Four years after the fact, Megan Lawson still sounds a little incredulous when she explains how Madonna discovered her: on YouTube. “My friend and I made up a little combination to [Rihanna’s] ‘Skin,’ and that combo made it to Madonna’s eyeballs, on her computer,” says the Los Angeles–based choreographer. Soon, Lawson was teaching the same combo to dancers auditioning for a weeklong workshop, at the Material Girl’s request. And today, she’s choreographing Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour, which kicked off in September. It’s a far cry from her humble studio upbringing in Canada, but Lawson says she’s not intimidated by working for such a megastar: “Like any job, I want to execute what the client has asked for or the artist wants,” she explains. “We’ll work on it together until we find it.”
On casting dancers “I always look for unique, confident individuals. I love when someone walks into an audition, not trying to impress me or give me what they think I want, but just showing me who they are. With Madonna, she doesn’t need you to be beautiful or shaped a certain way. She wants people who are strong in both body and mind. Open-mindedness and versatility are two other very important Madonna-dancer qualities.”
Lawson, posing for a creative photography session
Choreographing for Madonna “In the beginning, if she didn’t like something, I would take it very personally. But I realized, ‘No, no, no,’ that I needed to be unattached to things being a certain way. I’m not going to get it perfect the first time. And it’s the evolution and the collaboration with her that is the beautiful thing of where the piece ends up.”
Figuring out her place in L.A. “I suffered from a major identity crisis when I moved to Los Angeles. I think a lot of young dancers feel this—small fish, big pond. I thought I should be taking certain classes and auditioning for certain jobs. Auditioning—never my thing. I just didn’t enjoy the process. Trying to learn over a sea of girls in lingerie, I felt like, ‘One of these things is not like the other.’ I didn’t understand at that time the advice that I give now, to be unique and individual. In the end, I found a group of friends to work with and that became more rewarding than dancing behind an artist or on an awards show.” DT
Education: Dance Spectrum studio in Calgary, Canada; Triple Threat Dance Convention, under Carolina Lancaster and Kelly and Dorie Konno
Performance: Fanny Pak dance crew, 2008 to present; for Hozier; Missy Elliott; Ellen DeGeneres; Primetime Emmy Awards
Choreography: Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour
Both photos by Rob Daly, courtesy of Lawson
