{"id":26365,"date":"2021-09-15T17:53:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T21:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/?p=26365"},"modified":"2021-09-15T17:56:13","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T21:56:13","slug":"choreographer-spotlight-jimmie-manners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/choreographer-spotlight-jimmie-manners\/","title":{"rendered":"Choreographer Spotlight: Jimmie Manners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article & photos by Anne Calder
\nPictured: Manners with Lorraine McNamara & Anton Spiridonov<\/em><\/p>\n

Elena Novak and Alexei Kiliakov opened the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy in 2003. Seventeen years later, the directors, coaches and dancers relocated from Maryland to the ION International Training Center in Leesburg, Virginia. The group is now called the ION-Wheaton Ice Skating Academy<\/p>\n

In September 2020, the ISU Ice Dance Committee announced that <\/span>\u201cStreet Dance Rhythms\u201d <\/span>(such as hip-hop, disco, swing, krump, popping, funk, etc.) would be the required Rhythm Dance for 2021-2022. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The parent of one of WISA\u2019s ice dancers at the time wanted a street dance instructor for additional coaching of her daughter. The search led to the discovery and eventual hiring of hip-hop dancer extraordinaire, Jimmie Manners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently at the 2021 LPIDI held at the Skating Club of Boston, Manners shared his story with IDC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get DMs all the time requesting me to come to a studio and teach a class,\u201d Manners said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know the lady. She was asking about ice-skating, so I thought she had the wrong person. I just brushed off the request. Then Elena Novak contacted me and also mentioned working with ice skaters and would love to talk with me. Again, I still wasn\u2019t sure it was a real thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHer last email said she knew I was busy, but could I recommend someone in LA. That told me she was looking for someone with a certain caliber, and she was serious. We spoke, and she explained the situation. What really piqued my interest was the Rhythm Dance allowing hip-hop and street dances this year. It finally made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jimmie Manners arrived at WISA with a diversified resume that had its genesis with his first steps at nine months.<\/p>\n

Once Jimmie Manners began walking, his feet rarely stopped moving. His mother recognized his budding talent and put him in a ballet class when he was three years old. His father wanted him to also do Martial Arts. Since the youngster watched MA movies with his dad and Mikhail Baryshnikov with his mother, he told his parents that he wanted to be a Ballet Ninja.<\/p>\n

His whole life starting in kindergarten at the Thomas G. Pullen Arts Magnet School in Harlem was dancing throughout the year plus academics during school time. His mother started an African Dance Company at the school so she could be there with him. He also danced weekends and in the summer in the Harlem Dance Theatre residency program.<\/span><\/p>\n

Manner\u2019s activities became even more intense during his high school years at the Baltimore School for the Arts. <\/span>The day began at 8:30 in the morning with four hours of dance, followed by academics until 4:30. The second week of school they began rehearsals that lasted another 2-3 hours. Then they would go home, go to sleep, wake up and do it all over again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In ninth grade he also had a role in the HBO series The Wire under the name Jimmie Jelani Manners.<\/p>\n

Manners received a full scholarship to the Philadelphia University of the Arts. Dance was his life. He always knew that\u2019s what he wanted to do; he just wasn\u2019t sure how anymore. In college he realized his goals were changing. He no longer wanted to be boxed-in to just the world of ballet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He had gotten booked for the movie Step-Up, but as a scholarship student, he wasn\u2019t allowed to take time off from school.\u00a0 <\/span>He was a little dejected especially when the movie came out, and he saw his friends dancing, and one even get to perform with Janet Jackson afterwards.<\/p>\n

In his second year of college, a teacher pulled him aside and told him he could go into the dance world immediately. He just needed to make a decision. Did he want to stay and get a Fine Arts\u2019 degree or leave with a certificate and start performing right away.\u00a0 <\/span>He knew he wanted to perform immediately.<\/p>\n

Manners had a plan\u2026<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been in college for two years, and was bored. He wanted to be a force to be reckoned with in the commercial industry. He had scheduled an audition in New York City with a hip-hop company called Rhapsody, and he also had a job as a fitness trainer in Philadelphia. If he got into the company, he was going to leave school. He was going to try to get hired to an agency and start booking movies and TV shows.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Manners with Caroline Green & Michael Parsons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Manners never had any formal hip-hop training, it was the culture he grew up in. It was a part of him. He also knew he could always draw on all his dance skills. He strongly believes that if you can do ballet and modern, you can most likely accomplish anything because ballet teaches ultimate body control, and modern teaches ultimate muscle control.<\/p>\n

He was invited to join the Rhapsody Company and in 2006 began commuting by train almost daily to New York City for rehearsals, while still continuing to work as a fitness trainer in Philadelphia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He was dancing and getting trained in hip-hop and loved it. It seems crazy now, but at the beginning, he didn\u2019t even own a pair of sweat pants. He was dancing in these cool boot-cut jeans until the instructor asked someone to take him out to buy some.<\/p>\n

Represented by Bloc Talent Agency, Manners did his very first audition for hip-hop dance choreographer Luther Brown. He also acted in the film Step Up 2: The Streets and taught and choreographed at the Broadway Dance Center before making the move to Los Angeles. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In California, his extensive career in the commercial world of dance included videos with many iconic artists and also performing for two years in Jennifer Lopez\u2019s Las Vegas residency, All I Have.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, Elena and Alexei brought me in to work strictly with the hip-hop,\u201d Manners noted. \u201cThe first session was off-ice and by the second week the team had started formulating the rhythm dance programs. That\u2019s when they learned my background was based in ballet and modern dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak envisioned his extensive classical training benefitting her skaters and widening their exposure to new styles and methods.<\/p>\n

While the Free Dances were already structured, she now wanted him to help make a few of them better \u2013 in particular Lorraine McNamara & Anton Spiridonov\u2019s Phantom of the Opera <\/i>Choreographic Step Sequence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI literally choreographed the whole thing again to give it some dynamo \u2013 make it more boisterous and reflect the music,\u201d he revealed. \u201cWe wanted it to be deep and continue the story. We got in the studio and then on the ice. It\u2019s one of my favorite moments of all the groups. It\u2019s so deep, and they do it so well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI also worked with them on their performance, with their arms and using their bodies to their full potential, making sure the movements are full, sharp, strong tension, so we can feel it in the audience. They are not only competing, but also making it a performance. That\u2019s what sticks in your mind \u2013 it\u2019s been a great process.\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, Spiridonov was tentative about working with Manners. \u201cHonestly, I was a bit afraid. I didn\u2019t know what to expect before I met Jimmie, but within the first 60 seconds, when we started choreographing our routines, I knew it was going to be amazing. Then it kept on progressing and accelerating, and I\u2019ve loved every moment of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team of Molly [Cesanek] and Yehor [Yehorov] have a very distinctive way of moving,\u201d Manners pointed out. \u201cWhen I choreograph I like to highlight the artist and not just put my moves on people.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith them I tried to keep it as similar to the way they move because I love how they organically move together. I also wanted to show the contrast between the softness and sharpness and high and low holds in the program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the biggest thing I helped them with \u2013 kind of the dynamics and texture of their movement and musicality \u2013 like assigning each movement \u2013 each crossover \u2013 each thing a specific part of the music so it would connect with the audience more \u2013 connect with the judges more and get those points for being on that music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the rhythm dance, I gave them a crash course because we didn\u2019t have much time,\u201d Manners said. \u201cI made sure to give them the foundations, so whatever choreography I did give to them, it was familiar to their bodies. They\u2019ve embraced it, and they look great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Manners with Molly Cesanek & Yehor Yehorov<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cesanek & Yehorov shared their thoughts on working with the new choreographer.<\/p>\n

\u201cJimmie Manners choreographed all our hip-hop,\u201d Cesanek explained. \u201cWe had never done hip-hop before, so learning from him gave us the opportunity to say that we can do hip-hop now. We\u2019re still learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely out of our comfort zone,\u201d Yehorov added. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited because we put hip-hop\/blues together, which pushed us to do something new that people hadn\u2019t done before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some of the rhythm dances, I came up with the music; some of it was collaboration,\u201d Manners said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCaroline [Green] and Michael [Parsons] kind of had an idea what they wanted to do. Once I saw they were going the Janet Jackson route I said that\u2019s perfect. We can do an ode to Rhythm Nation. We did have a Janet dance for the blues section, but it didn\u2019t flow well, so we chose \u201cNever Going to Get It\u201d. I felt that was a great mesh.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked if he was having fun in this new environment, Jimmie Manners roared out one of his contagious laughs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m loving the process <\/span>because it\u2019s similar to my industry. I\u2019m a very intense choreographer and teacher with energy. They match it because they\u2019re very serious about it. They want to do their very best. They\u2019re open to learning new things; they\u2019re open to moving in different ways.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of unorthodox techniques and ideas that come. They\u2019ve been embracing, and they\u2019ve grown. You can see that with all of them. I\u2019ve also learned how to choreograph within the rules, within the guidelines. It\u2019s pushed me to do things differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen WISA spoke about the next Olympics, I made a goal within myself to try to bring some change \u2013 bring a new level of artistry to figure skating, and I\u2019ve been choreographing with that in mind. I\u2019ve been trying to do things and encourage them to move in ways that may be more difficult for them and also do something no one has ever seen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jimmie Manners is now a full-time ION-WISA coach after accepting Novak and Kiliakov\u2019s invitation to join their team. He has transitioned into his third industry \u2013 ballet \u2013 commercial dance \u2013 figure skating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs I considered the offer, I felt I\u2019d accomplished all the goals I had set for myself many times over. This is something I wanted to do. I\u2019m happy and very glad Elena kept pursuing me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe started off as our choreographer, and now he\u2019s become a full part of our team,\u201d Green said. \u201cHe\u2019s a really good asset for what\u2019s going on at ION. We\u2019re really excited to work with him \u2013 to take his knowledge of dance and his professional career and apply it to ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manners Moments:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Before ION he didn\u2019t know ice dance existed \u2013 just pairs, so he asked when do we get to do the jumps.<\/li>\n
  • He doesn\u2019t own a pair of skates \u2013 on the ice with the skaters, he wears his super furry Uggs.<\/li>\n
  • The only time he\u2019s ever ice skated was at Rockefeller Center – that lasted only a brief moment.<\/li>\n
  • He gives credit to his \u201cawesome\u201d mother for all his successes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Article & photos by Anne Calder Pictured: Manners with Lorraine McNamara & Anton Spiridonov Elena Novak and Alexei Kiliakov opened the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy in 2003. Seventeen years later, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_gspb_post_css":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6,142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-interviews","category-featured"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?fit=254%2C150&ssl=1",254,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?fit=300%2C177&ssl=1",300,177,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?fit=768%2C454&ssl=1",768,454,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-post-main-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?resize=400%2C250&ssl=1",400,250,true],"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?resize=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?resize=400%2C284&ssl=1",400,284,true],"et-pb-portfolio-module-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?resize=510%2C382&ssl=1",510,382,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image-single":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?resize=400%2C516&ssl=1",400,516,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Manners_1169-5.jpg?resize=45%2C45&ssl=1",45,45,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Team IDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/author\/idcadmin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Article & photos by Anne Calder Pictured: Manners with Lorraine McNamara & Anton Spiridonov Elena Novak and Alexei Kiliakov opened the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy in 2003. Seventeen years later, […]","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7GOSM-6Rf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26370,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26365\/revisions\/26370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}