
"I%&e een doing it for aout two years. I only learned dance for (tep Up Be&olution. :nd now
I%m doing it again."
"<ou were in the last film/"
"<eah, I was the lead."
"#h- "hat was you/-"
"<eah," he laughed.
"9uess I need to gra a picture with you."
He too! a picture with me. He told me to prepare for the upcoming shoot dates ecause they
were going to e e&en harder. He was right.
In the coming days, (tep Up ) would ring igger game and was truly sa&ing the est for last.
But that would pro&e to e at my and CDD other performers e,penses.
(tep Up ) was aout to create some contro&ersy in the *ancou&er Film Industry.
"yan #!$man and myself on set
I thought this was the perfect premise for the final entry in the franchise. "hey pull from the
stories of the pre&ious four (tep Up films and connect all the stories in one way or another in the
fifth installment.
:ndie, EBriana 7&iganF returns as the female lead, and (ean, EByan 9u?manF returns as the
male lead. "hey are the romantic interest in the film. "he protaganist dance crew from (tep Up
5. returns again as the protaganist, e,cept with the addition of :ndie, (ean, and we can%t forget
Moose.
Channing "atum e&en returns for a cameo scene with Briana 7&igan.
"he Mo from (tep Up G also returns competing against their longtime friend (ean. Feet are
stepped on and things are less than friendly.
But as "he *orte, competition progresses, I'Mentri, and "he Mo >oin crews to face up to
the 9rim ;nights= who seem to e winning e&ery round of "he *orte, competition.
111
: wee! passed and I got called for more wor! on the production. "he ne,t shooting location
was at the #rpheum "heatre on 9ran&ille (treet. Inside, the locations manager used a red interior
lighting and placed a stage in the center hall. "he center hall had three floors and would ma!e an
incredile *egas2style clu scene. "he production was to e set in 'as *egas afterall.
I was forunate to li&e only one loc! away from the main production site. "he main
production site and the shooting location were sometimes two &ery separate places. In these
separate locations, many performers are loaded onto shuttles that transport you to the shooting
location in which we create a secondary holding area.
:fter going through what I called %"he 9ear Machine% we are pampered.
"he director stood in the middle of the stage to ma!e an announcement.
""oday we are filming the second round of the competition. +e will e watching nine crews
gi&e it their all. :nd the etter you react to our crews, the etter it sounds and loo!s on camera.
(o if you want to see them ma!e the final cut, help them out and cheer your hearts out-"
+e cheered and one crew was most popular among us. :n asian crew that danced to
"Centipede" y ;nife 0arty. "hey added a silly premise for their dance and uilt upon a epic
dustep foundation. "hey were definitely a crowd fa&orite and I hope they ma!e the final cut.
In the middle of filming a girl ehind me lost consciousness and fell o&er. (he was holding a
martini glass and pi&oted efore collasping. (he smac!ed onto the stone staircase, crac!ed her
head on the edge of a stair, and crushed ro!en martini2glass shards into her chest. $oody
reacted and let her lay on the floor unconscious. "he on2site first2aid attended the girl
immediately and transported her to the hospital.
My fellow colleagues discussed what could ha&e caused the incident. Most assumed the
intensely right, flashing lights. But I thin! it was the dehydration of a hango&er.
: confined room with so many high2eam lights generate a lot of heat and the room was
e,tremely hot. :nyone with a moderate hango&er would%&e passed out.
"he 9rim ;nights arri&ed on the stage and !illed it etter than any other crew. "he 9rim
;nights had female twins that were oth adass and inspiring. "hey too! the eginning of the
performance as a duo on stage. Moments later, the rest of the 9rim ;nights urst out onto the
stage. : s!inny :frican2:merican too! the center stage and would pop his arms out of their
soc!ets, dancing and twisting his arms in impossile ways.
JJ mentioned to me how the :frican2:merican resemled +i? ;alifa. (o what did we do/ +e
started chanting, "+i?- +i?- +i?-" More and more *egas Clu29oers >oined in chatting the
name +i?.
"+hat ha&e I done/" I stammered.
"+hat ha&e we done/" JJ corrected me. "'oo! at what we started."
"+e should proaly eha&e," I laughed.
"he damage was done. +e coined the guy, and his name was +i? for the rest of the day.
Being on ig productions, I always imagined that e&ery element of the scene was perfectly
planned to a dime. But that wasn%t the case. 0eople do react in the moment and the production
uses the est ta!e, perfect or not.
7ach day of filming cost around thousands upon tens of thousands of dollars. : two hour film
re8uires aout si,ty hours of footage from multiple cameras and all that had to e cut to a are
minimum.
:n actor may get lots of screen2time ut ma!ing the final cut of the editing stage is a
completely different story.
For many more days, we continued the same shooting process.
I'Mentri, was the final crew and they performed a synchroni?ed dance. But after, the
actorsHdancers were gi&en free range to do whate&er they wanted. "heir freestyle was etter than
their planned performances. I wondered how many of the pre&ious (tep Up dances had een in2
the2moment freestyle.
+hat should a true nightclu e/ I always wondered that thin!ing that all the &enues I
e,perienced in Canada and e&en Me,ico didn%t 8uite satisfy my nightclu liss. I wanted to
e,perience world2renowned parties that they showed in mo&ies. I found my first one, ut it
wasn%t real, it was in a film portrayal of what a clu should e.
I wondered why the most ama?ing clu and party atmospheres had to e fa!ed in film.
"he director directed two2hundred mo&ie e,tras to fill three floors of lights shows and faces
mo&ing their odies with seduction and &alance.
"he (uper2(corpio Crane camera panned up to the third floor of the clu stopping a mere foot
away from my face as I danced. It scanned the clu li!e a (ci2Fy security droid that would
destroy any mo&ie e,tra if they weren%t doing their >o. I stood from the third floor, dancing and
wa&ing my arms off the stone ridge. "he camera panned three floors of two2hundred people
dancing in unison sharing the same momentum. I loo!ed down from my floor and it loo!ed li!e
the most ama?ing and surreal &isual I had e&er seen.
:ll my nights of drin!ing in nightclus hadn%t een as fun as me eing soer to only pretend
to e in an epic nightclu.
:fter a segment of crowd reactions, they mo&ed our postions e&ery hour or so. JJ and I were
on the ottom floor in front of the stage. Moose E:dam (e&aniF loo!ed ored on stage and
decided to wal! o&er and sha!e mine and JJ%s hand. I complimented the fact he was the only
person to return for e&ery single (tep Up film. He merely loo!ed at me and wal!ed away li!e he
was too good to tal! to me.
+e spent the rest of the day filming crowd reactions. It was all aout getting close2ups of us
in the ac!ground. Before we wrapped the day, we got some final shots of the other dance crews
reacting to the other crews winning or losing. "hey selected e,tras wearing shades of red and I
was wearing a red dress shirt. It was a good contrast to the lue colors I'Mentri, had. "he
camera peered o&er me for ser&eral ta!es while getting the protrangist dance crew%s reaction to
learning that they%re progressing to the ne,t round. I turn around and Moose loo!s at me while
gesturing me to call him. Is Moose gay or >ust choosing me as an eyeline/ I hope they put that in
the final cut anyway.
+e wrapped up the shooting at "he #rpheum theatre and I was again called ac! to wor! at
"he Uni&ersity of British Columia for the last and final scene. It was a four day shoot.
+e would e filming the final dance se8uence in the entire film and these were the last
shooting dates for the film all together.
I started hanging out with :urora, my French, londe, language2teacher. (he had een
catching lots of screen2time and was wearing a pin! i!ini, grey o&er2shirt, and tight >eans.
(he%d only reply to me in French, ma!ing me loo! up each word%s translation to 7nglish. I
would reply in French to her. :nd only then would to tal! to me...also in her own langauge.
:urora was either suorn or smart...ecause she !new I wanted to communicate with her.
(he !new I would put more effort into learning French to get to !now her.
:fter eing processed for set, we arri&ed at the new shooting location at UBC. "he shooting
location was dec!ed out to e a neon lit, three floor arena. :nd what would e witnessed has
ne&er een done efore in the history of dance. (tep Up ) in my opinion, is the film in the series
to gi&e the franchise its reirth. I understand that people critici?e films with great endea&or, ut
eing in&ol&ed with a film that represented e&erything I used to lo&e, getting to !now its cast,
eing on location, eing inspired y performances that only we will e ale to witness, I ecame
attached to it.
I reali?ed that my lo&e for dance and my heroes may endure me a superficial opinion of the
film.
Howe&er much I felt, the final dance segment too! four days to shoot and that was for roughly
ten minutes of footage. "he rutal hours of eing up at the rea! of dawn, wor!ing for roughly
fourteen hour shifts each day, and spending hours upon hours on standy, it wore on us and I
couldn%t imagine it for the dancers.
"his new set at UBC was so intricately designed that the production crew uilt an entire
fourth floor to the arena that wasn%t there efore. "his forth floor held se&eral hundred high2eam
lights, a storage tan! of sand, a pipe that ignited thousands of spar!s to rain down onto the set.
#n the floor they uilt a mini2platform with flamethrower >ets. :nd e&en a do?en chandliers that
"he 9rim ;nights would e hanging off of as they lowered them onto the dance floor for three
floors.
+e shot the 9rim ;nights scene first and they had safety wires harnessed to their gladiator
costumes. :ll of them were fitted with gold plated armour and red capes. "hey must%&e shot
twenty ta!es forcing the dancers to hang onto the giant chandleirs at a time.
"+ait, we%re ha&ing a technical difficulty-" "he director announced. : girl in the 9rim
;nights loo!ed li!e she was struggling to hold on and not fall. (he was dangling only a couple
feet from my alcony position.
"How%s it going up there/" I as!ed.
"#h it%s good. Just another day on set, you !now/"
"I !now. I admire what you%re doing up here. If you swing yourself in this direction a little it,
I could totally sa&e you."
"#h, I%m good. "his is an e&erday wor!2out," she laughed and started doing chin2ups on the
chandler.
":raggghh- : 9rim ;night screamed as he fell two feet and started dangling from his wire.
"#!ay, reset-" "he director yelled. "hey lowered the chandlers, let the dancers regrip
themsel&es on it, and hoisted them into the air once more.
"he music cued and we cheered our hearts out as the 9rim ;nights declined onto the dance
floor and e,ploded into their dance. "hey were throwing down mo&es and swinging off the
chandlers flying all o&er the place.
:fter wrapping "he 9rim ;nights, we went for lunch and ;yle introduced to me a model
from set. 22 ;yle graduated from *ancou&er :cting (chool with me. 22 "his model named
:le,andria had stories that would ma!e anyone cringe.
"he worst I will share with you.
#ne day she and her friend tra&eled to Me,ico for a &acation. +hat do teenagers do in
Me,ico/ 9et drun! and get cra?y- :le,andria%s friend met a man in a clu and they were getting
more than intimate. "he man tried to get :le,andria%s friend to come home with him ut refused.
:fter the wee! was o&er, they tra&eled ac! to Canada and her friend ro!e out in a massi&e
festering rash around her mouth. (he chec!ed into the hospital and was later greeted y three
police officers. "he officers egan as!ing 8uestions agressi&ely. ""ell us e&erything you did from
the moment you got on the plane to the moment you got ac!." "he girl ended up gi&ing
information that led to the arrest of the man she met in the clu. It turned out the man ha&e
nearly a do?en dead odies of women in his home. "he festering rash she had was something
that you could only get from necrophilia. 'uc!ily for her...it was curale. <ou may also want to
a&oid dating someone who wor!s in a hospital morgue. Wink
+hile on the topic, I decided to thoroughly ma!e e&eryone cringe as well...or so thought. I
made e&eryone laugh hysterically e,cept for ;yle. ;yle was trying to hold ac! his gag refle,
for se&eral minutes and nearly pu!ed.
I read out the definition of "melching," feartured on "he Uran .ictionary.
Clic! the lin! if you dare4 http4HHwww.urandictionary.comHdefine.php/termIMelch
:s :le,andria continued sharing her stories, she went on to tell us aout Marco, one of the
9rim ;nights, who got her phone numer. Barely into the con&ersation he te,ted her saying that
he was staying at the (andman Hotel on .a&ie (treet. Marco proceeded to message :le,andria
fifteen times per day and she chose not respond to him, then he found her official Faceoo!
model page. He wasn%t the only one doing it either. Moose was gi&ing out his numer to se&eral
ac!ground girls. I was told that James Franco slept with roughly ten e,tras during his wor! on
"he Inter&iew which was eing filmed in *ancou&er for a while. I was also informed that a girl
on (tep Up ) was ragging aout sleeping with three of the dancers during the course of a wee!.
It seemed that it was common practise for stars on mo&ie sets.
JJ and I got pictures with most of the main actors on the production and were only missing
one. Moose. +e wal!ed around set doing what we called Moose hunting. "his acti&ity only
pro&ed to us that Moose was !ind of a dic!-
+hene&er my friends as!ed him for photos, he chose not to respond and lindly !ept
wal!ing. :fter as!ing, he would gi&e me and JJ a dirty loo! whene&er we made eye2contact. He
>ust loo!ed hostile. Maye those girls weren%t calling him ac!.
#&er the ne,t few days we shot the I'Mentri, scenes which was now merged with "he Mo.
It egan with :dam (e&ani wal!ing out onto the arena floor with a small rown case. He sets
it on the ground and opens it up. : right light shines from the case and out comes an entire
person. "hey do a contemporary peice together. "hat%s what it will loo! li!e for audiences
anyway. (ome camera wor! made it appear what it is.
.ancers start flying onto the dance floor on ?iplines until suddenly the entire dance crew is on
the floor.
"he photo is a snapshot of the camera feed displaying on an H."* set.
Briana 7&igan >umps onto the platform and the atmoshpere changes from a melancholy lue
to a fiery red. (he%s holding a staff with the end ignited on fire and mo&es it seducti&ely. "here%s
a moment where she starts petting her crotch while her two side!ic!s somehow ma!e twer!ing
appear de&ine.
"he flamethrowers ignite ursting firealls into the air and spar!s start to rain onto the arena.
"his is the most epic show I ha&e e&er witnessed. (uddenly all the dancers disperse and the
platform opens up re&ealing a sandpit. : stream of sand pours into the sandpit li!e we%re now
inside an hour glass. (e&eral >ittery hands rise from the sand ma!ing 8uic!, precise mo&ements.
:rms reach out the sand and four dancers rise from the dusty ayss wearing dec!ed out goggles
and reathing mas!s.
"he sand segment of the scene was the hardest to film. Before each ta!e, the dancers were
uried in uc!ets of sand y production assistants and director was frantic and shooting the
scene as 8uic!ly as possile. "he dancers were holding their reath under the sand and had to
continue holding their reath until they heard their musical cue.
:fter shooting each ta!e, the dancers needed rougly twenty minutes to recou&er. 0roduction
assistants had to run and guide them off the set as soon the director yelled cut. I watched one of
the choreographers, Chris (cott, wole o&er to the garage can and pu!e in it. "he other
dancers had to sit down and loo!ed li!e they were on the &erge of passing out.
"he prolem was not the sand, ut the fact that the production crew used a chemcial called
&ermiculite to sustitute it. *ermiculite was apparently lighter and loo!ed more shiny on camera.
*ermiculite is a flame retardant which coats your lungs and is har?ardous when distured. +ith
the cast dancing in it, throwing it around, and !ic!ing it into the air, it was sure as hell distured.
"he &erimiculite filled the room the it was difficult to see the other side of the arena. "he
&ermiculite dust was so thic! that it appeared as thic! as fog.
.uring the rea!, a production assistant was pissed off at the crew. I o&erheard and decided to
in&estigate and ac8uire information. It turned out that there was a pri&ate safety meeting etween
the production crew aout the sustance "he entire crew was ad&ised to wear dust mas!s and the
fact that the three2hundred ac!ground performers were left in the dar!.
Here is where the contro&ersy egan.
"he ac!ground performers noticed the crew wearing dust mas!s and that they were not.
7&entually do?ens reported ha&ing shortness of reath. "hen came the urge to low their nose
while many of us were finding lac! snot in our tissues. :lmost one third of us started to cough
uncontrollaly. (ome to the point of pu!ing. I actually went home that night and couldn%t control
my coughing and e&entually discharged my stomach into the toilet. "wo people reported ha&ing
asthma attac!s. "he &ermiculite flooded the &entalition system and e&eloped the entire uilding.
Bac!ground performers were running out of the arena to escape the sustance to find the e,terior
rooms misty with it.
7&eryone was tal!ing aout it and some were ta!ing pictures e&en though we weren%t allowed
to on set as per the non2disclosure agreements we all had to sign to e on the production. UBC0
and :C"B: were definitely going to e interested in the e&ents that night.
UBC0 and :C"B: are the actor%s unions for film and tele&ision.
My friend ;e&in, and many others completely dodged the set and hid from the shooting
location and holding tent. "hey didn%t want to e,pose there health to something so &olitile for the
sa!e of ac!ground rates and screen time.
I stuc! it out and thought e&eryone was o&erreacting. "he scene was :+7(#M7- But I did
pu!e...and I felt sic! for a while as soon the production ended.
I truly feel sorry for the dancers that were urried in it. $o wonder they could arely wal!
after each soon and had to ta!e long reathers as well as Chris pu!ing in a garage can.
(ometimes professionalism is thrown out the window to sa&e a 8uic! uc!. :ctually a lot of
the time...ut it was une,pected from a ma>or producton.
"his is my personal message to (ummit 7ntertainment. I hope my health was worth ma!ing
your scene loo! damn good. :nd I e,pect some notale screen time.
I caught word of something called the Miller 9roup, it was a selected group that had the
opportunity to run onto the dance floor in the final scene and dance with the leads. I was not
selected to e in that group. (o I decided to ecome a part of it despite that. I stormed onto the set
and found 7ddie. "7ddie-" I called out. He came o&er. "I%m a s!illed rea!dancer and ha&e always
followed the franchise. May I e in the Miller group/" He loo!ed at me li!e I was retarded.
(chi&a came out of nowhere and said to 7ddie, "He needs to e in the Miller group, I seen
him rea!dance and he%s on par with the leads. <ou%d e ma!ing a mista!e if you didn%t put him
in the spotlight."
"#!ay, you%re in," 7ddie told me.
""han! you-" I said appreciati&ely.
"(ee, I got your ac!," (chi&a said as she high2fi&ed me aout ten times consecuti&ely=
missing half them and nearly smac!ing me in the face.
I met (chi&a on day one of filming and she had een growing on me. I had a do?en girls I
wanted to as! out on set, ut (chi&a was winning my choice with e&ery interaction.
(chi&a...of all ways to as! you out. I%m as!ing you out. <ou ha&e my numer, te,t me. Coffee
dates lol...<ou !now whats up-
:nyway, the Miller group...we shot the final dance scene were e&eryone from the crowd is
pouring onto the dance floor. I was placed at Chadd (mith%s starting location and out of the ta!es
I had to >ump o&er the railing to dance with the leads in the ending credits.
Before I >umped, he told me a tale of when a racoon >umped on his head. "hat was an epic
story man-: raccoon >umped on your head...they carry raies- <ou% ne&er told me the end of that
story- 0lease tell me how it ended, I%l lea&e my email elow.
I >umped out with the Miller group and went allistic. I was dancing with the lead
actorsHdancers. I wal!ed to the front of the camera and twirled some girls around, patted the
leads on the ac!. It was an ama?ing scene and I felt in the moment.

Step Up 5
'iterally, that many days on a production are ound to ha&e tales from crew, cast, and
ac!ground performers ali!e. I will continue wor!ing on this peice and ma!e it a larger more
detailed &ersion within my oo!4 7ntropy II.
I withhold a lot due to the personal relationships I ha&e with the people mentioned due to
respect for them. For the complete story you will ha&e to read the full2length oo! I wrote entitled
7ntropy.
7ntropy had a pulishing offer from 0egasus 7lliot Mac!en?ie pulishing in @6C@. I withheld it
from them due to the fact they didn%t offer me an acceptale deal and I wish to continue e,tending
the wor! of this story.
(tep Up ) has een an ama?ing e,perience and I feel honored to ha&e met e&eryone in&ol&ed.
<ou all ha&e an important place in my story which will e written aout and featured. 7&eryone
mentioned does has direct access to contacting me so any uncertainly will e met with a name
change and new character description.
Hope to see you all on set for more *ancou&er productions.
(tep Up ) recently released its official title4 (tep Up4 :ll In. It has a release date for July @),
@6CG this summer. +hether I ma!e the final cut or not, I%m happy and proud to ha&e had the
opportunity to e apart of it.