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MTV's 10th Anniversary Special

Dates confirmed by November 8, 1991 guest list (Image 001a and 001b) from Shana Mangatal’s collection (“Friday” and “Saturday”, November 15 and 16, 1991), as well as “Off the Wall” Magazine (Image 002) (“after the MTV taping… that night (November 16, 1991)”)

Kevin Stea, Associate Choreographer, dancer, MJCast Episode 34 (June 25, 2016)

The MJCast: So, talk to us about the MTV 10th Anniversary Show, and specifically the "Will You Be There" performance. As I think about it, it really is, in my opinion, one of the most timeless pieces of art that Michael was involved with, especially choreography-wise, it's stunning, stunning to watch...

Kevin Stea: I'm getting goosebumps right now, I love that you said that, because it really is, for me, exactly that. A work of art. That performance to me was more than a performance. It transcended pop, for me. I know Vincent approached it as a piece of art, he approached it as a message, it wasn't- and that's what I think is missing in alot of today's stuff, is that there's no message, it's just movement for movement's sake. There's just like, "What's the next sexy step?" and Michael's stuff wasn't about "the next sexy step", it's sexy 'cause it's powerful, it's sexy 'cause it's beautiful. And then there's a message behind it? That's what makes it timeless. I think that performance was... well it was extraordinary to be in it, certainly, and then to watch it, it does feel timeless, it feels like it could be at any moment. It was at this hangar in Santa Monica, there were thousands of people. We did it live several times, and you could see the sea of faces that were just stunned. And normally, you'd think of a Michael Jackson audience as this screaming sea of fandom insanity, and you could tell that the audience gave it the same reverence that it felt doing it. They were almost silent. You would never expect that from a Michael audience, but they were a bit stunned into silence. The peaceful beauty of the number, I think it really impacted everybody that was there, not just from the audience, but also even us on stage, to have this choir and sea of people behind us on these giant risers, and to be right there with him, and you could feel him performing this song that was so important to him. It's certainly one of my favorite performances I've ever done.

The MJCast: I'd love to know the thought processes going through his mind of what the moves meant to him.

Stea: Those of us on the stage, on the ground with him, were his "street clergy", is what Vincent called us. All of the images we created with the globe and the sort of transitioning images, were originally inspired by those little Catholic cards, where you see a little tableau in a composition of the saints. That's where those sort of visuals came from originally, so you have these gestural moments where things are connecting compositionally, where there's energy reaching out to one another, whether it's something- in those Catholic cards, you see the saint gestures down to the right, and that means you are reaching to this poor soul on the side. Those motions have more behind them than "I'm just giving a 'port a bras'", they're actually coming from these religious, iconic moments that are engaging spirituality, so it's very appropriate that you feel that these movements have a spirituality to them, because they come from a spiritual place originally, as inspiration.

“Weird Al” Yankovic, parody singer of “Eat It” and “Fat”, “Rolling Stone” (July 9, 2009) (archived)

Our second meeting was a TV show taping. He was performing “Black or White,” and I remember Slash was onstage and I talked to [Michael] briefly afterwards. He told me he would play my movie, UHF, for his friends at Neverland Ranch, and he was very soft-spoken, very quiet, but always very friendly to me.

Chris Cadman, author, “Michael Jackson the Maestro”

While Michael was rehearsing his chimp invaded the set and he had to stop and pick him up.