gendance covers the latest trends, news, events and people who are making it happen in the performing arts industry. For the next four months, Dirty Step Upstage will be featured every month in gendance. Sign up at www.gendance.com today and you'll start receiving FREE issues in your inbox every Thursday. Don't forget to use the VIP code: Dirty Step Upstage

Welcome to ALM Talkies!

Thank you for subscribing to the ALM Talkies Newsletter. We'll keep you updated on the latest from the production of our new films and the career of Amber Moelter. If you'd like to unsubscribe, please click on the link at the bottom of this email.

Video: 'Dirty' Dance Rehearsal

Proudly introducing my fine dancers and choreographer (featured in last month's ALM Spotlight), check out this dance teaser!

All ALM newsletter subscribers will soon be able to view an exclusive full rehearsal video. Be on the look-out for your chance to check it out.

Dirty Step Upstage features a stylised, emotionally charged music and dance routine - but the bulk of the film is very different, a down and dirty docu-drama following the characters in a reality TV-style. So how did dance find its way into the picture?

Dance has been a big part of my life forever. I can never let go of it completely. For a little on my background see this awesome gendance 'discovery'. Even so, it didn't feature strongly in my original conception of DSU. But in 2007, editing the part-finished film, I hit a creative block. I was staring at the same four walls in New York, going in circles and getting nowhere. The film just refused to gel.

What broke the log-jam?

A stay in India helped. I went there for four months, attending an artist residency. All kinds of amazing things happened there - but that's a story for another time! I had the chance to think about my priorities in life and get my head in order. And I danced there, my first performance in over two years.

Along the way, I dove into the music and dance of Bollywood, buying stacks of DVDs and visiting the cinema often. Somewhere along the way I wrote a musical finale for DSU. It was based on the main song heard in my movie - “Ring in the Nu” - but took off in some wild new directions.

So was it plain sailing after that?

Not even close. When I returned to the USA I was full of new ideas, but my planned finale suddenly looked very complicated. I started going round in circles yet again.

But then I got an email from my high school dance teacher back in Minnesota. She told me that her daughter, Kourtni Lind, would be appearing on Season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance. So I watched SYTYCD for the first time.

What did you think when you saw Kourtni dance?

She was amazing. She used to be my 'little sister', but now she was all grown up, and had developed into a terrific technician. I voted for her and cheered her on, and somewhere in that process I began to miss dance terribly again.

So I slowly reintroduced myself to it. I got back into ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, musical theatre. I was scared that my body wouldn't remember, but it was like riding a bike. This time, I was really back!

I reworked the DSU finale again, knowing for sure that it must have dance in it and that I wanted Kourtni to perform - no question.

Where did you film the dance routine?

In London. I called on another old friend, Oz Morag, to come on board as choreographer. Oz is the head choreographer for the Israeli version of SYTYCD, but we first met each other at the London Studio Centre years ago. My film is very personal and ambitious, and I knew getting my friends on board would be a big factor in tackling it.

Your friend Kourtni has a very distinctive look. And didn't you also wear your hair short and blonde, back when you filmed DSU's documentary sections?

Hmm... odd that. And our dance styles mesh too, with our similar backgrounds. You'll have to watch the film to get to the bottom of it.

KOURTNI LIND

One of 10 girls chosen from thousands to participate on Season 4's So You Think You Can Dance, Kourtni is amazingly talented dancer, teacher, and choreographer. I'm proud to call her my friend. If you haven't already seen Kourtni dance, you need to. Check out this highlight reel from her time on SYTYCD. You can also find her on Facebook.