Jaafar Jackson: Unseen Dance Rehearsal Footage to Become Michael Jackson – dw

Tell us about the Did you dance before this? Cuz you dance amazingly in the in the clip. I knew how to move. You know, I had rhythm, but definitely did not dance like that. I knew how challenging this would be to take on playing Michael Jackson. And it was not easy. Definitely wasn’t. Every move matters.

Every detail matters. Jafar Jackson didn’t just learn a dance routine. He had to rebuild step by step movements that his uncle spent 30 years perfecting. Every glide, every spin, every tiny shoulder pop had to look like it came from Michael Jackson’s body, not his own. That is a much harder task than most people realize.

Uh these dance was kind of locked away in your body and then all of a sudden this this role came to you and you know how to do everything so perfectly well or was there like a training? There’s definitely a training cuz uh when I look back at videos when I first started to learn the choreography and some of the moves, uh it’s pretty embarrassing and I can laugh at it.

Uh now that I’ve gotten better, but it was a long process in the making to get to that point where I can feel confident in the moves. Before he became known as the actor who played Michael Jackson, Jafar was mostly known within his own family. He grew up around music but didn’t grow up trying to copy his uncle.

When the role came along, he had to start almost from zero on the physical side. Knowing the songs was one thing. Moving like Michael on stage was something completely different. There were many different difficult parts about it. Uh but the most was probably the I always say the performance uh of of not just doing the moves, but really owning the moves and and making it your own where it feels like it’s like it’s the foundation is coming from you.

And that took me a long time and I still feel, you know, I didn’t really nail it like I wanted to in certain things. He has spoken about how intense the process of preparing for this role was, describing it as something that shaped him before he ever stepped in front of a camera. That preparation didn’t start with cameras rolling.

Well, the bad song actually. And it was day one. We we That was the first day. That was the first day. Oh my god. Shooting up here. Yeah. We started on the highest level and it was so demanding. I just remember having so much builtup anticipation and excitement because I was rehearsing for a couple years.

It started in empty rehearsal rooms with mirrors, a speaker, and hours of repetition process. That was almost 2 years of just the auditioning. And that’s before I even knew I was really going to play. And then after that, I had like another year and a half to really hone in on the little details and nuances and and with that confidence knowing that I have the role.

But the pro the auditioning process was was very very challenging, but it really helped me to shape what I needed to before going into into Michael. The first step wasn’t dancing. It was watching. Jafar studied hours of Michael’s old performances, breaking them down piece by piece. He wasn’t just watching for fun.

He was studying footwork angles, the timing between beats, and the way Michael’s shoulders moved before his feet even started. I met with Rich and Tone who are Michael’s choreographers and we were wondering, can Jafar really do this? Can he really do the most iconic moves the world has seen? Land like this. Yeah, I’m always on the wrong side.

This kind of study is different from simply memorizing steps. Michael’s dancing was built on tiny details that most viewers never notice consciously, but they feel them. A slightly delayed hip movement, a pause before a spin that builds tension. Joffar had to catch these details and then try to put them into his own body in a believable way.

And at first it Yeah, you might have the move right as far as where the foot should be and everything, but if the feeling’s not there, then it’s just kind of empty. Choreographers work closely with him during this stage, correcting small things again and again. Intuition tone, get him in a rehearsal room, give him some training, and let me know what you think.

A shoulder held too high. a step landing a fraction too early. These are the kinds of corrections that don’t look like much from the outside, but they are the difference between an imitation and a performance that feels real. Thank you. Which one was the hardest? Um, I would say probably Billy Jean, Mottown 25.

Some movements were harder than others. The spin into a towand made famous during performances of Billy Jean required precise footing and balance. Rehearsal footage shows Jafar attempting the spin, stopping, catching his breath, and resetting to try again. It’s not a move you can rush.

One wrong shift in weight and the whole thing falls apart. Two, I will say the spin and the moon walker are definitely uh the most challenging. The way Michael spins, you know, going into I didn’t think it would be that hard or I knew it would be somewhat challenging, but not as hard as I it came out to be cuz I’m I’m still, you know, trying to figure that out.

I usually if I were to spin I spin to my right and Michael spins to his left. So it it was so challenging to find that balance and get used to spinning on the opposite side where you’re naturally used to and doing in the way that looks just like Michael or to have that speed and intensity.

He didn’t get it in one try. The footage shows him going back to his starting position multiple times, adjusting his stance slightly each time until the rotation finally lands clean and sharp. He really thought of every little thing to to put on a show to entertain the the audiences at the highest level. And and if you look at his records and the tempo of the records, he would always up the tempo when he perform it because he could do more dance moves.

He can he can be it’s more to his rhythm of how he dances. So I started to learn that throughout the entire process. So I would do the same thing when I would rehearse, try different tempos, do it back to back. The moonwalk presented its own kind of challenge. It looks smooth and effortless when it’s done right, but it depends on a very specific shift of weight between the heel and the toe.

Get it wrong and it looks like normal walking backward. Rehearsal footage shows Jafar working through this slowly, testing his footing again and again before the movement starts to look like it’s gliding instead of stepping. The moonwalk. Uh I mean as a kid I always used to try and do it but it’s different when you’re doing as a kid to when then you’re trying to do it just like Michael and look just like him doing it.

The moonwalk is very challenging for many different reasons. The flooring is important with the shoes you’re wearing and that was something new for me is being able to dance in loafers and and getting used to that. There was also the physical conditioning side. Performing these routines while singing live takes a level of stamina that regular dance training doesn’t always prepare someone for.

far never stopped dancing. He was rehearsing all the way up to the moment we start filming. It’s natural. It’s a flow all together. Trainers pushed him through repeated full routines with almost no rest in between, building the endurance needed to perform explosive movements without losing breath control.

That control of the weight shift, the smoother is going to look. I started to rehearse for hours and hours upon hours until one single move was right. Dancing until my feet would bleed or them go numb. There’s so many times I would wake up sore like should I go rehearsse? Should I just take a break and let the body relax? Then the other part of my mind be like, “No, what would Michael do?” Somewhere in the middle of all this repetition, something started to shift.

The movements that look stiff or forced in early rehearsal sessions began to look natural. This is the part of the process that rehearsal footage captures best. It’s not one dramatic moment. It’s a slow build, session after session, where copying starts to turn into understanding. There’s a real difference between doing a move because it’s the next step in a routine and doing it because you understand why Michael moved that way in the first place.

Every gesture had a reason behind it. Whether it was building suspense before a spin or using a sharp shoulder pop to hit an accent in the music, Jafar had to learn the reasoning, not just the shape of the movement. Okay. Now, what was the moment where you looked in the mirror and it hit you that you transformed into your Uncle Michael? It’s when I I was able to uh land three spins and stop on my toes.

That’s like, okay, I’m getting somewhere. And the spins are to the left, right? Yeah, to the left. which was hard for me because initially I would uh when I would try to spin I’d spin to my right naturally and I had to learn to do it opposite which was it took a long time to get used to that.

This shows clearly in the rehearsal of the thriller choreography. Recreating those stiff mechanical zombie movements while still keeping them sharp and controlled is not easy. Footage from these sessions shows choreographers making small adjustments to Jafar’s chest position and head tilt, fine-tuning the rigid timing that made the original routine so recognizable from sun uh sunset to sunrise for two nights all through the night shooting.

Dancing all night long. All night long on cement, which was uh [laughter] quite I heard your foot your feet bled during some of this. There were some moments uh yeah, there were they would go numb cuz it was also freezing. But to be in that actual location and to see the zombies around and there were so many times I I couldn’t really believe I was recreating uh one of the most iconic or the most iconic video of all time.

After weeks of repetition, corrections, and small breakthroughs, the difference becomes obvious. What started as careful, deliberate copying turned into something that looked instinctive. When you put the early rehearsal clips next to the final performance footage, the growth is clear. The hesitation is gone. The timing is locked in.

The movement finally looks like it belongs to him. Work out the dancing. And that was a whole thing for me. That was a whole another uh side to learn. And it it really was a culmination of many couple years in the working of of preparing and really disciplining myself to embodying Michael in the truest way.

That’s the real value of unseen rehearsal footage like this. Audiences only ever see the polished final result on screen. They don’t see the hours spent resetting a spin that didn’t land or the session spent just walking backwards slowly to understand a moonwalk. The rehearsal clips show the part of the process that usually stays hidden.

having that first time experience on a set, but to betray my uncle Michael and all the time I put into preparation, then to finally, you know, release it on on set and as much as I possibly can. And then to be here and seeing the reaction from everyone and the fact that there’s so many people that came out, it it’s I couldn’t I couldn’t be happier.

I really couldn’t be happier. Becoming Michael Jackson on screen wasn’t about looking similar or knowing the songs. It required rebuilding decades of physical mastery inside someone else’s body, one rehearsal at a time. The unseen footage of Jaar’s training shows exactly how much repetition, correction, and patience went into a performance that on screen looks completely effortless.

When you saw Michael Jackson perform on stage, it gave you a feeling. And they get that same feeling with Jafar. After seeing how much work Jafar put into these rehearsals, which Michael Jackson move do you think was the hardest for him to master? If you enjoyed this look behind the scenes, hit the like and subscribe buttons.

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