Debbie AllenandShondalandhave always been good atdancing it out.
Every aspect and every bit of that footage is very spontaneous and true to the moment."
The idea to turn Bokelberg’s footage into a documentary came from none other than Rhimes herself.
Credit: Netflix
“So we got an editor that helped us put it together.
He said, ‘I’m going to show it to Shonda.’
She’s like, ‘Debbie, I have to have this.
Netflix
I want this.’
I stepped back because I’m the director and the creator and the choreographer of the stage production.
I let this become what she thought it should be.
Netflix
She wanted to tell the story.
So, here we are.”
In what seems a story made for Hollywood, Rhimes and Allen actually first met through DADA.
“Our relationship was purely dance master, mother-daughter,” Allen says.
“That was our real first relationship.
As a parent, I didn’t even hardly speak to Shonda for the first year.
I thought she deserved anonymity.
I thought she deserved to just be her daughter’s mother.”
“I was a student of the classics at Howard University,” she notes.
Sometimes things are supposed to be."
Her relationship with Rhimes isn’t the only thing that’s full circle about the documentary for Allen.
“It is my truest self.
I have been dancing through every aspect of my career,” Allen reflects.
“I was on camera dancing.
I was choreographing the Oscars.
I have been dancing through it all.
So, this is very appropriate.
Dance has always influenced and informed my ability as a director.
That is a very strong aspect of my style.
It’s just innate.”
“My life is somewhat of an open book.
People are always curious about me in interviews and how we started, what happened, the whole thing.
There’s a lot to navigate there from Houston to Howard [University] to Broadway to Hollywood.
I trusted Oliver, so I could say whatever.”
“Oliver is a DADA parent,” she notes.
“So, you’re getting a story that’s deep on the inside.
It wasn’t just theHot Chocolate Nutcracker.
He would know what to capture.
And he did.”
But for Allen herself, she’s not all that concerned with her legacy.
She’s got too much to do.
“I’m not really thinking about being remembered right now.
I’m thinking about what is needed,” she confesses.
“DADA has given me a real purpose in life beyond something greater than myself.
Everyone should be so lucky to find a purpose in life, no matter what it is.
It can be something small, but something where you are somehow making the world better.”
Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcrackerhits Netflix Dec. 27.
