Photographer Steven Simione
Jess how was your experience performing in Burlesque on the West End? How did that experience help you prepare for your role in Sunny Dancer?
My experience on Burlesque definitely grew my confidence so much especially in my acting choices. Being a part of Burlesque from the workshop all the way up to the West End production, we got to develop the characters and help them evolve. This was so thrilling and helped me trust my intuition with acting and the choices I wanted to make as my characters! When on set for Sunny Dancer , I applied all I'd learnt along the way which made me feel so much more at ease whilst filming!
You spend so much time creating together. How do you keep your ideas fresh without feeling like you're repeating yourselves?
We love to create dances to songs that we genuinely love and the ideas start flowing! We both love pop music and have the same music taste, so we have so much fun when creating together. It’s one of our favorite parts of the entire process!
How long does it typically take to choreograph? Does one of you lead choreographing or how do you divide roles with your platform? Are you able to explain your process for creating your TikTok dance videos?
If it’s a song we love, it really only takes 10 minutes max! Jess usually sees the vision and takes on the “DC” (dance captain) role and then we work together to come up with something fun and catchy! We genuinely have such a laugh working on it it’s hard to keep a straight face when it comes to filming.
What inspired both of you to start dancing? We both started dance classes at 3 years old and as we grew so did our passion for performing!
Both of our parents signed us up to performing classes and we’re so grateful that they did.
I see that you studied musical theater at Laine Theatre Arts. How did that experience help prepare you for this role?
Training at Musical Theatre college taught us so much. As well as training in dance and singing, it gave us a strong foundation in acting. It taught us how to build and understand characters, explore emotions and tell stories.
What dancers do you admire? Have you had the chance to work with any of them yet?
We love Blackpink. They're incredible performers, and we’ve admired them for years now, taking inspiration from their work ethic and performing skills, so to dance with Lisa in LA really was a moment we will literally never forget. Sometimes we can’t believe that it happened.
You have previously danced onstage at Summertime Ball and with Meghan Trainor at Madison Square Garden, have these experiences helped you build comfortability on such a large stage? If so, how?
Yes! We were both so nervous before these performances but the moment we stepped out onstage all those nerves disappeared, and we had the time of our lives. The minute we stepped off stage we both felt such a buzz and rush of adrenaline from.
You spend so much time creating together. How do you keep your ideas fresh without feeling like you're repeating yourselves?
We’re always drawing inspiration from things we’re watching at the time. Whether that be TV shows, films or music videos. We often individually find videos and ideas and then we come together on a content day and pitch our ideas to each other. Is there a dream collaboration that still feels a little out of reach?We have so many icons that we would love to collaborate with, a dream that would feel almost surreal would-be Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, or Ariana Grande.We are both long time fans!
How has dance been an emotional outlet throughout your life?
For both of us, dance has always been a way to let go and leave any baggage at the door of the studio. It’s a way we both find joy and it almost feels like second nature as we dance every day of our lives. We both have always felt a sense of freedom in dance when we get the chance to perform, it reminds us why we started in the first place. It connects so many people; it connected us at ages 16 & 17 on the first day of musical theatre college!
Your dances on social media regularly feature collaborations with award-winning artists and public figures, how are creating dances with talent different then doing dances on your own for your channels?
It is so much fun getting to collaborate with an artist or public figure and each time is different! We always want them to have as much fun as possible with us and feel comfortable whilst doing it. We love the relationships it has given us with people, we’ve made such great friends with many of the artists, and we film the whole procession our YouTube channel so we always have them to look back on!1
Do you still have any dream celebrities you’d like to collaborate with?
We’d love to dance with the other members of Blackpink; Jennie, Rose & Jisoo! We're huge K-pop fans and we’re so inspired by their performances, choreography and music.
You've built such a recognizable presence online, but Sunny Dancer marks your film debut. What surprised you most about stepping onto a movie set versus creating your own content?
We are beyond excited to be making our film debut in such an incredible film. We were both definitely nervous stepping onto the set of Sunny Dancer for the first time but what surprised us was how quickly we felt at ease. The whole cast and crew behind this film are amazing and made us feel so comfortable. It was crazy how quickly we felt like we slotted right in!
The line between creators and actors keeps getting blurrier. Did this role feel like a natural evolution for you, or did it push you outside of your comfort zone?
For us, both having trained in performing arts since we were three years old, and professionally since 16/17, this definitely felt like an evolution we’d always worked for and dreamed of! Acting, singing and dancing have always been our biggest passions in life so having the opportunity to pursue that feels so rewarding and so thrilling
You spend so much time-sharing versions of yourselves online. Was it freeing—or harder than expected—to step into someone else's world and character?
We made sure to engross ourselves into the whole experience of being at the camp, this made it so much easier and so much more fun to enter the world and characters of Sunny Dancer, we really felt like we were there! Our roles in the film were a nod to our social media person as in the real world. It was so fun to play with that crossover whilst working to also keep the subtlety required for the film.
Content creation often rewards speed, while filmmaking demands patience. How did adjusting to that different creative rhythm change your perspective?
It was very different, but a very nice and inspiring change. It is amazing to see how much hard work and how much of a team effort goes into creating the world of Sunny Dancer-it was fascinating to watch everyone work together so cohesively and cheer each other along every step of the way. Mostly it’s just ourselves and a living room when we create our work-so this experience was so refreshing to be a part of!
What do you hope longtime fans discover about you through Sunny Dancer that they haven’t seen before?
We are excited for people to see us in a new world-a new way in which our training and hard work can be showcased in a different light.We have created some dances to songs in the film that will be promoted on our social media channels during promotion. This includes the main song in Sunny Dancer “I Don't Feel Like Dancin'” by the Scissor Sisters, which we danced with Bella Ramsey in a collab video as seen HERE
We dance so often on social media but rarely share our other passions-we’re excited to showcase something different and hope to do a lot more of that!16. There's often skepticism when influencers cross into actors.
Did you feel any pressure to prove yourselves, or did you intentionally tune that noise out?
We always want to prove ourselves in anything we do, but that just comes from our drive to constantly want to work and better ourselves and our skills. We have trained so hard for so many years, worked and wanted opportunities like this since before we fell into the social media world! Trusting ourselves and our training definitely helped to drown that noise out and allow us to focus and enjoy such an amazing experience!
How has being creators influenced the kinds of film or TV projects you're drawn to now?
The online world definitely exposes us to seeing so many new things every day. There are so many phenomenally creative people to watch and so many people with recommendations you maybe never have considered before. This definitely plays a huge part in what we feel drawn to and how open we are to new ideas and trying things out!18.
What was the biggest "I can't believe we're actually doing this" moment while filming Sunny Dancer?
Stepping on set amongst such stars! Dancing with Bella Ramsey, watching Neil Patrick Harris and how he works! We really had to keep reminding each other-“Wow we’re really doing this”We are so incredibly grateful we got to be a small part of something so magnificent.
