She’s choreographed for Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Nicki Minaj. Now, you know her as the hip Asian gal in Justin Bieber’s lyric video for ‘Sorry’. Not only did she create the mesmerizing moves for the video but also directed and produced it, recruiting dancers from her worldwide award-winning crews ReQuest and The Royal Family. Her name is Parris Goebel and she’s the one dressed all in black and draped in gold. She choreographed the entire video along with ReQuest, the all-female hip-hop dance crew from Auckland, New Zealand.
Get ready to see more of this dance queen. This in demand Kiwi and creator of Polyswagg, plans to work with Rihanna and Beyonce!
What is Polyswagg?
ASIANCE: What is your background and training in dance? How early did you start?
Parris I remember always dancing from when I was as young as 3 years old. I did performing arts for a couple of years then just focused on hip hop and are pretty much self taught.
ASIANCE: When you choreograph, do you listen to the music first and visualize your moves or do you create moves then apply to music? What’s the method behind your madness! 🙂
Parris You always have to listen to the music first as you choreograph to the music and what the words are of the song.
ASIANCE: Is your mom Polynesian?
Parris My mother is Samoan.
ASIANCE: What is the story behind your first name? Why two ‘r’s?
Parris Ask my parents – they just wanted to spell my name differently.
ASIANCE: Did you watch ‘America’s Best Dance Crew’? Love that show! Is there any particular dance team you enjoy watching?
Parris Didn’t watch it.
ASIANCE: What do you look for in a dancer in order for them to be a part of your team?
Parris Passion – if they are passionate and have that fire in their eyes then they can be made into great dancers.
ASIANCE: Your style is so cool! Are you influenced by anyone or favor any designers?
Parris My style is forever changing as I wear things I see and never stay the same. I love Joyrich, Moschino & LV.
ASIANCE: When your video ‘Sorry’ came out, we thought Justin Bieber was going to join you. Did you know that ultimately you and your girls would be the stars of it?
Parris We knew that Justin wasn’t going to be in the video as it was only meant to be a lyric video and only had two days to shoot it so we shot it in New Zealand with my girls.
ASIANCE: Any plans for anymore Justin Bieber videos?
Parris I’m proud of the 13 videos we have done so far and nothing planned at this stage.
ASIANCE: How did you connect with Nicki and JLo? What are they like to work with?
Parris Both of them are great to work with. Very focused and know what they want. Both of them trust me and give me creative freedom to work on their songs.
ASIANCE: Who would you love to work with?
Parris Rihanna & Beyonce.
ASIANCE: Do you like the Beat Freaks? They’re amazing!! Rino? Fellow Asian gal..
Parris They definitely helped put female dancers in the public view when on ABDC.
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