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A New Generation Of Dirty Dancing From Jasmine Guillory Its Only Dancing · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I really do love it when people say, your podcast
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: is all over the place. You're not focused.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: I know.
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  Speaker 1: That's exactly the way that we lead our lives, right?
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: What are you doing today versus what you did yesterday?
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: How about five minutes from now? How about in maybe
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: a quarter of an hour to three days? We're all
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  Speaker 1: over the place. So why shouldn't your podcast? It's about
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: your taste. Arrow.net.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: A-R-R-O-E.net.
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  Speaker 1: Enjoy your exploration. There are 21 different podcasts to explore. Now,
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  Speaker 1: It's time for you to accept the journey and go
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  Speaker 1: grow forward.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Jasmine. How are you doing?
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  Speaker 3: I'm great. How are you?
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  Speaker 2: Fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: You know I want to talk about the soundtrack on this.
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  Speaker 1: I really do, because I know that you had to
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  Speaker 1: have been thinking about one. But my hope and guess
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  Speaker 1: is that on this soundtrack to It's Only Dancing, I
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  Speaker 1: would hear merengue, bachata. I would hear some hip-hop in
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  Speaker 1: there and maybe some modern-day fusion jazz.
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  Speaker 3: I feel like most of the soundtrack was very hip-hop.
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  Speaker 3: There was a little bit of other kind of dance music,
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  Speaker 3: but there was a lot of hip-hop on it.
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  Speaker 2: I love that.
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  Speaker 3: I love that.
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  Speaker 1: See, I'm that generation of the radio jocks. that were
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  Speaker 1: there on the air when hip-hop came in. So when
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  Speaker 1: I hear stories of hip-hop and how it's become a
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  Speaker 1: part of our life and how we've got a book
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  Speaker 1: like It's Only Dancing and it's part of it, you
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  Speaker 1: have no idea how much I smile like a child
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  Speaker 1: because it's like I was there. And to hear these
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  Speaker 1: stories and to talk to the authors, it's like I
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  Speaker 1: was there. And I just love how you are making
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  Speaker 1: it a part of what hip-hop really is.
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  Speaker 2: It's about us. It's about our community. It's about everything
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  Speaker 2: that we do.
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  Speaker 3: I agree. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, thinking about the playlist, right,
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  Speaker 3: there was a lot of sort of classic hip hop
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  Speaker 3: on there and some more modern stuff. But, yeah, I
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  Speaker 3: was really thinking about, you know, some of the performance
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  Speaker 3: scenes in this book are like kind of in the
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  Speaker 3: middle of the city. They're like kids dancing right in
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  Speaker 3: the city, which I feel like is feels like what
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  Speaker 3: hip hop is. Right. It's not like. a kind of
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  Speaker 3: formal performance. It's like, let's throw it down in the
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  Speaker 3: middle of the sidewalk, you know? And that was really
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  Speaker 3: fun to kind of think about and write.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, Jasmine, that people really do do that.
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  Speaker 1: You can go to a grocery store and hit the
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  Speaker 1: candy aisle or be over there by the power drinks
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  Speaker 1: and everybody is dancing. And that's what I felt when
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  Speaker 1: I went through this book. I'm going, she knows what's
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  Speaker 1: going on. She's obviously watching what people are doing. And
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  Speaker 1: when you get the urge to dance, you can't stop it.
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  Speaker 3: Right, especially if you've got the right music.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. That's so true. That's so true.
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  Speaker 1: But you know what's going to happen when word gets
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  Speaker 1: out there in the schools and in the streets and
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  Speaker 1: stuff like that about this being close to Dirty Dancing.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody is going to go to that scene that they
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  Speaker 1: like to reenact at weddings and family reunions and stuff.
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  Speaker 1: And I want them to do that. But at the
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  Speaker 1: same time, I say, remember, go to page one. And
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I've got to give you kudos, 100% kudos on your
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  Speaker 1: opening line here about turning the pages to try to
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  Speaker 1: get the attention of another person. That is an author
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  Speaker 1: that understands who their reader is.
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  Speaker 2: You know that.
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  Speaker 3: I love that. It makes me so happy that you
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  Speaker 3: love that line. Oh, I do. I do.
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  Speaker 1: Because I mean, isn't that what we're trying to do
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  Speaker 1: for every page? How can I get them to go
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  Speaker 1: to the next page? I know they're tired. Just give
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  Speaker 1: me three more minutes. I swear to God, I'll give
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  Speaker 1: you more of this story.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: And the design of the book, kudos to you and
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  Speaker 1: your production company because it really, and of course, you know, adults,
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  Speaker 1: and I know this is for YA readers and things
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  Speaker 1: and it's a journey for you, but there's going to
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  Speaker 1: be a lot of adults that are going to pick
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  Speaker 1: this up because you're giving me Soul Train, you're giving
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  Speaker 1: me American Bandstand, you're giving me MTV, the 1980s version,
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  Speaker 1: because this is what it was all about. These are
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  Speaker 1: all moves that every one of us have done and
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  Speaker 1: we want to be with somebody to do it again.
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  Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much. I cannot take any credit
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  Speaker 3: for the design of the book. It's an incredible design.
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  Speaker 3: I love it. I love how dynamic it feels with
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  Speaker 3: all of the dance moves on the cover. So I
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  Speaker 3: was thrilled when I saw the book, and I'm just
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  Speaker 3: thrilled that other people are going to get to have it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they're going to love Cat and Jordan. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: that's got to be an automatic.
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  Speaker 1: And the thing is that you put them in real-life situations,
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  Speaker 1: and I think that's going to get them to even closer.
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  Speaker 1: And I do wonder that when Netflix or Hulu picks
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  Speaker 1: up this book and they turn it into a series,
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  Speaker 1: how will the reader envision Cat and Jordan? Because you
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  Speaker 1: know how we are as readers. We know in our
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  Speaker 1: mind we have a picture of them on the front
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  Speaker 1: cover here, but now I want to hear them speak.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's so interesting. First of all, I
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  Speaker 3: would love that. If anyone picked up this book and
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  Speaker 3: turned it into a series or a movie, that would
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  Speaker 3: be delightful. And I think that actually one of the
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  Speaker 3: hardest things for me as a writer was, you know,
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  Speaker 3: I was sort of, there are a number of scenes
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  Speaker 3: in the book where I sort of, in my outline
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  Speaker 3: wrote like dance montage. And then you have to write,
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  Speaker 3: writing a dance montage is a lot harder than filming
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  Speaker 3: a dance montage. So I was really trying to get
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  Speaker 3: that feeling of like seeing people trying different kinds of
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  Speaker 3: dance and learning that because cats, you know, for the
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  Speaker 3: first really like half or so of the book is
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  Speaker 3: really figuring out how to dance, learning how to do
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  Speaker 3: this particular kind of dance. She came into the book
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  Speaker 3: as a ballet dancer who hasn't danced in a while
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  Speaker 3: and She's confident in her ability to dance, but not
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  Speaker 3: quite that kind of dance. And so she's really kind
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  Speaker 3: of figuring that out and learning how to, you know,
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  Speaker 3: at first she's really bad at it and kind of
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  Speaker 3: sitting with that and pushing through and learning how to
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  Speaker 3: get better.
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  Speaker 1: Well, see, my wife and I love exactly what you
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  Speaker 1: did with this story. And the reason why is because
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  Speaker 1: we are fanatics when it comes to Dancing with the Stars.
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  Speaker 1: And those people have no idea what dancing is. But
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  Speaker 1: if you stick with the show, you get to see
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  Speaker 1: them grow. And that's exactly what's going on inside this book.
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  Speaker 1: We're watching them grow. And isn't that what it's all about?
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  Speaker 1: It's like, just take it in. Feel the moment. Tell
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  Speaker 1: the story. Share the journey.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you so much because that feels like that's exactly
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  Speaker 3: what I wanted to do with this book is to
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  Speaker 3: really see Kat grow, see her, you know, grow both
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  Speaker 3: as a dancer but as a person and learn to
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  Speaker 3: kind of think about different perspectives, learn to, you know,
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  Speaker 3: I think one thing that many of us have trouble with,
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  Speaker 3: not just teenagers, is like, You know, especially learning something
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  Speaker 3: new and creative, knowing that you're not good at something,
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  Speaker 3: knowing that you don't know how to do it, and
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  Speaker 3: then pushing through and getting better and, you know, slowly
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  Speaker 3: and slowly. And then you realize, you know, a few
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  Speaker 3: months later, oh, wait, there's a big change between me
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  Speaker 3: now and me a few months ago. But you don't
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  Speaker 3: see yourself. It's sort of gradual. And then you've realized
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  Speaker 3: that you've grown. And so that is really one of
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  Speaker 3: the things that I really wanted to do with this book.
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  Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Jasmine Guillory coming
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  Speaker 1: up next. The name of the book, It's Only Dancing. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: my God, we've had such a fun time with this book.
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  Speaker 1: The author is Jasmine Guillory. I was going to ask
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  Speaker 1: you about that because as authors, you and I both
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  Speaker 1: experienced those moments where it is an oh, wait moment.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, wait, I have an idea. Oh, wait, this would
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  Speaker 2: not have worked. Oh, wait.
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  Speaker 1: And this is definitely one of those books where I
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  Speaker 1: had to ask you, were there some oh, wait moments?
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  Speaker 1: I've got to go back in there and change this.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, going into the book, I
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  Speaker 3: think this is just one of them, but going into
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  Speaker 3: the book, I had a very different idea of what
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  Speaker 3: Kat's relationship with her parents was going to be. You know,
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  Speaker 3: this book is sort of a contemporary take on Dirty Dancing, right?
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  Speaker 3: And I was sort of thinking about, you know, her
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  Speaker 3: parents would be kind of disapproving of hip hop. But
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  Speaker 3: then I really sat with that and thought about who
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  Speaker 3: her parents are, right? And it didn't make sense for
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  Speaker 3: her parents to feel that way. And so I really
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  Speaker 3: kind of had to switch my feeling of, Who are
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  Speaker 3: these parents? What is their relationship with their daughter and
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  Speaker 3: with with hip hop and with dance in general? And
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  Speaker 3: think about their relationship kind of in context. And so
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  Speaker 3: that was really something that I kind of went back
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  Speaker 3: to a few times in, you know, from the first
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  Speaker 3: to the second to the third draft of this book.
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  Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question about that when you're
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  Speaker 1: breaking it down. I mean, are you a voiceover actor?
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  Speaker 1: Because it seems like that's exactly what my producers and
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  Speaker 1: directors do with me.
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  Speaker 2: Who is she?
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  Speaker 1: What is her name? How many children does she have?
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  Speaker 1: What kind of a car does she drive? What kind
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  Speaker 1: of a soft drink? I mean, you're breaking it down
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  Speaker 1: exactly the same way that my producers do when I
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  Speaker 1: go into a studio to voice a commercial.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, that's so interesting. I love that. I think, you know,
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  Speaker 3: I have friends who are writers who think about all
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: of that before they even sit down to write something,
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  Speaker 3: who have like sort of a, you know, character cheat
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  Speaker 3: sheet that they fill out before they write a book.
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  Speaker 3: I really do that as I write the first draft.
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  Speaker 3: So my first drafts are always very messy as I'm
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  Speaker 3: figuring out who these characters are and what they do.
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  Speaker 3: So that's kind of my version of that cheat sheet
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  Speaker 3: is the first draft. But then kind of when I'm
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  Speaker 3: done with the first draft, I really know who the
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  Speaker 3: characters are. And then I realize what the story should be.
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  Speaker 3: So I kind of go back and have to fix
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  Speaker 3: it and figure that all out. All right.
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  Speaker 2: I'm here in Carolina.
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  Speaker 1: We all know that Dirty Dancing was filmed up there
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  Speaker 1: at Lake Lure. So therefore, when I heard that this
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  Speaker 1: takes place at a camp in California, I didn't say, no,
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  Speaker 1: it has to be Lake Lure. I was like, okay,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to go with Jasmine. I'm going to ride
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  Speaker 1: this wave and I'm going to see where she's going
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  Speaker 1: to take us on this.
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  Speaker 3: Well, thank you. You know, it's interesting because I'm from California,
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  Speaker 3: and so it felt like I had to set it
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  Speaker 3: in California to make it feel familiar enough to me
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  Speaker 3: to write it.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I kept waiting for the Joshua Tree to come up,
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  Speaker 1: or I kept waiting for something in Southern Cal. Or
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  Speaker 1: even if you're on your way to Santa Barbara or
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  Speaker 1: just somewhere out there in the center of California. To me,
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  Speaker 1: there's even times where I had the vision of being
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: on the Pacific Coast Highway. Not over there by the
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  Speaker 1: Hearst House, but when you get beyond it and you
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: get out into the fields of the real California that
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: feeds the rest of the nation all those veggies. That's
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  Speaker 1: the area that I envision. Am I wrong in thinking that?
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  Speaker 3: No, you're absolutely right.
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  Speaker 2: I felt that. I felt it. So that means that
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  Speaker 2: readers are going to go in the same exact place
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  Speaker 2: that I went to then.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I hope so. I hope they do. Yeah. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you and I share something in common. This book
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: is dedicated to your younger Jasmine. I talk about that
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  Speaker 1: all the time with me. They always say, so when
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: are you going to retire from radio? When I can
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: sit down with that 14-year-old self, me, and decide that
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  Speaker 1: 14-year-old is done.
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  Speaker 2: He ain't done.
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  Speaker 1: And something tells me that that young Jasmine was talking
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  Speaker 1: to you the entire way as well.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. She definitely was. Yes.
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  Speaker 1: Was young Jasmine, was she a writer? How did the
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  Speaker 1: school teachers take that? Because, you know, a lot of
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  Speaker 1: teachers in my life loved it.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it's funny. I was not a writer at all.
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  Speaker 3: I was a big reader. I loved to read growing up.
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  Speaker 3: But I really didn't start writing until I was in
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  Speaker 3: my 30s. And so, you know, it's funny. I've gone
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: back and... Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about you, Jasmine?
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  Speaker 1: Cause I want them to jump on this story and
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  Speaker 1: really start spreading the word.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, thank you so much. My website is jasmindillory.com. You
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: can find out about all of my books, and I'm
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: going on tour in October, so I'll get to go
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: all over the country to get to meet readers. And
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  Speaker 3: on social media, you can find me on Instagram at jasmindillory.
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  Speaker 1: If you come to the Carolinas, we've got to sit
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: down and have a face-to-face time.
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  Speaker 2: We really do.
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  Speaker 3: I would love that, absolutely. All right.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Well, you be brilliant, and please come back to this
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  Speaker 1: show any time in the future. Ten minutes with you
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: is never going to be enough, and the producers on
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: that end are probably saying, shut up, shut up, get moving,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: get moving. She's got other people.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Well, it was.
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  Speaker 3: So great to talk to you. Thank you so much.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: You be brilliant today, okay?
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: Okay, thank you. You have a great day.