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Columbus Short at the 2006 San Diego Comic Convention in San Diego, Calif. |
A compelling drama about the quest for individuality and the power of fraternity, the Screen Gems film Stomp the Yard tells the story of DJ Williams (Columbus Short), a troubled youth from inner city Los Angeles who moves to Atlanta to attend Truth University. Once there, he discovers “stepping,” an African American tradition that has evolved from the centuries-old African Boot Dance, which combines precise dance steps with chants and percussive hand and foot movements.
Although he was a top competitor in the gritty world of street dancing, DJ feels out of place at Truth, with its elite fraternities and expectations of professional success. When his raw talent and hip-hop inspired moves place him at the center of a fierce rivalry between fraternities, he must decide which brotherhood he belongs to.
The film’s producers conducted a nationwide search to find an actor who not only had the star quality and acting talent to being DJ to life, but who also had the dance skills as well. Once Accepted star Columbus Short read for them, they knew he was the perfect embodiment of the character.
{quote_top}“I felt like I could take what I know as a musician, and apply it to stepping,” the former cast mate of the Broadway hit Stomp tells MediaBlvd Magazine. “My main concern was making sure the artistic credibility of the character was there, and the authenticity of the project was there. I did a lot of character development and a lot of thought into who DJ was. The dancing is just in my DNA.”
Songwriter, arranger and vocalist Ne-Yo, aka Shaffer Chimere Smith, makes his acting debut as DJ’s roommate, Rich Brown. Born in Arkansas and raised in Las Vegas, the 24-year-old who got his name from the movie The Matrix admits that the dancing was very challenging for him.
“The dancing and the acting were not like anything that I’d ever done before,” he tells MediaBlvd. “All the way across the board, it was something new for me. When I got there, I swear, you could hear my heart beating, I was so nervous. I had no idea what I was doing, and Columbus literally held my hand through the whole situation and helped me with my lines. I was expecting ego and attitude, like, ‘Ah, here comes this R & B dude, trying to do the acting thing. Let’s sit back and laugh at him.’ But, it was the complete opposite. Everyone was overly helpful. Before I had the question out of my mouth, they hit me with the answer, and I really thank God for that.”
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Ne-Yo at the Billboard Music Awards held at the MGM Grand Hotel Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 4, 2006. |
Having never done step dancing before getting the role, Ne-Yo says that he wanted to remain true to the tradition, so he worked very hard at it. “It looks easier than it is. I went in really thinking that I was going to just knock it out. I had been to a couple of step shows before, and I have family that is in college, so I had seen it, but I had never done it. In the beginning, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, can I do it over here in the corner so that these professional dancers don’t laugh at me?’ But then, I’d see the professional dancers having problems with it, so I was like, ‘Alright, I’m not completely dumb.’ It’s not like regular dancing, where you’re actually dancing to music. In stepping, you kind of are the music. You make the music as you’re dancing. It’s tapping your head, rubbing your stomach, doing the alphabet backwards, and tap dancing, all while upside down.”
{quote_middle}Prior to getting his role in Stomp the Yard, Ne-Yo reveals that he never had any real desire to act. “To be completely honest, it looked difficult. I knew that acting was more than just standing in front of a camera, pretending, so I never really had a desire to try it. But, I met Columbus on the set of [the straight-to-video film] Save the Last Dance 2, which was another movie we did together, that I had a tiny role in. We became friends really fast, so when they approached him about this film, he actually suggested my name to them. So, they gave me a call and said they’d love for me to audition, and I got it.”
“Ne-Yo is a close friend of mine,” adds Short. “I do music as well, and I’ve known him since before he turned into this superstar. We’ve been coming up together, and I begged him to be in the movie.”
The 24-year-old Short says that the experience of filming Stomp the Yard really taught him that you have to just become whatever character you’re portraying. “As an actor, I learned that, at some point, you have to stop acting. You just have to let it possess you. You want to become what you’re representing. With this film, it was really important to me that we represented these organizations to the utmost and fullest. When I came off that, it took my acting to the next level and taught me that it’s not about what’s written in the lines, it’s about what you deliver. You have to live it, not just say it.”
{quote_middle}While Short’s final episodes of the NBC television series Studio 60 finish airing, the former choreographer says that he is focusing on films now, the first of which is an ensemble piece called This Christmas, also starring Loretta Devine, Delroy Lindo, Mekhi Phifer, Regina King, Nia Long, Laz Alonso, Keith Robinson, Lauren London and singing sensation Chris Brown, among others.
“It’s like Family Stone meets Waiting to Exhale,” explains Short. “Loretta Devine is our mother, and all of her kids come home for Christmas. I’m a Marine and, even though all of us have different occupations, we come home every Christmas, with all the drama in our lives. It’s going to be great.”
Along with writing tracks for Britney Spears, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston, Ne-Yo says that his focus is currently on finishing up his second album. “I’m trying to start off 2007 with a bang. Clive Davis is letting me hear some of the things that Whitney’s going to do. And, my publisher is good friends with somebody in Celine’s camp. They’re talking about her putting another album together, once she finishes up the show she has in Vegas and, when they were going over the list of people she normally works with, my publisher had thrown my name in the mix, and she said, ‘I want that guy!’”
