good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation, with an amazing young artist names charles riley known professionally as lil buck. his style of dancing is called jookin'. frirs memphis, fast becoming a phenomenal. i assure you, one of the most amazing things you'll see. thank for joining us for a conversation with lil buck, coming up, right now. ♪ ♪

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. charles riley nope at lil buck can attest to the ub tu. amassed more man 2 million views. his style of dancing is known as jookin' and won him a devoted following as well as stints with madonna, cirque du soleil and the little circus ballet. let's take look at yo-yo ma with lil buc at the chinese theater for the performing arts.

♪ ♪ it's hard to watch you and not look at your feet. i find myself just -- staring at your feet and looked down and saw the shoes you got on today. nice kicks there. >> thank you. air force ones. actually made by this designer named ricardo tisky, and he's a

really upscale design just collaborated with this really kind of street sneaker wear. they a gift from madonna. >> from who? >> from madonna. sent them for my birthday. >> ah. how nice. [ laughter ] >> really nice. >> hey, madonna, i wear a size 12! if want to hook a negro up. size 12. i could take some of those, too. nice of madonna. >> yes. >> let me go from madonna, come back to her maybe. start with my friend yo-yo ma, who i adore. been a guest of the program many times. how did you and yo-yo hook up? >> funny. me and yo-yo hooked up through a guy named damian, former principle ballet dancer for the new york city ballet and very good. he still has it, by the way. he actually found a video of me dancing to "the swan" when i was around, i believe i was 18 or 19 years old. i was still a economy member at

this ballet studio i was a part of called new ballet encalmble and school back in when i was in memphis, tennessee, and i did a performance with the company, and it was for these, for kids in arkansas. drove down to arkansas and did the performance. to "the swan." knew nothing about yo-yo at the time, and it turned out to be a beautiful outcome and the kids loved it. in awe. their face was just glowing, and you could hear it all on the camera. they saw the video actually his wife, heather watts, saw the video and thought it was amazing and showed damien and they both thought it was incredible and were already working with yo-yo ma at the time, because they have these things calmed the art strikes. they go out and get the arts into different school, the arts and education and push it out. with the president's committee on arts and humanity. damien and yo-yo ma had already started a relationship and thought it would be crazy to have a collaboration with a

street dancer. damien actually reached out to me on facebook. actually, through facebook. and told me he loved my style and that he wanted to get me and yo-yo together, and i looked up yo-yo. who's this yo-yo guy? never heard of a guy named yo-yo. >> a guy named yo-yo. exactly. yeah. >> and yo-yo in middle school, middle school bathrooms. no. but, yeah -- i looked him up and found out all the amazing things, all the awards he won and how he was a prodigy at a very young age playing for all of our presidents. i thought it was amazing. i was like -- wow. this is an incredible opportunity. i was living in l.a. by the time they reached out to me. i was 19 or 20 years old when they reached out to me and we just met up. they knew i was in l.a. and yo-yo so happened to have a concert at the walt disney concert hall here. >> uh-huh, yeah. sure. >> i met up with yo-yo there. the first thing he said to me, are you lil buck?

when he saw me. i just told him, i said yes. he just gave me this big hug. the only thing he said after that is, i want to try something. he opened up his case, brought out the cello and started playing, right there in the moment. i just started dancing. immediately. i reacted. you had to be there to see the magic happen for the first time. after that, gave each other a hug again knew we a chemistry together, and the next day is actually when we did the performance that spike jones caught on camera. >> the next day. >> the very next day. you can actually -- >> hold up, buck. hold up, hold up. so you and yo-yo meet one day. >> yes. >> on the spot he pulls out his cello says i want to try something. >> yep. >> you just do your thing, and y'all recorded it the very next day? >> the very next day, we, they had this meeting for the president's committee on the arts and humanity. >> right. >> at brown lorde's place here. yo-yo was -- >> hold on. hold on. i -- just laughing. i'm just laughing at buck.

throwing these names out, brown lode is li lorde is like the biggers uber agent. hanging outing at his house? >> yeah. have the video took place. >> at his house? yeah. >> yeah. >> okay. go ahead. >> we, and there, i think it was supposed to be yo-yo, by himself, just you know for an intermission. a quick, nice intermission. they thought it would be fun to actually throw me in there with him and see what happens with that. the reaction was phenomenal. as you saw on the camera. you can hear the reactions from the people. >> how did -- i want to get back into -- go into your back story. you're so young, anyway. the young back story that you have. a very short story. out of memphis, but how did you come into the presence of the kinds of persons you just mentioned, and ar tifx artistically i get the sense that you were not intimidated at all? >> i wasn't, because -- i was just always doing me. you know?

>> uh-huh. >> like nothing's changed from when i was in memphis and moved out to l.a., but the drive i had. i just gained even more drive to really get the style out there because my mission on leaving from memphis to l.a. was actually to, for the style to become, to gain just, one, notoriety around the world. just a global mass amount of notoriety for the dance. i wanted people to know about it, wanted people to see. this is the goal i would have for the dance style, because we've been underground so long. i'll get more into that as you talk to me about my younger days, but, yeah. just wanted more notoriety for the dance. so when i'm put in front of these people, i just tell myself, you've got to do you. because that's what the people love. so i just do me around them. i'm not really too star struck or anything like that, but, yeah. people just fall in love with the talent i have, and it's a great gift. like -- >> so take me back to memphis where it all began, and tell me how dance became your muse? how did you and dance develop this love affair?

>> well, i've always -- i can tell you right now i've always been dancing. just whether -- i mean, not even professional. just listening to music as a kid, i always had hyperenergy, i was always hyper, but i really got into dance when i was 12 years old. i came home from school, in memphis, came home from school and in the living room my sister was dancing. she was doing this crazy little thing with her knee, and if looked cool. looked pretty cool. bouncing her shoulders and it was -- i never seen her do this before. i just asked her what is this you doing right now? like, looking cool. she was like, i'm jookin'. my friends from school taught me how to do this. that's when i actually got into it. and then, me and her made up our first routine in the living room doing, like, certain, a couple eight counts together and made up our first little whatever, jookin' routine. this is when i was having fun with it, but i really took jook.

seriously the next year when i turned 13. >> jook. i should spell this. pbs. i should spell jookin'. j-o-o-k-i-n. >> yeah. just like cookin'. >> right. jookin' or cookin'. me and you on the same page. go ahead. >> that's what happened. i got inspired by her are just doing that in the listening in the living room. that's when i jumped into it for fun and got really serious with it when i was 13, because that age, the next year i really started seeing it more. and in my schools, and i started seeing it going out to friends in different skating rinks. which is, skating rinks are places in memphis you'd see a lot of this being done. you'd see a lot of jook. done in empty parking lots sometimes. skating rings. not much in classrooms because it's a dance that came from the underground streets of -- underground rap. >> how does the choreography of it all work, though? >> that's the magic of it.

because it's a freestyle based dance style. it's all like -- it's like 40 or 20 -- maybe 40% originality, because we do have original steps that make it what it is. that -- i mean, that make it where you can separate it from other dance styles, of course. because jookin' started out as gangster walking. like the gangster walking, like a line dance, bouncy feel, and dance evolved upon time what you see right now. how complex it is. i sort of create might own style within it. >> your ankles are like -- they're like rubber. >> yeah. they kind of -- they're super flexible. i found out they were really flexible when i was in middle school, actually. i was doing things like this. >> oh -- oh -- hold on. do that again. y'all, did you get this? do that again. do it again. >> really double jointed in their arms? i could always do this with my ankles and used to scare my mom a lot with that, and -- but. >> god, you scared me with that. >> but when i started dancing,

you know, i actually -- i wanted to, you know, see -- because i told you as a freestyle based dance style. it's like -- 40% originality and the rest is, all creativity. the rest is whatever happens in the mind. >> so you've never done the same thing twice? >> unless it's a -- >> which is great. >> yeah it is great. >> because if it's freestyle, you get into the spirit of whatever, yo-yo, whoever you're performing with is doing. >> absolutely all in the moment. all in how you feel in the moment. i'm always an abundant person and always feel going. i always have abundance for life, but, yeah. it's a freestyle based dance style and you'll see moves like the gangster walk, or the l step, or like the surf boy, i can -- there's a -- there's quite a few original steps that make it jookin'. that makes jookin' what it is, and the bounce in the shoulders mostly, like -- jookin' is

really -- you don't really see the true essence of it unless you see the bounce. >> i love how you're describing this. before we go further in the conversation, i was online the other day and saw a piece that for "vogue." >> yeah. i did "vogue" did a feature on me, because i was a part of the new york city ballet, this huge performance at the new york city ballet called the "21st center choreography of the 21st century" and they wanted to do a feemper on me because i was like one of the main dancers, in this big show with j.r., choreographing, just worked with now, and a visual artist. they did a feature on me in the magazine as well as a video. >> okay. let me -- i want to play this video. so up easier tofor people to se how genius his artistic genius is. here's this "vogue" piece, and then we'll talk about it.

♪ ♪ i want to get you in my skin, journey like the ocean ♪ and then i can awake and feel myself again snoo♪ i want to fight for my own strength cracking through the paintment, notes of harmony snowed refreshing to see my heart is burning ♪ my rapture is atoned ♪ ♪ my aching throne my dancing my butterfly wings are sewn ♪ no false hope ♪ ♪ if you want to see me at least

only then can i awake ♪ to rest, i want the freedom to devour every precious flower like there is the only reason ♪ so everything i'm seeing, and everything i'm doing, my heart is burning ♪ my rapture is atoned ♪ ♪ my aching bones, my dancing on my tomb, my butfly wings ♪ i. know what u see when i see this. i was so full, when i just saw your gift on display in that way. when you see that what do you see? >> you know what? most people bring up my work a in my videos and everything they always mention, like, just what you said and they mention just my expression. how happy i am when i dance. i just see happiness when i look at that video. i see it of work. a lot of hard work. >> yeah. >> to get to that point, man, because i've been dancing every day, every single day. really never miss add day since

i was -- since i was 13. i've brn doing jookin' every day, and so that's been like 14 years now. nonstop. >> why did you make the move from memphis to l.a.? what were you loping to accomplish? what are you hoping to accomplish with your career by being in l.a. and say not new york? >> here's the thing. i made the move to l.a., because i don't know if you heard this before, but i was flown -- i was flown to l.a. for my first music video. youtube, through that, suzanne lovejoy, one of the most amazing people i met in l.a. she's help immediate so much in my career. she saw a video. i did a video back in memphis. one of my great friend and my manager, juyoung jay. he has music as well, and i did -- i was jookin' to one of this songs. came home from school and he was just like, hey, man, i got new

song i want you to dance to. we put it on slid yo. one of my first youtube videos ever and she saw that and had her own film production company and thought it would be amazing to get me out to l.a. and brought me out here for like three days. just the weekend and let me bring my good friend ron as well. ron myers, out here in l.a. with me and he just did the billboard music awards, with michael jackson, by the way. one of the dancer with the michael jackson hologram, back to the point, yeah. i went out to l.a. for, we got flown out there for three days and saw all the opportunity and compared to memphis. memphis is wonderful. i love memphis for all the soul i got from living in memphis and just, it's just a beautiful place, and i believe i did as much as i think i could do in memphis as far as like -- elevating. i wanted more elevation. i wanted to extend my horizon even more. when we went out to l.a. i saw all the opportunity, the palm trees, ire saw the girls.

i saw the weather. everything, and i was like, wow. this is incredible. i know i can do something with jookin' out here. i know this is, like, l.a. is known as one of the biggest places to really make it as far as l.a. and new york, but l.a. is one of them places basically i made friends at i knew people that can probably help me. so that's why i made the move there. >> give me a sense of how you think the xpoesh herb exposure for this art form will lead to greater acceptance of it? you're hangening out with yo-yo ma,marsalis, exposing your gift and who you are, and now on pbs, what's your hope and dream for the exposure of this arm foart form which i hope wil lead to greater exposure it. >> exactly. my hope and goal overall for me, just me, what i'm trying to do getting this dance out to, you

know, bringing it out to the world, my number one goal is like, for it toish -- i want it to be respected and just -- i believe it has a -- it has the power to be in the sacategory a ux like, modern jazz, ballet. hip-hop, jookin', its own thing, and i strongly believe it's such a beautiful dance and such a -- and it's so different, because you have the majority of control in it. you're not really learning it from anybody else. you learn the basic, and from there you just tap into your own creativity and you get to learn more about yourself. it's more -- more than a dance. it's like a lifestyle almost. you learn more about yourself, the more you learn how to do the dance styles. >> the flip side i would think, buck, the flip side to being introduced to so many millions of persons on the internet, courtesy of your relationship with yo-yo ma, the flip side is

people might tend sow see you as a ballet dancer. then see you hanging out with classically trained dancers? >> some people have and idea like that, because -- when i was -- when i jumped into the world of collaborating with a lot of people in the classical world, that's when i got a lot more notoriety. so people really don't know much about before. they just meant to mostly a be the after effect from me jookin', but i've been moving the say way. like, nothing really changed. there was no drastic change in my style that made me elevate, you know, even more. or for people to call it ballet or whatever, because the style is still jookin'. it stayed the same. the oath thing -- i've taken ballet two years since i was 17. i took it until i was 19, for 2.5 years. the thing i did get from ballet was the overall core stroke. we already had core strength as jookin', but then the knowledge

of how to really use your core strength and just knowing about all of these things. i got that from ballet and i got a lot of flexibility from ballet. a lot of, more elegance, because my style was already elegant. that's what really got katie's mind. the artistic director for the new york city -- not the new york city ballet. before the school isn't memphis. my ballet teach whir i was taking it. that's what got me into my style in the first place and getting into ballet a little bit. she saw the elegance alreadied grace in my style already and saw all of the comparens are can compare to ballet. i'm going the same thing just to different music. done to classical music, people seem to think it's ballet. i just enjoy being on my toes. i've never put on a pair of point shoes in my life. >> your family, still back in memphis? >> yes, they are. >> how are they processing all

of this exposure? >> for example, my mom, she's probably watches this right now. how ya doing, mom? she's like my number one fan on -- social media of all sorts. you know? and. >> yeah. >> my family, they love it. they just love what i'm doing. they're really proud of me. they're proud that i kept it going. no matter how many times my mom told me to stop dancing in the kitchen. and, you know? [ laughter ] >> while she's cooking. they all know now it was worth it in the end, so. >> as you travel around the country are you seeing, jookin' rshgs you seeing the art form everywhere? >> i am most definitely. actually, when youtube came out, that was one of the most amazing things that could have happened as far as people knowing about jookin', because i'm going to go back to young jay. jay was one of the people who actually made the first mrs. jook. overall structure dvd for everybody and in every neighborhood that was doing the

style. when i was on tour around the world, like with madonna, i would hit up's different dance sometimes and areas. there's teams it of jookers like everywhere. in europe, there's a team. a jookin' league out there, in europe, man. and it's crazy how much notoriety this dance is getting, how fast -- >> see? see what those in memphis have done? >> yep. >> see what you've done for the world? but memphis has done that on a bunch of different fronts. first the blues, now jookin'. we owe memphis, to say nothing about the barbecue, we owe memphis a great deal. so i'm going to let you get out of here to get back to whatever you're working on next, but i am hon forward have had you on the program. i enjoyed it. >> it's an honor being here, man. >> just to see the way you work those ankles in person is amazing to me. >> yeah you know, i try. you know? i do my thing. >> you got it. [ laughter ] and before i let you go, ten

seconds. the nickname, lil buck. where does that come from? >> the question of the year. lil buck actually came from, it's really simple. and it came from two things. it came from me when i first started i was 12 years old when i really got into it and 13 when i got serious. i was a real shorty. you know? growing up. and i was like super short when i was 13, and when i was doing the style, the stylist called it jook. but there are two styles within that. one is buckin', and another one called choppin', and buckin' is more the explosive style and choppin' is more, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. you break it down more. and i was always known as a bucker, because all of my moves were explosive, but i was a little kid doing crazy explosive moves, flipping with my style. so they calm immediate lil buck. >> you were little and you were bucking. i got that. >> lil buck. my real name is charles, and the

nickname for charles is chuck. i don't want everybody call meese chuck, like my mom. so buck seems to be -- >> nice chuck do that buck. i love you, man. >> love you, too, man. thanks for having me on. >> call his charles, buck, lil buck -- any way, he's a bad man. and i have so enjoyed this and i'm sure everybody now is going to youtube quickly to watch this stuff. >> please. pick up the video, that's our show for tonight. thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley @pbs.org. pi hui. i'm tavis smiley, join me next time for a auto briography of --

we'll see you then. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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