Dancing For Michael Jackson And The Power of Presence

In this episode, I’m sharing my true story of booking the biggest credit on my resume, backup dancing for Michael Jackson.  

This booking taught me that when you’re aligned with your authentic self, you stop negotiating your worth and start bringing a presence people can’t ignore. 

I'll talk through my experience auditioning for MJ, why I believe I booked the job, and why the right opportunities for you won't pass you by, as long as you show up with confidence in who you are. 

Be sure to tune in next week for part two of this episode to hear the major life lesson this experience taught me! 

Thank you so much for being here. If you feel called to, please follow Essence Embodied, share the show with someone who needs it, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can discover these conversations. 

You can keep up with Tyne on instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/tynestecklein?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Join Tyne's email list here: https://shy-band-100.myflodesk.com/mrxyszsu5h

I'd like to say a massive thank you to my editor and dear friend, Nikki Dalonzo, for supporting me on this journey! 

Transcript

Essence Embodied And The Big Story

Tyne Stecklein 0:00

This is Essence Embodied by Tyne Stecklein. I'm your host, Tyne, and today get ready because I am going to share with you how I booked the biggest credit on my dance resume: Backup Dancing for Michael Jackson. And I'm also going to show you what you can do to make sure that you don't miss an opportunity of a lifetime. I believe when we are aligned with our authentic self, we will never miss an opportunity that is meant for us. But we have to be connected to who we are, to what we have to offer the world, and we have to show up. Sometimes the first step towards getting what seems like our dream life is simply showing up. Showing up for ourselves and then grounding in our unique essence when we do. Today I'm going to share with you how I booked the biggest credit on my resume: dancing for Michael Jackson. Settle in because this is a wild ride. Getting the opportunity to audition for Michael Jackson, just the opportunity to audition, was huge. It was an invite call only, not just from the best dancers in the United States, from Los Angeles and from New York, but from the globe. There were dancers that showed up at this audition from Australia, Paris, London, you name it, if they were on the top of the list, they were there. I was one of those fortunate dancers lucky enough to receive the email for this audition. And when you get an audition, you look at the details. It says who's choreographing, what you should wear, what the style of movement they want is going to be. And the first thing I noticed when I opened this email was that Kenny Ortega was the director of the tour. This was very exciting for me because one of my first jobs was dancing on the high school musical tour with Kenny Ortega. I went from there to the high school musical to movie. I was in that film where he was the director. And the wonderful thing that I can say when I was working on high school musical was that I was my authentic self. I embodied my essence because I was 18 and I didn't know any differently. I wasn't in my head yet about what I thought people wanted on a job. I just was being true to myself. So that meant that Kenny knew my true self. So when I received this email, it would have been easy to spiral down this rabbit hole of why was I selected. I consider myself a jazz, contemporary ballet dancer, not a hip-hop dancer, even though I trained, I disciplined and everything. I took all styles of dance so seriously. But still, hip-hop was not my strong suit. And when I think of Michael Jackson and the classic movement that they did in his tours, I think of hip-hop dancing. But I didn't go down that rabbit hole because I thought, Kenny knows me. If I am getting selected to be there and show up for this audition, it means it's because they want to see me. So I showed up as myself. I spent way too long picking out my outfit, which essentially ended up being a pair of what we call in the dance world booty shorts, like short shorts, dance shorts, and a bra because that was also what we wore. We seemed to wear bras to auditions in the early 2000s. Don't ask me why, but that's what we did. I showed up in my bra and my shorts and my heels and my tennis shoes. I had all the shoe options available to me. And I was just thrilled to be in the room. Actually, let me say that differently. I was thrilled to be on the stage because this was not like a typical dance audition where you're in a dance room. This was on the Nokia Theater stage in downtown Los Angeles. And thank goodness it was because there were over 500 women that were asked to show up for this. And then that doesn't even include the male dancers. But I was one of 500 who got the invite. We went through two rigorous days of dancing. If he had done it, you name it, we probably learned it and auditioned it that day. And I found myself making cut after cut after cut and wondering why and how, because I'm looking across this stage and seeing dancers like Maris from Paris, if you don't know her, look her up, and just being blown away by their ability to do this movement so authentic to how MJ himself dances, that I kept wondering, why am I making these rounds of cuts? And yet I was. So I just kept grounding into Kenny knows you, Kenny knows Tyne, you have a place here, you belong. On day two, Michael himself showed up, entered into the theater, sat in the back, and watched us audition with Kenny, Travis Payne, Stacey Walker, and Tony Testa, the choreographers on the job. And at the end of the dance rounds, Michael told Kenny something along the lines of, I wanna see the ladies walk. Because the next thing I know, Kenny is announcing to the dancers, next we're gonna walk one at a time to the way you make me feel across the stage. And if you're not a dancer listening, that probably sounds very bizarre, you're gonna walk, but if you're a dancer, this is everything, especially if you are a jazz dancer, which is me. I am a jazz dancer to my core. We spend so much time learning how to walk with poise, with technique, with style, with essence in jazz class. So when they said this, I was like, okay, I can do that. And I can do it really well. People have asked me, how did you walk? How did you walk across the stage? And my answer to that question is always the same, which is, I have no idea. Because I was so out of body. Actually, let me rephrase that, out of mind. I was so in my flow state, which, if you don't know about that, we're gonna have a whole episode where we talk about flow state and meditation because I think it is one of the golden keys to life. If you're an artist, you know your favorite moments of creating are the ones where you have no idea what happened while you were creating it, but you can step back after the fact and say, that felt amazing. In fact, if you're watching with me, this piece right here, I had no idea what I was creating while I made it. I simply painted for two meditative, beautiful hours and looked back at the end and said, wow, that is really cool and totally unexpected. But that is the best form of art to me, where we can just get so lost in it. That is what happened when I walked across that stage. I embodied my essence. That's all that I know that I did. I grounded, I was confident. I wasn't trying to be anyone else in that room. And that is huge because there were many auditions of my career where I thought they want this type of dancer, this type of personality, this type of energy, and I tried to take on someone else. Guess what? When we do that, we are taking ourselves out of the running already because what we have to offer this world that no one else does is that we are the only one of us. Which, if you look up that statistic, by the way, it's mind-blowing. Something like our unique genetic DNA, makeup, getting to be here and have a life on this earth. It's something like one in 60 trillion are the odds, which is crazy. But if you're here, if you made it, if you're one of those 60 trillion, that means you have something unique and special to offer the world simply because you are you. So what I did in that moment was ground into me. I was connected. And the next thing I know, the women that are left, which at this point was, I believe about 30 females, were lined up, and Kenny Ortega was about to read the names of the dancers that had booked the job. And I was standing in that lineup and I knew in my gut he is about to call your name. You are going to book this. This is life-changing. And I did, and it was. And that experience was long enough ago that at this point it feels surreal sometimes. But when I share this story, it feels like it's happening to me right now. When people ask me, why did you book that job? Of course, I can't say that I know for sure why. But what I think is that my unique energy was so undeniable that when Michael was sitting there, he thought, I want that on this stage with me. I need that. That kind of presence, that kind of essence. Which is why I am going to always encourage you on this podcast to tap into your essence and share it with the world in every experience, every interaction, not just these really big epic moments, but just how we show up for the people that are in our lives in front of us. So, yes, I ground it in my essence. But before I could do that, I first had to show up. I had to show up for the audition. Do you know how intimidating it is to show up for an audition like that when the best of the best dancers from the world are gonna be there? But I did it. And I can tell you what would have happened if I didn't show up. There is no chance I would have booked that job. So sometimes the first step towards getting what seems like our dream job, our dream life, meeting our dream partner is simply showing up, showing up for ourselves and then grounding in our unique essence when we do. In addition to that, I also want to talk about something really important, and that is that I realize as I'm saying that we need to first show up. That is impossible for some people right now because our world is crazy, and some people are living in fear of even being able to open up their front door and walk out of it. And I am so sorry that so many people are experiencing that right now. And I am someone who absolutely believes in the power of prayer, and I pray every day that innocent people will be able to be safe to live their lives and live their lives to the fullest. But I also believe that if I am someone who is privileged enough to not have that fear right now in my life, then it is my responsibility to show up with a hundred percent of myself. Because just think about how many people cannot do that right now. And I think even though it's a dramatic way to live, to say, what if this were my last day? When you do, when you shift into that kind of a perspective on life, boy, do you start living your life in a different way. You may know the ending to this story for me. And that is that sadly Michael Jackson passed away. And that's before we were able to go to London, before we were able to do our first show. I hope that this episode encourages you to show up, embody your essence, and see what amazing dream opportunities line up for you when you do. There's another important part to this story, the greatest lesson that I learned from this experience working for Michael Jackson. Something that I actually learned about myself. And I really want to share that with you because it has been such a game changer for me and my life, honestly. So be sure and tune in next week for part two of Dancing for Michael Jackson and the power of presence. And if you enjoyed this episode today, it would mean so much if you would leave me a rating or a review and share this podcast with someone who you think would also enjoy it. Thank you so much for being here. And remember to embody your essence.