Rock With You
The King Of Pop Latin Style
The King Of Pop Latin Style
sounds simple enough and attractive in
concept: a stage show that takes the
music and moves of Michael Jackson
and re-imagines them with the rhythms
and flavors of the Latino dance culture,
right? And indeed, the show, which
runs from December 23rd through
January 2nd at North Hollywood’s his-
toric El Portal Theatre, is wildly en-
tertaining and accessible in the most
immediate of ways . . . . but like all
new productions, getting it to the stage
has been far more complicated. For
creator, director, choreographer and
lead performer Seaon Stylist-Bristol and
Producer Helen Azevedo, Rock With
You is the result of years of seem-
ingly unrelated choices and events that
placed them on a fortuitously inevitable
track that would land them in the same
place at the same critical time for each
of them, and for the show.
12 HOLLYWOOD WEEKLY
Though Stylist-Bristol begins his
account of Rock With You’s origins with
the sudden death of The King Of Pop,
the chain can be traced back to his own
beginnings as a child in Guyana. The
performer may be well traveled and on
his third passport, but the Caribbean
and Latin cultures of his youth and
their artistic traditions are ingrained in
both his conscious mind and his sub-
conscious tendencies. Thus when he
moved to New York in his teens to
pursue his singing and train in other
performing arts disciplines, it was salsa
dancing that kept pulling him in. And
while this show incorporates a num-
ber of dance styles, including bacha-
ta, merengue, reggaeton, Afro-Cuban,
jazz and Latin-Jazz, Seaon is still best
known and loved around the world as
a salsa dancer, master instructor and
choreographer, a profession that kept
him “traveling every weekend for the
past 15 years.
It was Seaon’s reputation as “the
best” and in some cases “the only”
technical “NY On2 Salsa-style” dance
instructor that brought the passionate
dancer and the show’s enthusiastic ex-
ecutive producer together. Azevedo,
who is also Seaon’s manager and most
vocal supporter says, matter-of-factly
when asked what the end goal of this
show is, “You’ve GOT to hear him SING!
Seaon has an extraordinarily beautiful,
2 1/2 octave tenor voice with a unique
lyrical quality to it, He’s a natural
entertainer and actor, is totally com-
fortable on stage, obviously enjoys ev-
ery minute of what he’s doing, so the
audience can’t help but fall in love with
him.” Helen Azevedo, a former produc-
er, personal manager (Erik Estrada, Viva
Brazil) and professional dancer in her
own right, lived a separate life where
she had been working in the enter-
tainment industry, in nonprofit manage-
ment and as a university level language
instructor, among other things, until
three years ago when she divorced her
long-time husband and started fresh.
She explains, “the most natural thing
for me to do socially to get back in
“the swing of things” was to go salsa
dancing…But after a few events I real-
ized that two concussions and other
injuries I had suffered in a recent auto
accident had really screwed up my bal-
ance and my footwork.”
Her next task was to find some-
one to help her “retrain” her body to
dance again and especially to turn.
“After many months of searching, all
roads led to Seaon.”
This was just last February . . .
only days after Seaon performed the
HOLLYWOOD WEEKLY 13
Cast/Family/Production
Seaon with his mom, his kid brother and
Nikki, Seaon, Hera his grandmother after the SF workshop
Hera and Christina Helen Azevedo
Project Manager,
Christina Tica, Seaon,
Asst Choreographer,
Erik & Nikki Carina Fourmyle
first workshop of the show OUTSIDE
of the salsa community, at the Cowell
Theater in San Francisco. This was
also only a few months after Michael
Jackson’s death, an event that
Stylist-Bristol says “the Latin commu-
nity never got a chance to properly
honor in their own way.” The show
is not a tribute, though, and both
of the principals involved are careful
to emphasize that they created the
event as a stylized celebration of the
music, moves and legacy of Jackson,
but also a celebration of Latino cul-
ture and the arts. And what better
time to do this than Christmas???!!!
“I know this will bring some-
thing different to the holiday season
in addition to the standard Christmas
shows we’re all accustomed to see-
ing,” he said to me when asked to
explain the choice of Christmas for
the short L.A. run, “And we’ll be doing
some of the songs that Michael did
as a child with the Jackson Five, in-
cluding some Christmas songs.” And
as it is an alternative choice to the
usual holiday fare, Rock With You
is also an alternative to live musi-
cal shows as a genre. Even in Los
Angeles, with our enormous Latino
population, there are still, unfortu-
nately, a limited number of events
that embrace the Latin community
as an important constituency of the
mainstream audience, and even fewer
that actually dare to be innovative.
It was this way of thinking, as
well as improving and reviving her
own dancing “chops” that initially
14 HOLLYWOOD WEEKLY
Executive
Producer,
Helen Azevedo
Seaon, post
show, with his
younger brother,
Stefan.
drew Helen to want to work with
Seaon. They initially agreed to work
together as a trade, his instruction
for her help promoting the show,
but now the relationship has blos-
somed into a full-on partnership,
and the sky’s the limit in terms of
what the artist is capable of achiev-
ing. Azevedo sees Broadway as an
inevitable landing spot for him, either
in this particular show, or helming
another dance-musical vehicle.
“As soon as I saw what he was
doing, I was knocked out. I loved it
and I wanted to help get it out to the
mainstream,” It’s so much fun, so joy-
ous . . . that you can’t help but join
in” she notes about the show, making
it clear she is not just an investor or
someone looking to exploit the situ-
ation. She has become involved in
every aspect of the production and
Seaon’s emerging career. She’s in it
for the long haul and its success will
be hers as well as his.
In addition, there are a number
of other artists involved in the show,
from the cast to the crew. “It includes
total of 16 dancers, an eight piece
Latin-jazz band and the Harmonies
Girls Choir who will be performing two
medleys and an additional song with
Seaon. The choir will also be the
beneficiary of the show’s Fundraising
Opening Gala on Sunday, January
26th after the 7pm show” This family
of performers will bring their sense of
community to the El Portal Theater
for their nightly shows, including 2
shows on Saturdays and Sundays,
which means 2 shows (6pm and
9pm) on Christmas Day and New
Years Day, creating an ideal way to
continue your holiday celebration
with the entire family and expand
the circle to include other friends,
colleagues and loved ones
And if you think the production
is geared toward a Latin-American
audience, think again! Latin rhythms
are as ubiquitous as Coca Cola to-
day. We expect the audience to be
just as diverse as the music of The
King Of Pop is. “When we did our
workshops, in San Francisco, New
York, and Germany, we definitely had
a wide demographic of nationalities
as well as age groups.” As Helen
explains, putting the show on for the
holidays creates a perfect evening
excursion after “all the presents have
been opened, the monumental din-
ners served and dishes cleaned up
and all the football games watched
and discussed.”
The music of Michael Jackson
is powerful in ways that transcend
cultural and physical differences, but
Rock With You: The King Of Pop
Latin Style will showcase a unique
interpretation and vision that invites
yet another culture to “own it” and
further expand and cement the last-
ing Global impact and influence that
the famed singer will have. Hopefully,
the show that Seaon Stylist Bristol
and Helen Azevedo have put together
will be as inspiring to the audience
as it has been for them and the rest
of the cast The show is called Rock
With You. . . and the creators want
to do just that. You’ll find yourself
singing along, dancing in the aisles
and in your seats. And to cap it off,
after every show you can learn a few
new moves or sharpen your tech-
nique as there will be a FREE SALSA
CLASS and open DANCING WITH THE
CAST, ON STAGE, EVERY NIGHT after
every show!
For More Information, Video Clips
and Online Ticket Purchases, go to:
www.rockwithyoutour.com
You can also keep track of show and
cast member activities on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/
RockWithYouTour
For Information About Discounts
and Ticket Purchases by Phone:
Call the El Portal Theatre Box Office
(818) 508-4200