Music
Why Teyana Taylor and Coco Gilbert are a creative force to be reckoned with
Dancer, creative director and producer Coco Gilbert talks about how her friendship with American Teyana Taylor has grown into a productive partnership.
Throughout the 60-minute Assembly Required documentary, Teyana Taylor attempts to build her own live show called House Of Petunia, a concert like no other.
Born and raised in New York City, the singer, dancer, model, actress and choreographer is a Billboard Top 100 artist, has featured in numerous movies and has a critically acclaimed album to her name – 2018’s K.T.S.E.
To keep her sane, there are a few constant presences around Taylor giving her the support she needs. Her husband, NBA star Iman Shumpert; her daughter, Junie; her mother, Nikki; and, of course, her creative foil, Courtney ‘Coco’ Gilbert.
Coco is a dancer, creative director and producer who joined forces with Taylor more than five years ago after Teyana picked her out of a audition to find a new dancer. Almost immediately, she made a video with Teyana, and even went on tour with her, becoming nearly inseparable when it comes to creating with the singer – like a pair of caped crusaders who rely on each other's strengths to succeed.
Along with choreographing Taylor’s performances and music videos together, Gilbert and Taylor have also set up their own production company, The Aunties, directing videos for TI, Megan Thee Stallion, Monica and Macy Gray. During their relatively short time together, the two have developed the fire-and-ice creative relationship that’s on display in Assembly Required.
We caught up with Coco to find out more.
In Assembly Required, you touch upon how Taylor discovered you. What’s the full story?
I actually went to audition for her [in around 2014-15]. I was coming from school and my friend said, ‘There’s an audition today, I think you should come with me.’ I was like, ‘No, I don’t have any make-up on, I’m going home.’ And he said, ‘Please just come with me.’ And so I went to the audition, not really expecting to book it – I didn’t go there for that, it just wasn’t my mindset. But I booked it anyway and her mother, also her manager, called me a couple of days later, and said, ‘Hey, she booked you for the music video, can you do it?’ So I did the video. I was actually still at school, as a dance major, and a couple of days after the video they called me back: ‘Hey, Teyana is going on tour, can you come?’ And that’s kind of history for me.
It must have been a bit of a dream come true for a dance student?
I was still at the American Musical And Dramatic Academy. So it was kind of like: ‘I just booked a job, great, but when the tour is over I’ll go back to school.’ But things kept coming and the momentum didn’t really change, so I never did go back. Every year we kind of progressed; it was like, I’m a dancer, then a dance captain, then a choreographer, and now we have our own production company.
In the rehearsal room
© Red Bull Content Pool
What’s your creative relationship like?
Teyana is a spitball kind of creative. I’m the kind of creative who’s like, ‘Now let’s make this make sense.’ We’re definitely yin and yang. She’s fire, I’m ice. She’ll be like, ‘Let’s try this.’ I’ll be like, ‘Okay, right now? No, let me make sense of this for you first.’ She’s just passionate. She’s Sagittarius – she’s fire. But I always cool her off. Most of the time I get where she’s coming from, but it’s just a matter of timing. We don’t have enough time to do some of the creative things we want. But I always try. And that’s our biggest thing: we won’t say no without trying.
What’s your favourite thing about working with Teyana?
Learning from each other – and from other people. We kind of did our first video only because the label didn’t really have things set up for us, so we did it on our own. And from there, when that video happened, everyone kept asking: ‘Oh, yeah, you can direct, so let’s see what you can do with a bigger budget’. So they gave us a bigger budget – and then other artists were asking for videos. So everything kept rolling over and then that’s when we thought, okay, cool, we want our own production company.
Just as you were discovered by Teyana, is it a special experience giving others the opportunity to shine as you do in Assembly Required?
I always want to help people. If someone has a dream, if I can help them and they have the talent, then I’ll assist them. I love that I can inspire people. I don’t post much on my Instagram or wherever, but a lot of the dancers that walked in [to the House Of Petunia auditions] knew me; they were like, ‘Coco, you inspire me.’ It’s always nice to know that, and I can help them push through to their dreams. I come from a dance background, I’m a performer first, so it’s really nice to teach them. Not just dance moves, but to give them knowledge to make sure they can make it in the industry.
Teyana Taylor and her dancers
© Red Bull Content Pool
You and Teyana work so closely together; do you have the same heroes?
We talk about those heroes all the time. One of them, of course, is Janet Jackson. Me and Teyana always play: like, if you’re Janet, I’m Tina Landon, one of Janet’s biggest choreographers. We always have that relationship, where we want to build together and use our inspirations like Janet Jackson and Teena Marie. We love performers with showmanship.