The latest project from the Groove Junkies is set to release early May. Juste Debout’s U.S. competition winners and Groove Junkie’s Shanna Lim worked hard to prepare a coast-to-coast dance video project: U.S. Kings & Legacies. I got to interview Shanna, a.k.a. Shae, on the project’s development and her experience as a dancer.

Shae makes the video project seem like a breeze, but she scoured her contacts for Juste Debout dancers winners. They had met over a previous partnership with Words Beats & Life in 2020 (you can find these vids on our YouTube playlist).

When asked about the similarities between this project and her previous work, Shae says “All my stuff is site-specific and outside, so that’s similar which speaks to my niche in all the work I do.” U.S. Kings & Legacies is all street dance, using the public area as a component almost as important as the dancers themselves.

Shae describes one of the biggest challenges with this project as being the style of the dance itself and casting. “Some have already established themselves… and others are maybe focused on other [genres of dance]. It can be a struggle…” Another challenge was having different dancers across the U.S. being able to film their dances. Shae says that “for some, they will rent their own [production teams] or hire a media person to shoot for them.” She goes on to say that it can depend on the individual dancer coming up with the cost. With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the production process, these costs may be higher than usual or it may be difficult to reach out to a friend to film.

In the video, you can see Stiggity Stacks experimenting with a 360º camera to film himself. His segment gives a rich contrast to the filming technique of the other dancers.

Working with the dancers in DC, Shae was present to direct and coordinate in person. “It was easy,” she recalls. It was a completely different experience when directing dancers in other states. Shae had to direct remotely. “Without the finances, I wasn’t able to go to the other places. It was left for me to have them read the directions, call them, try to make the interviews... Some had to reshoot. It was definitely an obstacle. Some were very busy.”

Despite those hurdles, the video is fun, upbeat, and a fantastic showcase of the U.S. competition winners. You can expect the U.S. Kings & Legacies video to drop May 4th on wblinc.org and the Words Beats & Life YouTube channel.