GREATEST: Charm La'Donna
From touring with Madonna at 17 to choreographing The Weeknd's entire 200-person Super Bowl performance, the singer-choreographer takes a trip down memory lane with mentor Fatima Robinson.
Charm La’Donna is one of the most promising musical artists of the moment. Signed to Epic Records, her new single “Queen” has been released this February to much anticipation. La’Donna isn’t exactly a newcomer to the entertainment industry and boasts an impressive career, having worked alongside some of the biggest names in music. Embarking on a world tour with Madonna at just 17, she transitioned from dancer to choreographer under the wing of the legendary Fatima Robinson and has since worked for the likes of Selena Gomez, Rosalía, Kendrick Lamar and Pharrell Williams–and most recently, choreographing The Weeknd’s 2021 Super Bowl performance.
Robinson and La’Donna met when Charm—known back then as Charmaine—was a kid and cemented their relationship later, collaborating on a number of projects from the Black Eyed Peas’ Super Bowl performance to Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” video, directed by Robinson and choreographed by La’Donna.
The two recently caught up for GREATEST, reminiscing on their work together and diving into what the future holds.
Hey.
Why am I so excited right now?
I mean, have we ever had this conversation? Never.
You know, when I tell people that I met you when I was 10 years old, they’re always surprised. I also love mentioning how I came to one of your masterclasses and how I kept auditioning for you. You always ended up picking me, whether I did the job or not. After that, high school and then boom, back together. It's crazy.
Very crazy. See, I remember you being really good when I first met you because I hired you and you were great. I think you were 14 and I was working with The Giggle Club [an artist music group coached by Nick Cannon during his 2007 Nickelodeon reality TV show, Star Camp] and realized that you had choreography skills. That's when I recognized that as a young girl, you were different.
I think I was just getting into ninth grade. I remember because in that particular situation, you guys were looking for people who could choreograph, who could add singing or rapping and could dance. I actually had to ask my mom to let me leave school. Then you picked me, but I was in New York for a summer intensive. My mom was like, ‘Well, you're in New York, you can't come back home.’That was that and I was like, ‘Ah, that was my opportunity’.
Wow. Then I remember you going on tour with Madonna. How old were you, 17?
I had just turned 18, [I was] literally 17 in rehearsals.
Madonna is really tough with her auditions and the dancers that she looks for. I knew that in order to pass that test, you had to be a pretty phenomenal dancer, have the right attitude and be an interesting, fly person. She only messes with the cream of the crop and the freshest individuals.
That was great. I'll never forget that day. It was a four-day process. One day I was in class, taking my history test for AP History and the next day I was auditioning for Madonna.
That must have been wild. How was that tour for you?
I always say it was the moment that I got to see all the places in the world that I dreamed about, read about in books. I was also the youngest dancer she's ever hired and I was the youngest on that tour. Everyone was treating me like a little sister and she treated me like I was her daughter. It was a great experience. I had to do homeschooling too because [Madonna] was not playing. She told me that [I had] to finish school before I could even get on this road. I was okay with that because I wanted to perform in art school, but since my credits didn't transfer over to LAUSD, I had almost a year of work to do in three months.
That's a testament of your tenacity at that age, because a lot of kids would have given up at that point. It would just be too hard and too overwhelming for them, physically and mentally.
I think I knew I could do anything. I've always been a determined type of get-what-you-want kind of person, but that tour was crazy. The workouts, the work, the homework, the planning, the traveling, the not sleeping. All of that low-key prepped me for when I started back working with you, because I was nervous as hell.
[Touring with Madonna] was great. I'll never forget that day. It was a four-day process. One day I was in class, taking my history test for AP History and the next day I was auditioning for Madonna.
Charm La'Donna
A lot of people go on tours like that and when they come home, it's really hard for them to adapt because they've kind of done the cream of the crop. Touring with someone like Madonna is almost the highest point you can go as a dancer. [Some people] just don't want to go back into the pool of dancers and have to start from the beginning again. How did you feel after the Madonna tour?
I was never in that pool of dancers and being on tour wasn’t my goal, to be honest. When I came back, I knew I wanted to focus on college but it was even more clear that I wanted to choreograph after being on tour and dancing like that. I love dancing. I love performing, but I loved watching the choreographers when I was on tour. I was there sitting, watching them create while everybody else was on their break. When I came back from that tour, I didn't think I had made it. I just thought that I had this great experience and it was time for me to grind because I had so many other things I wanted to do.
Yeah, that was the same way I felt after choreographing Michael Jackon’s “Remember The Time” music video when I was 21 years old.
Oh my God, you did Michael Jackson at 21!
I didn't feel like I had made it. I felt it was my opportunity for people to see what I can do and have more eyes on what I could do. But I still had to grind and be in my hip-hop world and work with the artists that weren't that famous.
So, you came back from touring, you went to UCLA to study dance and then we did Black Eyed Peas together [Robinson worked on both Black Eyed Peas’ “Hey Mama” and “My Humps” music videos]. Then you were able to do big events with them like the Super Bowl halftime show [which Robinson choreographed for Super Bowl XLV in 2011]. It must've been crazy, doing the Super Bowl as a dancer and now doing [it] as a choreographer [for The Weeknd]. Doesn't it feel wild to be full-circle in this?
It's crazy. When I was in Tampa this February, I was just walking, watching all the dancers and it took me back to when I was walking to the stage to perform with the Black Eyed Peas at the Super Bowl [back in 2011]. I [took] myself to the corner and told myself to breathe, because it was so emotional. Everything that I've done in my life always has been full-circle, as you said.
I often tell people that I call you my right-hand woman and I often tell people that I cloned myself with [someone] better. One day we were in rehearsal, I can't remember what job it was, but I looked at you and I was like, ‘You're better than me!’ I remembered thinking, ‘How did that happen?’
You kicked down so many doors, Fatima. You've created your own path. Jazz-funk was everywhere at the time, and here you come [with your] street, organic style. That can't be taught. You built yourself and you’ve built a career for people like me.
It's been a beautiful relationship. I'm of the philosophy that the next generation should be better than you. If they did their homework and watched, I think that's a good thing. It doesn't intimidate me.
I want to now focus on the relationship when I moved into directing. I started directing and would let you choreograph. The one thing that really took it to the next level was Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” video. My [own] mentor was Sylvia Rhone from Epic Records who hit me up and asked me to listen to the song to see if I wanted to direct it. Sylvia had given me plenty of songs in the past, but unless I had a real passion for the song, I just never wanted to go down that road and mess up our friendship over something that just didn't come out right due to all kinds of things. [“All About That Bass”], for some reason, just touched me. It had no money, I pulled all my favors and look what happened. Amazing. Tell me about your experience from your side.
It was a situation where I just trusted your guidance in anything. Anything you wanted to do or had your hand on, I was always wanting to be a part [of it]. We heard the song and then you said, ‘We got to have an audition, we got to do this.’ We finally met Megan for the first time and it [happened] organically. She never danced before, but it was no question for me. You love directing, and how dope is it that I get to choreograph? I knew this was going to work. For me it was the beginning of, one, I can really do this, and two, I think it gave us another dynamic in our relationship.
For sure.
You also said Sylvia from Epic Records was your mentor and now I'm signed to Epic records, too. Sylvia signed me. It's just, again, another way that the world is going full-circle for me. You know what, when those moments happen in life like that, you know you're on your right path. Fast-forward and now here we are.
You're still working with some of the biggest artists on Billboard as a choreographer, but how do you make that transition from working with an artist [to being one yourself]?
This is not something that happened overnight. As I've been working with other artists, I've been developing myself and my voice and finally got the push to explore different forms of expression. Now, I'm an artist which may seem new to the world and new to people around me, but those who are close to me know that I've been writing music and been in the studio forever. You personally know my songs from when I was a teenager; I just allowed my creative dance and choreography to take the forefront while I was working on that quietly. I think that signing to Epic with Sylvia and going back to that full-circle moment gave me also an additional boost to push for myself.
With the current situation in quarantine, I also have more time to think as we are all chilling [at home]. I started putting out music, not afraid of what people would say. I'm not afraid of what artists may think of me. I come with no ego. I'm an artist all over. I'm always a student. I don't think I know everything. I think I love expression; I love art. The artists I work with [as a choreographer] all support me in how they can, whatever that is for them. At first, I was nervous people [weren't] going to want me to do choreography [now that I'm a musical artist too], because I love it all. But I think I should be able to do it all.
Well, you’re showing that you can do it all.
It's a slow-growing process and it's happening organically. I'm going to drop my next song “Queen” which pretty much amplifies what I'm saying. That, in order to do everything that I'm doing, you got to wear that crown. That's where I am now.
You went to the best queen’s school, boo.
I've been surrounded by women my entire life. Without me even knowing, now I look back and I think about all the women and people that have been in my life and helped guide me. I call them my angels, in a way. I am a product of all of that.
I've been surrounded by women my entire life. Without me even knowing, now I look back and I think about all the women and people that have been in my life and helped guide me. I call them my angels, in a way.
Charm La'Donna
INTRO: ERIC HERVILLARD
INTERVIEW: FATIMA ROBINSON
PHOTOGRAPHER: KALEB MARSHALL
STYLIST: KENDALL FINZNER
SET DESIGNER: M RASMUSSEN
MAKEUP: KEVIN WADE
HAIR: KENNY MILLER