We hooked up (well, not literally) with Robert in Beverly Hills to get the inside info on the hot new dance film, his dance history, his chemistry with co-star Briana Evigan and more. Robert's fly threads consisted of jeans, gray patterned tee and dark brown sweater. His hair is blonde-streaked brown. Let's get down to learning about the film and his amazing street dance moves....
TeenHollywood: Had you seen the original Step Up?
Robert: Me and Channing [Tatum] have worked together on a few projects, and I love Channing to death. I think he knows exactly how to get the response he wants from those young girls. I think he's really good at being 'that' guy. I thought it was a fun movie for young people. None of the dancing really stood out and blew me away, but I don't think it was meant to do that. I think it was meant to be a fun, romantic story. So, for what it was, I thought it was a great film. I thought it was fun, and I thought Channing did a good job.
TeenHollywood: So you think the dancing in this new sequel steps it up a notch?
Robert: [he just nods and smiles].
TeenHollywood: Did you have any input into the choreography?
Robert: Any of my solo stuff is all my choreography. As far as the rest of the choreography, Dave Scott was the choreographer for the MSA Crew, the 410 was done by "Hi Hat," and Jamal Sims was the overseer of all the choreography, and worked on Briana [Evigan's] solos. Anything I did with Dave Scott was just a collaborative thing. He would come in and bring the choreography and set everything up, and then me and all the dancers would just fine tune everything and tweak and pitch ideas. So, Dave was the choreographer, and we all just pitched in and made it happen.
TeenHollywood: Some of the hot moves in this movie look pretty dangerous. How much of that could you do yourself?
Robert: I had absolutely no stunt double, I can assure you of that. So, in short, all of it.
TeenHollywood: How dangerous is it? Were you hurt?
Robert: It's definitely dangerous. I've trained since I was a toddler, so I'm as capable as you can get to execute it safely. But, there are injuries. I don't think we had a single injury on this [film] though. I had a terribly sore back, and my knees were just banged up to all hell. It's just one of those things where you train since you're a kid to be as hyper-coordinated as possible so you can pull those things off under any circumstance. The trickiest thing to do wasn't the tricks themselves because we have those ready.
TeenHollywood: But you are dancing in a rain scene. Isn't that a unique challenge?
Robert: In the rain scene, and I didn't even see it coming, I had a jacket, a t-shirt and jeans on, all of which were completely drenched in water. So, a very basic move, with me just kicking off my back onto my feet, I could not do 'cause I had 10 pounds of weight on me! I was trying and was like, 'Oh, my God, I can't do this!' As good-looking as the rain scene turned out, it was actually dreadfully hard to maneuver with so much weight on.
TeenHollywood: Was it slippery?
Robert: No, it was perfect. We used a carpet that was the color of the concrete. I was really worried about that. I was like, 'You don't understand. You can't do this. We can't do knee spins on concrete. We're going to kill ourselves.' But, wet carpet is actually a wonderful dance floor, surprisingly.
TeenHollywood: How long did you film that rain scene to get it right?
Robert: It took two nights. But, it was over 20 takes. And, that's nothing. Me and everyone in the film are all dancers. Dancers are the least respected and least paid, but the hardest working of anyone in the industry. We're treated below extras, but we work harder than anybody. Doing the number wasn't the hard part. We're used to dancing a lot. What was hard was when we did re-shoots. We had to do re-shoots to get a better angle on one part, and it was on a night that was 30 degrees outside.
TeenHollywood: Yeow! Where was that?
Robert: We were at the Sepulveda Dam [in the L.A. area] re-shooting, and they had these big tanks of water that weren't insulated, whatsoever, so it was like ice needles hitting your skin. We just had a short amount of choreography that they needed to cover better. They'd play the music back and we would do it one more time. They had hot tubs, and we'd sit in the hot tubs, jump out and they'd say, 'Okay, go!,' and we'd do it one time, and they'd say, 'Okay, one more time,' and every single one of us, on the second take, got these really weird eyeball headaches. Our eyes started to have these terrible pains in them. I don't know what it was, but the cold and the moves caused it. That was Hell day.
TeenHollywood: How did you relate to your character? He's kind of the star dancer at a posh school.
Robert: I was lucky. This character is not a big stretch from me. Aside from the prep that you would do with any role, to just be able to play the circumstances accordingly, it was pretty easy to get engaged and enjoy being a privileged, confident, young, skilled dancer, and then let the relationship between me and Briana [Evigan, his co-star] build.
TeenHollywood: Having danced all your life, did you ever have any problems getting people to accept the way you wanted to dance like your character does?
Robert: I definitely don't want to come off like I was held back. I was a very privileged young boy. I had great training, and a lot of people supporting me. But, the one thing I could relate to is that I did have a lot of people telling me, 'Oh, if you want to be a dancer, you have to do ballet. You have to do this, that and the other.' They guided me, but I never got the privilege of having someone say to me, 'No. It's already in you. Your style is within you. Just know your voice and scream it as loud as you can', which is what I tell kids now. Know your voice and scream it as loud as you can. Michael Jackson told his mom not to put him classes, and just to let him do his thing and explore that, and he was encouraged. It's only been in more recent years that I've finally figured out that creativity comes from somewhere inside. There's no way to explain it. It isn't definable or teachable. It's just an instinct.
TeenHollywood: So, what were the actual methods you learned, growing up?
Robert: I started in traditional tap, jazz and ballet classes at a small dance studio in Alabama. And then, when I started to realize, 'Okay, this is all I care about,' I went to a fine arts high school and studied really hard in classical ballet. I met this hip-hop dance crew, called the BMW Crew in Birmingham, Alabama, and I'd go breakdance with them on the street. And, I had a girl named Kim Wolf teaching me jazz. So, I did hip-hop, B-boying, jazz, tap and ballet.
TeenHollywood: The TV show 'So You Think You Can Dance' helped legitimize street dancing for the nation. Do you think that had an impact on this type of movie, and movies to come?
Robert: I think it helped to legitimize it. That show really concretized street dance. When we did You Got Served, it was getting pretty legitimate, but I think 'So You Think You Can Dance' put a reality into it. I have to say I absolutely love that show. When it first came out, I was like, 'Oh, God, what are they going to do?' 'cause there had been some cheap dance shows that had come out in the past. It's always good to have dance in the forefront, but it's nice when they represent it well, and they really do have the best choreographers in the world. Mia Michaels, Wade Robson and Dave Scott are the best, and the kids are amazing. I'm absolutely blown away when I see all these new kids. I can't speak highly enough about that show.
TeenHollywood: Can you talk about working with Briana Evigan and building a rapport with her? Your director says you two had great chemistry.
Robert: Me and Briana clicked right from the beginning. I had read with a couple other girls and nothing was really happening. I was like, 'Oh, no!' And, that was back when this movie wasn't expected to do much. It was just going to be a straight-to-DVD release. I was like, 'Oh, no, this is going to be tough.' And, Briana was the last girl they brought in, and it was magic, right off the top. We just gelled. We understood each other. We hadn't been directed to, and everyone else had just done the lines, as is, but she and I went right off the script and started bantering, and it was there from the first minute. The jabs, and yet the undertone of attraction, was right in place from the beginning.
TeenHollywood: Do you have a favorite musical film?
Robert: Grease was fun.
TeenHollywood: We hear that, on set there was a real life competition between the dancers playing the MSA kids, and the 410 Crew. True?
Robert: Dancers are all gypsies and we all know each other. We've all lived, three people in a one-bedroom apartment. We're communal people because we have to be. And, there's a deep love and deep understanding because we've bled and sweated and starved together, all our lives. But, there's also a fierce competitive spirit among dancers, for props and respect. So, as much love and community as there was on the set, there was absolutely a big time, unspoken feeling of, 'Who's going to get the biggest response when we do the final battle?' When the 410 got to go first, the background actors were losing their minds. We knew we really had to step it up for our piece. So, there was definitely a natural competitiveness there, absolutely.
TeenHollywood: Are there any dance movies that you really enjoy?
Robert: Let's be honest, we got robbed at the Oscars with You Got Served. I think we were absolutely overlooked. No, I'm kidding. I'll be honest, I'm a really picky guy with films. With You Got Served, we definitely brought something people had never seen, dance wise. On that alone, I favor that movie. [Until then] no one was really getting the ingredients together and getting the right choreographer, the right B-boys and people that could vibe and make it happen. But, there's no dance movies that really stand out. There's none in my Top 5 faves right now.
TeenHollywood: Gymnastics is a big part of the dancing. Do you think that will inspire youth to become more athletic?
Robert: In the past, I think dance has the stigma of being less than masculine. Especially with this new kind of dancing, and the athleticism and gymnastics side of it, clearly it's become a much bigger draw for the male side. And, I would attribute that to the hip-hop side of it, which is more of an aggressive macho dance form, and the gymnastics.
TeenHollywood: Did you study gymnastics?
Robert: No. I took a year and a half at my little dance studio in Alabama, and I couldn't do a back handspring or a back flip, and I got so pissed off that I threw in the towel. Since then, I can do a butterfly twist, and I've learned things that I've really wanted to obtain. But, just traditional gymnastics, I couldn't do. I could not go upside down and backwards. I was way too afraid.
TeenHollywood: Who and/or what inspired you to dance, in the first place?
Robert: Michael Jackson, absolutely. Almost anyone in my age bracket would say the same thing I don't remember if it was "Bad" or "Thriller." My mom says it was "Thriller." But, I saw it, and it wasn't like I wanted to train to be a dancer, it just locked in. I was like, 'Oh, my God, I have to have that. I have to lean towards that. I have to figure this thing out, where this guy moves magically to music and inspires you.' I didn't know it was called dance. It was just that thing and I wanted it. I was home with my dad and we were watching old videos of me as a kid, and I was riding on my bike and then I would just stand up and [dance]. So, yeah, Michael was just so uninhibited and so aggressive, confident and bold. He was just such a monster of entertainment. So, absolutely, Michael Jackson is what did it for me.
TeenHollywood: This movie opens on Valentine's Day. Do you have any special plans for Valentine's Day?
Robert: I'm going to get a tattoo of 'Step Up 2' across my chest. No, I'm kidding. I'm going to be in New Zealand. I'm going to call my manager and say, 'Hey, how did it go?' That's what I'm going to be doing.
TeenHollywood: What are you doing in New Zealand?
Robert: I'm doing a film called They Came From Upstairs. It's a Fox family adventure comedy film with Ashley Tisdale, Andy Richter, Tim Meadows, Kevin Nealon and Doris Roberts. I couldn't be more excited.
TeenHollywood: Who do you play in the upcoming film Kids in America?
Robert: It's a fun, quick little character bit. It's been over a year but I think I played a guy named Tyler. Just wait until you see my costume. My costume is outstanding, and I'm at a party and Dan Fogler hits on my girl and I challenge him to a dance-off. And, although I might have out-danced him, he definitely won the battle. You'll just have to see it. It's brilliant.
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