DELEÓN tequila recently launched its latest campaign, and in addition to it making us want to have a drink, it’s also bound to make you want to dance. The visual component of the “Bold Spirits, Rise” campaign is not just any ad with people sipping on something at happy hour, enjoying camaraderie. The message is all about embracing creativity and inspiring others while doing so. And so, wrapped in a rich, moody orange hue, we watch supremely cool people finding joy, and community, in opening a bottle of the tequila, showing off dance moves that simply draw you in. That’s what Shay Latukolan does best.
The choreographer, whose dance moves have gone viral thanks to collaborations with the likes of Tyla, Tinashe, Donald Glover and, of course, Jungle, whose Volcano visual album and “Back on 74” choreo exploded on social media in 2023, was in the driver’s seat for Bold Spirits, Rise. The immense talent, who reps Amsterdam, has been traveling the world for a long time, and lately he’s been on fire, with his moves in big name music videos, at the recent Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, in Gap ads and now, in a DELEÓN campaign. But he says he’s not alone in making this magic happen.
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“What I’ve been doing since I was about 18, is I’ve been traveling the world teaching. So I was a dance teacher and did a lot of big dance conventions and dance camps,” he tells ESSENCE about accruing a roster of talent he calls on for the projects that have left people talking, and grooving, including some of the dancers seen in the tequila brand’s visuals.
“I think that’s one of the reasons why my work speaks because as much as I’ve been training, I also have taken time to find all these hidden talents everywhere in the world that can translate my dance,” he adds. “They can actually execute my style. So that’s why it probably speaks so strongly.”
The bold infectiousness of his moves is exactly why collaborating with DELEÓN made sense. They too are known for boldness and an infectious spirit, as Latukolan says. We talked with him about bringing dance to spirits, how life has changed since his dance moves went viral and the need to practice self-care during the height of it, and what inspires his addictive movements.
ESSENCE: Outside of music videos, we’ve seen your choreography and campaigns for sportswear brands, clothing like Gap, and more. Why is it also the perfect fit for you to bring your moves to a spirits brand like DELEÓN, and this whole concept of “Bold spirits rise”? Why do we need to see movement to really understand the importance of the message that’s being sent?
Shay Latukolan: Yeah, what I love about this is I think it has to do with my style. The campaign is about boldness. It’s about an infectious spirit. And I think when you see my style, you feel like it’s infectious. The boldness is in my choices of movement. You have to be bold to go into this direction. People perceive it as an old style because it’s not what a lot of choreographers would use today. It comes more from James Brown, from funk music, from people like Prince or even The Supremes. And I think that in itself is also a bold move. That’s why I thought it was a really good collaboration and it made sense to me when they proposed the idea to me.
Got you. And I was going to ask you, where do you glean inspiration for the movements in the campaign? What did you kind of use to start with? Were you just thinking about the message of “Bold Spirits, Rise”? Did they give you some colors schemes that they wanted to go with? Even the song, it sounds like Obongjayar. Did they give you that to work with first?
Yes! Obongjayar. The director, he sent me the song and when we heard this song we were like, oh, this is a good song. It was funky, and it feels good. It’s like classy and DELEÓN has a lot of class. It just made sense to us how it connected and yeah, I dunno, we just love a good underground artist as well. And then when I heard that song, I just felt like dancing and that’s basically what is very important.
In general, what does it take to spark the creativity for you?
Music. I think that sparks creativity. Without music, there’s no dance. There is movement, but there’s no dance. So I think our main inspiration would definitely be music. The music, if it makes me move, then I get the best work. That’s why sometimes it’s also really interesting for me because I always have to be picky who I choose to work with as artists, because not every type of music speaks to me and I don’t want to just do it because of how amazing and incredibly talented and how big they are. I would only work with people who would make sense to me and make me move. And it has nothing to do with if the music is great, I’m just saying it has to be aligned with what sparks something in me and opens up my creativity. Otherwise, I have nothing to deliver. So yeah, music would definitely be the main inspiration and I’m very fond of old music. It has a sort of funk or groove, for sure.
Nice, nice. And how has life changed for you since Volcano, but specifically “Back on 74”? I see you everywhere now, but you noted you don’t work with everybody if the song is not hitting for you, if the stuff is not really speaking to you.
That’s a good question. Life has changed. Very, very intense I have to say. I definitely did a lot of work before before working with Jungle. I worked with a lot of music artists that were bubbling. I think with Jungle, what’s so beautiful is that it’s mainly about my work and that is the difference. It’s not about the visual effects. It’s not about the performance shot of the artist, it’s just dance. So it speaks so wildly and the music is just so infectious. So after “Back on 74,” definitely things doubled.
I went back to Nigeria, where my biological dad is from. I went back to Nigeria, I had to sit down and just not react to any mail. Everybody wanted to ask me for all kinds of different things, which was a very humbling and unexpected thing. Also, when I made Volcano, when I was working with Charlie [Di Placido] and Josh [Lloyd-Watson] and I was choreographing the whole thing, it literally came from just wanting to have fun. I just want to make beautiful stuff. I was never thinking that it would reach the way it did. So it was all very unexpected for me when everything exploded. I come from Amsterdam. So it’s not like LA or New York where you’re very exposed to a lot of things that can happen. And in the Netherlands, it’s very much of a grounded place already. So it’s difficult at times. I have no reference. So it was very much of whoa, out of nowhere. So everybody was just trying to ask something of me, which was an amazing thing. But I also had to calm down and just see what I really need to do and what makes sense to me for sure.
You are, to me, I guess the embodiment of this campaign’s message of “Bold Spirits, Rise” and the celebration of creativity and the things that can come to life. When you embrace that creativity, how do you stay stimulated outside of music? How do you stay stimulated and motivated to be able to bring your ideas to life? Because I know the music is what connects and like you said, there’s no dance without the tunes. But even as a writer, we can hit blocks and things like that that can keep us from coming up with fresh new ways to tell stories. So how do you stay motivated to always have these original movements and ideas?
Sometimes I surprise myself. Sometimes I’m so tired, I’m not going to lie. Sometimes I’m so tired and I’m like, oh, I have a really big shoot. I have the full creative freedom and they expect a lot. And every day it’s like, okay, let’s have the same magic, but I’m like, guys, it doesn’t work like that. I see it as a brain that you train. The more I do it, the more I open myself to being able to create something. Even though sometimes I’m not really in the mood, I will always be able to come up with something because one, you have to, and two, as long as I make myself feel comfortable, if I have a good experience, I’ll have a great time. I come from a place of having fun and joyfulness and bold energy, so I try to have fun and when I have fun, there will always be inspiration. And if the music is good, even better.
