Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere in 'The Shards.' FX Logo text Midway through this season of The Shards, the Ryan Murphy adaptation veered sharply away from its Bret Easton Ellis-penned source material and onto the dance floor. The set was inspired by 1980s teen dance shows like Dance Party USA, a cable phenomenon that aired weekdays from 1986-1992. The Shards devoted an entire episode — titled “Murder on the Dance Floor” — to recreating this genre when it dropped its starry ensemble played by Igby Rigney, Homer Gere, Kaia Gerber, Hayes Warner, Graham Campbell and Daniel Day onto Murphy’s recreated stage, where jealousy, an on-set brawl and, eventually, a murder overshadowed the competition’s final results (Susan, Gerber’s character, was the dancing winner; much to the dismay of her best friend, played by Warner).
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To accomplish the near-bottle episode, Murphy enlisted Dancing With the Stars pro Derek Hough and his fellow Emmy-winning collaborator Tessandra Chavez to train the cast and choreograph the central “Super Freak” sequence, along with the Dance Party USA-inspired string of ’80s hits featured during the hour. The pair also choreographed Gere’s wild dance solo from “Robert’s Party,” the episode prior. (“Once he got unleashed as a free dancer, he was unstoppable,” says Chavez.) Below, the pair bring The Hollywood Reporter onto The Shards‘ dance floor.
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How did you each get involved with The Shards?
DEREK HOUGH I got this phone call like, “Hey, Ryan Murphy wants to meet with you.” I was like, “Say what? OK!” I went to the theater where they were filming Igby and Homer fist seeing each other [at the showing of The Shining in the premiere]. In between takes, Ryan came out and said, “Hey, Derek, so great seeing you again.” I was like, “I don’t think we’ve met before, but OK!” It was very familiar, he was very kind and sweet and said, “I made this episode. It’s set in the ‘80s and we really want to make it feel authentic. It’s a great script. I love this episode.” Then he played me “Super Freak.” He said he loves the way they danced. So awkwardly with reckless abandonment; they’re so fully committed. They thought they were crushing it, but it’s wonderfully bad. I was like, “That sounds like a lot of fun.”
It was right around the time I was about to have a baby. Tess is a longtime collaborator of mine for over a decade now. She’s the first person who crossed my mind because she’s brilliant. She can adapt to any style, any genre of dance on the Broadway or television stage. I was immediately like, “Tess, you gotta come do this,” and she came on board and really took the reins.
TESSANDRA CHAVEZ Derek brought me on. I was really excited to work with Ryan, because I’m a huge fan since Glee, American Horror Story. I think Ryan’s a genius and so innovative, so I was excited to get to work with him — and to work with actors. I work with the best of the best, like Derek and Julianne [Hough], J. Lo and Usher. So to work with actors was a new challenge I was excited to take on. We got right into it. I met the actors — and they were immediately terrified.
Derek was getting ready to have a baby, so I kind of took lead and went in to meet the actors to start training them in general movement. As soon as I walked up, a couple of them ran and hid behind the trailer, like terrified children. I was like, “I promise, I’m not scary. This is gonna be amazing.”
You also choreographed Robert’s wild dance in the episode prior, “Robert’s Dance.” Which dance did you work on first?
CHAVEZ That was separate. Derek and I first came on for the “Dance Off!” episode, and as we were working on that, they realized Homer has to do a whole dance scene and they hadn’t booked a choreographer. So they just called me like, “Can you also train Homer for his big solo?”
Homer Gere as Robert Mallory in “Murder on the Dance Floor.” FX Igby told me that there’s a pre-Homer and a post-Homer — that his entire personality changed ever since doing that dance, which he did 100 times for the cast and crew, overnight for five nights. He then brought some of those moves to this episode when dancing with Kaia. Can you speak to training Homer?
CHAVEZ So to be transparent, the two boys [Igby and Homer] are the ones who ran from me when I first met them and hid behind the trailer.
HOUGH (Laughs.)
CHAVEZ The girls were all about it. They were like, “Girl party! Let’s have so much fun.” And we were outside of the trailer doing fun dance moves. But the boys were the ones hiding from me. I slowly gained their trust and got Homer moving. What really transformed Homer was when we got in a room privately, I put on some “Funkytown” and rock music, and we just started jamming out. I said, “I’m gonna dance with you. We’re gonna viscerally make this fun and out of body. I don’t want you to think. I just want you to feel. No one’s watching.”
It was me, my assistant and Homer. We started recklessly dancing all over the room, jamming out, and he just got free and let loose. Once I saw how he was moving, I then adapted what he could do naturally and put that in the routine for Robert’s party.
Once he got unleashed as a free dancer, he was unstoppable. He just fell in love with it. I know Derek can speak to this too, about how dance is universally transformative to the mind and the heart and our emotions, and how it can really transform us as human beings. And it was beautiful to watch that.
This “Dance Off!” storyline was not from Ellis’ book, which the show is based on. Ryan added this in. Did he explain the inspiration for why he wanted to dedicate an episode to this?
HOUGH I think he was just a big fan of those dancing shows, like Dance Party USA, when the people would come on and dance in the ‘80s. He remembered being a fan of them. He was like, “I just would love to have to do that.”
But one of the challenges was that there was a time when Ryan came in and watched it, and he goes, “Guys, this is too good. They look too good. It’s too polished.” We strive for perfection. We have these world-class dancers in the background, and we were telling them, “You need to look less coordinated. You need to look a little bit more awkward, but fully committed awkward.”
That was therapeutic for these professional dancers who got to be silly and goofy, but confidently. I was also so impressed with Kaia. Seeing her dance, I was like, “You’re amazing.” She was such a natural; so full-out and committed. And they had the real cameras from that time. Vintage cameras that they cut with the modern camera. They had the jib, the whole thing, like in the 1980s. The grain, the glare.
Was this like a mini-Dancing With the Stars? How long did you have to work with the cast?
HOUGH We actually had a lot more time than what we’re used to. Because we went away for a break for a few months [after training], and then came back to it after they filmed a lot and we refreshed everything. It’s more about the storytelling than a performance. It was very thoughtful and thought through, with every little beat mapped out in the scripts with the intentions for the characters. Like, “She [Cha Cha, played by Bella Valdes] just gave a blow job this morning to [Anthony Ramos’ host character].” (Laughs.) You needed to know that. It informed the movement.
Hayes Warner as Debbie Schaffer with Igby Rigney as Bret. Ray Mickshaw/FX Did you have any involvement in casting Cha Cha? Had you worked with Bella before?
CHAVEZ No, but she’s a trained dancer. Of all of them, she was the most trained. Kaia had some early on training, and I think Hayes said she had a little bit of training as well. But they were both like, “We’re not professionals. We can’t kick our legs up.” I was like, “We won’t be doing that. Don’t worry.”
HOUGH It was really fun seeing their camaraderie, and their sharing for each other and their support. You could tell they had great chemistry among them.
How long were you on the dance set filming this episode?
CHAVEZ I want to say three days total. But it wasn’t all dancing. The first day was the bulk of the dancing. They were going hardcore over and over. Even Igby, at one point, does a worm on the floor. They were going full out every time. I was so proud of them.
Igby was terrified to dance. I said, “I’d love to put a worm in your solo moment. Have you done one before?” And he goes, “No, but I’ll learn it.” I said, “No, let’s do things you are comfortable with that you naturally do.” And he was like, “Whatever you want, I will do.” What a testament to his work ethic. He obsessed over getting everything right that I wanted him to do. He said, “I’m not a natural at dancing, but I will work harder than anyone to get this right.” That was really beautiful to watch him conquer that.
“Super Freak” was the main beast of a number where there’s a lot of acting going on, a lot of rivalry, jealousy. Then there was Homer’s “Funkytown” and Cha Cha’s “Rapture,” when Debbie’s [Warner’s character] looking at her very envious.
Ryan said his and Bret’s intention is to do three to four seasons of The Shards. Are you hopeful for another musical episode in a future season?
CHAVEZ I’m praying. I’m so grateful Derek brought me into this, because it was a transformative experience working with actors. To see their joy from dancing isn’t something I always get, because I work with a lot of professionals and professionals have been doing it their whole life. These actors were so grateful and excited to move. I had a blast with them; it’s a core memory.
HOUGH Absolutely. I could see some synergy too, because The Shards is part of the Hulu-Disney family. I could see some of them front row at Dancing this season. That’d be fun for like a Halloween episode or something like that.
Was Ryan on set for all of your shoot?
CHAVEZ There was a period in the beginning where Ryan was busy filming, as he’s doing multiple projects. I was just training them and getting them to move and feel comfortable. When I first met them, they weren’t in a space to complete a full routine. It’s a big undertaking. So there was a big period of training them first. Then when we came back and brushed up on everything, that’s when Ryan came in to watch, and that’s what Derek was referencing earlier.
And Ryan’s direction was very much correct, because it needs to be believable. Ultimately, it’s about the story. You don’t want to watch them be perfect, because they’re not professional dancers. You want to watch them let loose and have fun, and maybe make a few mistakes.
It was a couple days of brushing up and then we were in it. But honestly, they were ready because on their break, they all were practicing nonstop. They would text me and tell me. When they came back, they looked so polished because they were practicing so hard on the break.
Warner as Debbie with Anthony Ramos as host Tony Cruz and Gerber as Susan. FX Was Susan the deserved “Groover of the Week,” in your opinion?
CHAVEZ Oh, God, you’re asking Mama Bear of all of them! So no, honestly. I fell in love with all of them. They’re also special. Cha Cha is this fiery diva who has this Beyoncé spirit: unapologetic. I wish I could be her because she doesn’t care about anything. Debbie’s raw heart; she wears her heart on her sleeve. Susan is effortless, grace and gorgeousness, and Igby is this fierce, never-give-up hard worker. Homer just has a natural swag to him.
HOUGH Being a part of something where you’re seeing this group of actors who you look at like, “Man, these guys are stars. They’re fantastic at what they do. This is gonna be a big deal, really launch them and turn them into these big stars.” It was cool to have that little moment before on set, with everybody with the hair and makeup and the wardrobe. It was so transformative. And it was really cool as well to see the joy from Ryan.
Later at the Upfronts, I ran into Kaia after we were done filming. She was just so excited. She was like, “The dance was our favorite part; we just loved it so much. It was so challenging, but so rewarding and fulfilling.” It was really nice to see what they got from it, as well as what we got from it.
Maybe she’ll be pitching herself for the next season of Dancing With the Stars?
HOUGH She would be amazing.
CHAVEZ She would kill it.
Derek, you are now busy with the DWTS — prepping for season 35 and also with the currently airing spinoff Next Pro. That franchise has had such a revolution. It never went away, but it’s never been more popular. What do you think DWTS brings in such a big audience?
HOUGH A couple things. The casting made a huge difference; they brought in a new audience. Once TikTok and social media got a hold that generation, it becomes a show where you can talk about it. You can discuss. It’s all very subjective, so it creates a lot of conversation and it actually becomes must-watch TV, like a sports game. You want to watch it live, because you don’t want to find out what happens the next day on TikTok, which is really extraordinary.
I just got off tour and I run to these moms and grandmas who are fans who will say, “I’ve been telling them for 20 years it’s a great show!” I just kind of laughed at that, because it’s true. Now it’s really a multi-generational show. It’s family-friendly TV. It’s fun TV. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. At the same time, taking what we do very seriously.
Is there anything you can tease from the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars? Anyone who’s really impressive or surprising? Is Ciara Miller a standout?
HOUGH I think the cast is going to be really fun. It’s going to create fun conversation — that’s for sure. It’s a mixture. There’s going to be something for everybody. We’ll have some fun theme nights I’m excited about. And I’m performing on the premiere, so that’ll be fun.
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The Shards releases new episodes Wednesdays on FX and Hulu at 9 p.m. ET from now through Sept. 9. Read more of THR‘s show coverage, including an interview with Ryan Murphy.
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