Jaron talks around the 2 a.m. wake up call.
The office asked my manager if we could try out for a Madonna audition. Lady Soul called me up and asked me to do an audition for Madonna in L.A. I said "Oh yeah! When is it?" This was 2 a.m. She said we would give at 7 a.
.that morning. So we met at the airport, two other FootworKINGz, one was King Charles. He had the flu, but nonetheless went. T.J. - he`s from the West Side - went also. They had been practicing a function that I didn`t know, so I was leaving to freestyle.
We went to Los Angeles. Nobody knew what we were almost to do. It was a three-day process.
The 1st day was specialty dance, where we did our own thing. The 2nd day we had to learn choreography. I ever did footwork. Me learning another way of dancing was new to me. I never did that before, especially in face of mirrors. Learning how to do hip hop in the mirrors was like third man to me. They saw we were not as well as the others, but they saw it was good enough. We passed the 2nd day.
On the 3rd day, Madonna came to watch it out. We did our strength and the choreography in presence of her. Our whole goal was to express her footworking. We did not bear any intentions of getting picked. We only wanted to get back home and tell veryone we did footworking in face of Madonna. We wanted her to see it. We wanted to showcase it.
She saw us dance and so told us, "I suppose you guys have been practicing to my music."
Me, personally, I told her, `but I didn`t know all of your songs.` For us, footworking was 160 beats per minute. Dancing to her songs was much slower. For us it was dancing in slow motion.
She thought we practiced to every one of her songs, because she told us we were striking all the notes. When we told her we didn`t apply to her songs, she stood up and told the studio to play an unreleased song at the time.
Madonna said, "This way I`ll know if you guys are singing the truth. I am performing a song nobody has ever heard before. I`m going to see if you guys can dance to every beat on this song. There is no way you guys could have good to this one."
At the sentence the call was Make It to Me. Madonna then counted us down, told everyone in the studio she did not wish to see anyone else but the jukers. That`s what she called us, instead of saying footworkers, she said jukers from Chicago.
She counted us down.
When she was acquiring the music ready, King Charles reminded me of an old FootworKing routine we did when we first started. We decided to do that. When Madonna counted us down, all 3 of us did the old routine. It was to every beat. The number went perfect with her unreleased song. Everybody in the studio was clapping.
Right then she said "I wish you guys to perform Give it to Me."
You could say she liked it; it wasn`t a definite yes and it wasn`t a definite no. We were put on a wait list. We went home and told everyone we made it to the final day.
The Announcement
Time went on. Months passed. The following year we were doing a point in New York. After our performance, our manager went onstage and proclaimed to the audience, "I wish to bring this time out and congratulate King Charles and Prince Jron for devising the Madonna tour."
I was like "what?" I looked at Charles, he was as surprised as I was. Our manager knew but wanted to storm us at the show.
After the New York show, a few months after the promoters had to get tour dates in order. A few months after we left to go to the rehearsals. It was a month of rehearsals before we did the first show. Madonna wanted to make sure everything was neat, clean and presentable for the show.
It was my first time doing a concert, so we had to get the kinks out. Everyone had to be at the same level, being on the big stage like that. It was but a promo tour; just three shows New York, Paris and Kent. We did those three shows.
The point was big and so was the crowd. I then imagined what a worldwide tour would be like; three times bigger, the crowd 20 times bigger. I kept thinking I was happy only to take the promo tour.
It was at that moment, where I felt like we did it.
The Test
Jaron explains one of the times they were put to "the test."
The day ahead the last promo show, we were rehearsing. Madonna came up and said she was giving Chicago dancers a new song. We just rehearsed Give It to Me. Madonna said she wanted us to do another song called Miles Away.
I thought, "The concert is tomorrow!"
We had to give up a bit and present it inside a few hours. Then I heard Madonna tell the crowd "I know they can do it. I believe in them."
Right after she said that it was time for rehearsal to end. What were we release to do? On the car ride from the rehearsal spot to the hotel, me and King Charles decided to use all night at the hotel.
Once we got back to the hotel, we got a message saying Madonna wants everyone to play in the hall in an hour to look a piano dinner. Oh no! That only took us (from making) up the new routine. We got to the piano dinner not being able to practice. I told King Charles, "We are here. We make to draw up this routine."
Me and King Charles were in the tree at the dinner, talking on the new routine. By the sentence we got back to the hotel, it was 2:30 a.m. We took one minute to build up something. We had to get some sleep because the concert was late that day. We took to the point with the new routine.
It came out perfect.
Madonna turned to us and said, "I can depend on you for anything. You guys proved to me that I can depend on you."
I told her "I was glad I proved it to you. I also proved it to myself as well."
The Call
After the promo tour, we went back home to Chicago Heights.
Months passed. Then we got the promise we were passing to be in Madonna`s world tour, Sticky and Sweet in 2008. I would be asleep for 7 months.
We travelled to Mexico, Brazil, Europe and North America. We still got a prospect to do our own section in Madonna`s show.
In the earth tour me, Prince Jron, and King Charles got our own thing for nearly 4 minutes, while Madonna changed costumes. For her to commit us to hold the push at that level . . . We did a song called "Die Another Day," which was a remix of juke music.
In that number, we footworked . . . King Charles and I were boxing each other. Using our lower body and upper body.
I never boxed before. King Charles and I had to study how to box, to do it look real. We choreographed the footwork dance with the boxing.
It was an awesome experience. Going to each country, I took pictures and video. I wanted to deal with my family everything that I saw. I wanted to blow it up like a sponge, the cultures, language and food. When I was on tour, my friends from Chicago Heights kept messaging me (about) how often I am inspiring them to be their dreams and to be better (people). I only want to set a right case for others, to suppress their dreams and live big goals.
Coming Home
King Charles and Prince Jron were called back for part two of the Embarrassing and Sweet tour, which made a point in Chicago. Jaron explains his homecoming performance.
We came to Chicago and performed at the United Center. My mom and former class members came to the show. They got a probability to go backstage and meet Madonna.
She told my family, "This is my son. I take charge of him."
I was so glad for them to see me do on such a big stage. Charles`s mom was there as well. It was an emotional show for us.
At every other point we didn`t know anyone, Chicago was different, we had family out there supporting us. It was so dear to be in Chicago. I take to get out (during) the beginning call to give Madonna her cane. Each point the crew begins to scream. This point the screams sounded like a monster, so it really pumped me up. I was giving 200 percent the all night. I wanted to make sure my home was proud, my mom was smiling the all night.
That was one of the best nights of my life. My highlight night.
thanks To Sylvia!
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