Shanie Blais followed the yellow brick road to Oz. The Quebecer dances alongside Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in the hit film Wicked: partie 1on display since last Friday. “I burst into tears when I saw my name in the credits,” she confides.
• Also read: “Wicked: Part One”: magical but a little long
On the other end of the line, emotion and pride are perceptible in Shanie Blais’ voice. Contacted in Los Angeles, where she settled almost five years ago, the dancer is still floating on the cloud on which she landed with the release of the film Wicked: partie 1.
As soon as it arrived on screens last weekend, the film adaptation of the musical surpassed predictions; in the United States, it took first place at the box office, thus making Gladiator II.
“It seems like I don’t fully realize it. And when I stop to think about it, I am overcome with emotion. I get chills just talking about it,” breathes the one who also walked the green carpet at the premiere of the film organized at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, earlier this month.
Photo provided by Shanie Blais
Like the production which won three Tony and Grammy awards, Jon M. Chu’s film focuses on the meeting of Glinda and Elphaba, destined to become respectively the good and evil witches of the classic tale The Wizard of Oz.
Dance…and lipsync
Shanie Blais appears alongside Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in the musical number What Is This Feeling?a song during which the rivalry between the two witches reaches its climax. The filming of this scene required several return trips to London for the Quebecer, with stays lasting between two weeks and a month each time.
Because in addition to rehearsals, singing lessons were given to all the dancers. For what? Because they had to embody a student choir, thus adding the lipsync to their primary obligations.
“This is definitely the most demanding – and stressful – project! – of my career. Wickedit’s a big machine, a big team. Everything must always be perfect, so you have to give your all every time,” says the Quebecer.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in “Wicked: Part 1.”
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIVERSAL
“Two incredible women”
Used to rubbing shoulders with the elite of the music industry – she has, among others, danced alongside Olivia Rodrigo, Karol G, Shania Twain and Camila Cabello – Shanie Blais still admits to having had to take “a good five minutes” to pull himself together by meeting Ariana Grande for the very first time, in rehearsals.
But if some stars are used to establishing a distance between themselves and the dancers accompanying them, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo recommend a very different approach, infinitely warmer, specifies Shanie Blais.
“We chatted with them between takes, they are two incredible women, very sweet and kind. We felt their respect, they appreciated our work; They knew that the dancers brought something grandiose to this musical number,” she confides.
The movie Wicked: partie 1 is currently showing.
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