Vincent Paterson feels “honoured” to have worked with Michael Jackson.
The 76-year-old choreographer worked with Michael for more than 15 years, developing the dance routines for his Super Bowl halftime show, the Bad tour, and the Smooth Criminal music video, and Vincent feels grateful to have worked so extensively with the pop icon.
Speaking to People, Vincent reflected: “You just want to do the best job you possibly can at the moment. And working with Michael Jackson, the fun was that he always wanted me to create something that the world had never seen before. What more can an artist ask for than that?”
Michael – who died in June 2009, aged 50 – allowed Vincent to develop his own “crazy ideas”.
The choreographer considers the Smooth Criminal music video – which opens with Michael flipping a coin across the room and having it land in the jukebox – to be a career high point.
Vincent said: “I started it out that way, and I thought, ‘We have to keep coming up with some of these crazy things throughout.’ I’m really happy that it all succeeded.
“I’m just so happy that even today, people are still talking about and writing me about it and having the joy of sharing their kids’ joy with the video.”
Vincent still remembers Michael being “blown away” by the idea for the music video.
The dancer said: “He was blown away. It was a great, great moment. Everybody in the room was very excited about that.”
Vincent added: “I’m so honoured. I’m so grateful.”
The choreographer has also worked with Madonna during his career – but he insists the pop stars are “very different”.
He reflected: “Madonna worked in the room with me, and we would keep on going until she knew it.
“I would teach him primarily what I created, and then he would go into a space by himself and repeat the same movement, I don’t even know, for half an hour or two hours until it came out of his body so perfectly that everybody thought the movement came from himself. And that gave me great joy, that it felt that organic for him.”