{"id":21044,"date":"2021-12-03T22:49:48","date_gmt":"2021-12-04T04:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tvmeg.com\/?p=21044"},"modified":"2022-01-01T23:04:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-02T05:04:52","slug":"bleucoleman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/2021\/12\/03\/bleucoleman\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>TV Interview!<\/strong><\/h3>\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- TVMEGBODY -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1056557952271337\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"8801203268\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-21041\" src=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/christmasdance3.png\" alt=\"Interview with Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman of &quot;Christmas Dance Reunion&quot; 12\/3 on Lifetime\" width=\"481\" height=\"188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/christmasdance3.png 768w, https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/christmasdance3-300x117.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong> Interview with Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman of &#8220;Christmas Dance Reunion&#8221; on Lifetime by <a href=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/13\/biosuzanne\/\">Suzanne<\/a> 11\/8\/21<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This was part of a Lifetime Christmas press panel. I really enjoyed seeing the movies and speaking everyone. What made this movie so special is all of the great dancing. It was nice to chat with these two. Corbin used to be on &#8220;One Life to Live,&#8221; so I was thrilled to speak with him.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Hi, everyone, and welcome to our third panel for today.\u00a0 I would like to introduce Monique Coleman and Corbin Bleu of this year&#8217;s &#8220;A Christmas Dance Reunion&#8221;.\u00a0 We&#8217;re gonna go ahead and get the questions started.\u00a0 Noah has the first question.\u00a0 Noah?<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Hello.\u00a0 It is so great to be here with you guys.\u00a0 By the way, you look fabulous and happy holidays to both of you.\u00a0 My first question is to you, Corbin.\u00a0 We see two high school dance partners get back together for the holidays.\u00a0 So many fans from &#8220;High School Musical&#8221;, including myself, will watch this and think this is the perfect holiday storyline for the two of you, as you both have worked together on the Disney Network in &#8220;High School Musical&#8221;.\u00a0 But how does this holiday story throw us back to some of the &#8220;High School Musical&#8221; memories?\u00a0 Because I did see a photo when I screened of you and Monique, and it was back during &#8212; I think in the gym of &#8220;High School Musical&#8221;.\u00a0 I was like, &#8220;Oh my gosh, this is fantastic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Honestly, getting to work on this project settled so many dreams coming true.\u00a0 At this time, I mean, it was October of 2020 when we went out to go shoot, so coming on the tail end of a quarantine and not working for a period of time.\u00a0 It was also election time.\u00a0 There was a lot of &#8212; just a lot of chaos at the time and in our minds.\u00a0 And all of a sudden, we go on this journey to go to Canada, get out of the U.S. for a minute.\u00a0 And we get to reunite in this film that we haven&#8217;t been on screen together in 13 years.\u00a0 And when I tell you every single moment on set was just comfort.\u00a0 And there are a lot of moments in the film that when I watched it looking at just how easy the romance comes and how easy the connection came, and that was real.\u00a0 I mean, it just &#8212; it&#8217;s&#8230;it truly is such a beautiful, wonderful thing to be able to work with a person that you love from the bottom of your heart.\u00a0 I mean, Mo, I love you.\u00a0 You&#8217;re, like, you&#8217;re &#8212;<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 I know.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 You&#8217;re my sis.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 I&#8217;m like, oh my God.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 There was just so &#8212; honestly, I could go on and on so much because then on top of it, my wife, Sasha Clements, is also another lead part in the film.\u00a0 So there was all of this just love, just this lovefest on camera and on set.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Now, Monique, just speaking of &#8220;High School Musical&#8221;, there was a lot of dance that would go on in the show.\u00a0 Because it was a musical, there was a lot of dance routines that would happen.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 I really think dance brings us together and I think that definitely shows in this holiday movie.\u00a0 So lastly, how was the process of nailing down a dance routine with Corbin Bleu when you guys got to reprise and really just do this again, just be able to dance together?<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 I think Corbin really said it well.\u00a0 The thing is that we were safe, you know?\u00a0 We felt like we were safe, we were comfortable.\u00a0 And that is such an important part of telling any story is making sure that you have that connection.\u00a0 But another thing that I think is really interesting is Corbin started dancing when he was two or three years old.\u00a0 I started dancing when I was in fourth grade.\u00a0 And something that&#8217;s really interesting is that our lives didn&#8217;t begin with &#8220;High School Musical&#8221;.\u00a0 Obviously, that is an amazing part of our journey, and it&#8217;s a peak, and we&#8217;re so &#8212; we will always be so proud of it and excited to talk about it and share.\u00a0 But what I thought was really interesting was that this story to me brought the two of us back further than where we were when &#8220;High School Musical&#8221; started.\u00a0 It brought us back to the roots of who we are and it reminded me that I danced as a kid.\u00a0 And this moment didn&#8217;t make it in the movie, but there are photos in the hallway of my fictional house that are pictures of me when I was 10, 12, 15, 17 years old with these big dreams in my mind.\u00a0 And to see that and then to actually see photos of us from when we were on tour &#8212; one of the photos is actually from the Macy&#8217;s Day Parade.\u00a0 And I remember that so distinctly.\u00a0 And I remember how I felt in that moment.\u00a0 And then to fast forward to today and to be able to bring all of who we are together and for that to be on screen, I think it absolutely captures the magic that you all felt when you saw &#8220;High School Musical&#8221;.\u00a0 But I also think that this movie is going to do something really special and allow you to get to know Corbin and I in a way that you probably honestly haven&#8217;t seen prior to now which is really, like, who we&#8217;ve always been.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Thank you guys for your time.\u00a0 I appreciate it.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Thank you, Noah.\u00a0 Alright, up next I have Mike from TV America.\u00a0 Mike?\u00a0 I&#8217;m gonna give him a moment.\u00a0 Oh, there he is.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Okay, can you hear me now?<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 We can.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Can you hear me okay now?<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Hi, Mike.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Okay, good deal.\u00a0 Hey, Corbin, I wanted to ask you to kind of continue on what Mo was saying a minute ago.\u00a0 Because we have a lot of movies that are about singing, not as many movies that are based on dance.\u00a0 And dance has been so much a part of your life forever.\u00a0 I mean, talk about starting to take dance when you were two or three years old.\u00a0 Talk about what it was like as a kid and how important it is to be able to get back to a dance-based show like this sometimes.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Well, again, this movie is a lot of art mimics life and vice versa.\u00a0 There&#8217;s a lot of meta moments.\u00a0 I started dancing when I was about two years old.\u00a0 And I started with tap and ballet, and that was always my first love.\u00a0 And I started acting early, as well, and I started singing early, as well.\u00a0 But dance was just always my form of expression.\u00a0 And to this day, it&#8217;s just the one thing that just comes naturally, just comes easy.\u00a0 If there&#8217;s ever &#8212; you know, there are times when people just &#8212; they just want to sing and it just needs to come out of them.\u00a0 And my body just expresses it through dance.\u00a0 And when I tell you the character, both of them, both of the characters are just so rooted in realism.\u00a0 They both found this joy and this love of dance at an early age.\u00a0 My character, Barrett, actually continued on with it and went on to become a Broadway stage performer, very much like real life.\u00a0 And Monique&#8217;s character goes on to actually become a lawyer and dance is still this joy, this love that&#8217;s just hanging right behind her that she&#8217;s just wanting to turn back and find again.\u00a0 And I know &#8212; I&#8217;m gonna just speak for Mo a little bit, yeah, I know that she has gone on to do just such incredible serious, wonderful things in this world.\u00a0 I mean, she&#8217;s a U.N. ambassador.\u00a0 So again, I know for me getting to dance with her and her getting a chance to also re-find a joy of dance and that love in this, it was incredible.\u00a0 And I&#8217;ve got to also do one more shoutout to our director and our choreographer &#8212;<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 &#8230;Brian Herzlinger and Christian Vincent because the turnaround on this was not &#8220;High School Musical&#8221;.\u00a0 You know, &#8220;High School Musical&#8221; we had&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Time?<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 &#8230;like, at least &#8212; at least &#8212; two days per number, at least.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 This we shot &#8212; I think majority of the final dance routines were shot in one day.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 In a day, yeah.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 One day.\u00a0 And the other dance routines, everything else that you see was shot in one other day.\u00a0 So just an insane amount of hard work.\u00a0 And to top it all off, there were things that were implemented that weren&#8217;t originally in the script, one being my tap number.\u00a0 One number in the movie that really is such a pivotal story moment that you actually get to really see Barrett&#8217;s love for dance and where his spirit really flies is this tap number that was never in the script, was never a part of rehearsals, until we were like three &#8212; I think we were three or four days from getting ready to start shooting.\u00a0 And I knew that they were gonna do this other tap number and I said to Brian, I was like, &#8220;Brian, you know that I tap, right?&#8221;\u00a0 And he goes, &#8220;Wait, what?&#8221;\u00a0 I was like, &#8220;Yeah, I love tapping.&#8221;\u00a0 And he said, &#8220;We should implement that.&#8221;\u00a0 And Christian, freaking incredible man that he is, threw together this tap number.\u00a0 And we worked on this over the next couple weeks before we had to shoot it and implemented this number.\u00a0 And it turns out to be such a beautiful moment in the movie.\u00a0 Just really, really wonderful that they allowed such input and organicn-ess to free flow.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Okay, cool.\u00a0 Thanks.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Awesome.\u00a0 Thank you, Mike.\u00a0 And our next question is from Suzanne.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Hey, Suzanne.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Hi.\u00a0 I really enjoyed the movie.\u00a0 I loved watching it.\u00a0 It really made me wanna go to the Winterleigh.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Awesome.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Where was it actually filmed?<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 We shot up in Vancouver.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Toronto.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 I&#8217;m sorry &#8212; Vancouver &#8212; Toronto.\u00a0 We filmed up in Toronto, I&#8217;m sorry.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Up &#8212; yes.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 The other side of the country.\u00a0 We shot up in Toronto at the&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Where were we?\u00a0 I&#8217;m like&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Horseshoe.\u00a0 Horseshoe.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 That&#8217;s right.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Mm-hm.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Yeah, the hotel.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Oh, okay.\u00a0 Great.\u00a0 And Monique, what was the thing about it that was the most challenging for you?<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 I think letting it be easy.\u00a0 That was the most challenging thing was just allowing it.\u00a0 You know, we&#8217;re in an industry that can just be so difficult in so many different ways.\u00a0 And this was an experience that Corbin was speaking of earlier that was in the midst of a very active world pandemic.\u00a0 We were in the midst of a very intense election in the U.S.\u00a0 And we&#8217;re storytellers.\u00a0 And we kept reminding ourselves that we got to be the magic makers of the moment.\u00a0 We get to be the lightworkers.\u00a0 We get to be the ones that are going to be a part of helping people to have the joy that we all deserve when this all is over.\u00a0 And so for me, to be honest, yes, learning the dances was challenging.\u00a0 Spending two weeks in quarantine and then going from basically zero to hero and having not worked pretty much all year long, having definitely not danced or been in a studio at all.\u00a0 And I actually turned 40, so I was like my knees are not &#8212; they&#8217;re not capable of doing this which is actually really hilarious because that is something that Lucy talks about as her character.\u00a0 But it&#8217;s very real for me &#8217;cause I&#8217;m like no, but really.\u00a0 I can&#8217;t just jump in like that.\u00a0 But at the end of the day, I guess I always knew that this was supposed to be fun and it was supposed to bring joy.\u00a0 And if there was anything that I felt like I couldn&#8217;t do, I knew that I had the support to change that.\u00a0 So I knew that with Corbin that I was safe with my partner.\u00a0 I knew that with Christian, he wanted to make sure that we looked good.\u00a0 And Brian is just like all-around so incredible that there wasn&#8217;t really any pressure.\u00a0 There wasn&#8217;t any extra tension.\u00a0 So you know, I think, yeah, obviously the most challenging part was going from not dancing or doing anything and being in a pandemic to going full throttle.\u00a0 But even that is a blessing and it&#8217;s a gift.\u00a0 And so I don&#8217;t even like to look at that as really any more than just the challenge that comes with being privileged to be able to do something that you love for a living.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Awesome.\u00a0 Thank you guys so much.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah, thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Thanks, Suzanne.\u00a0 We&#8217;re going now to our final two questions.\u00a0 Cynthia?<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Hello, can you hear me?<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Yes, we can.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Hi.\u00a0 I&#8217;m Cynthia Horner from &#8220;Right On! Magazine&#8221; and &#8220;Word Up! Magazine&#8221;.\u00a0 And Corbin, you and Monique used to appear in our magazines all the time.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 Absolutely!<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 I know!\u00a0 I was like &#8220;Word Up!&#8221;!<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 What is it like now being grown people that really got your start as teenagers and you continued on with your craft?<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 One of us was a teenager.\u00a0 The other one wasn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 (Laughs.)<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 I&#8217;ll let you guess which one.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Homegirl, you still look fly as hell.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Thank you!<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Honestly, just like life, there are aspects that just get better and better and then there are other parts that you go, oof, that hurts a lot more.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 You know, I think that there truly was an appreciation on this film.\u00a0 When we were working back then, at least I can speak for myself to say that I was just a teenager.\u00a0 And as much as I really was a hard worker and I was always focused on what I was doing and I appreciated everything that was going on, it still was just about enjoying that ride.\u00a0 And it all happened so quickly that there are times where you have to &#8212; you forget to remind yourself, let me really take in this moment.\u00a0 And I feel like I was able to do that a lot more working on this project.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Just as an adult, in general, those times where it really is special.\u00a0 One thing that I would love to talk about that I was able &#8212; a moment that I was able to look around and go, wow, this is really beautiful, was the representation in this film.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 And its diversity.\u00a0 I mean, what&#8217;s so beautiful is to see these lead actors, Black actors, and that has nothing to do with the driving force of the storyline.\u00a0 The storyline is a romance story.\u00a0 It has nothing to do with the fact that we&#8217;re Black.\u00a0 And yet, you get to see all of this diversity and all of this representation in there.\u00a0 And I feel like that to me is something that as a kid, I don&#8217;t necessarily &#8212; I wouldn&#8217;t necessarily pinpoint as much.\u00a0 Now, I see it and I go this is something that I wish I was able to see a lot more of on screen when I was a kid and watching all these holiday movies.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah, that&#8217;s literally exactly what I was feeling, Corbin, was that that is the biggest shift that has happened since that time.\u00a0 We were just in a different era and now to be these characters that are not just supporting someone else&#8217;s story but to be the story and yeah, that is definitely different and exciting.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Well, thank you so much.\u00a0 And merry Christmas in advance.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 You, too.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Merry Christmas in advance to you, too.\u00a0 And happy Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Awesome.\u00a0 Thank you, Cynthia.\u00a0 We&#8217;re gonna wrap with Samantha.\u00a0 Samantha?<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION:\u00a0 Hi.\u00a0 Thank you both so much for touching on the diversity piece because that&#8217;s really what I wanted to ask about.\u00a0 I was reading about Monique you know just a part of how Taylor&#8217;s &#8212; the headband became &#8212; like, a piece was not really having people that could do Black hair.\u00a0 And I&#8217;m just curious what your experiences have been through the start of your career to now being in the industry where it&#8217;s really embracing and prioritizing diversity?<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 It&#8217;s definitely shifted so much.\u00a0 The fact that we can even have this conversation and be open about it is I think definitely progress.\u00a0 And I think one thing that Corbin and I both do is we are very collaborative in the process.\u00a0 So we don&#8217;t take a backseat to what we&#8217;re doing.\u00a0 We really want to be involved every step of the way.\u00a0 And so it&#8217;s been really wonderful to watch the industry catch up and also personally to be able to make stronger and different choices about how I want to be presented and so forth.\u00a0 So I feel like there&#8217;s a lot more room.\u00a0 And not just diversity amongst &#8212; like racial diversity, but also diversity within a race.\u00a0 I think oftentimes, I have been cast in roles that someone could perceive as a token role.\u00a0 Like, oh, here we&#8217;re fulfilling the diversity quota because we&#8217;re both very safe people.\u00a0 And that&#8217;s not to&#8230;it just is what it is.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 And so oftentimes, we&#8217;re put in this position and it&#8217;s like there&#8217;s so much diversity within being Black.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not just, okay, we&#8217;ve got someone that&#8217;s it.\u00a0 And that is something that is so special and beautiful about &#8220;A Christmas Dance Reunion&#8221; is that you just have this family.\u00a0 You&#8217;ve got these people and they just are different shades of Black and it&#8217;s not just one note or one tone.\u00a0 And that is really very exciting to see what the possibilities are now that these other universes are opening up where we can see ourselves from here.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 One hundred percent with everything Mo just said.\u00a0 And it&#8217;s such an important, important thing for what she&#8217;s talking about, as far as diversity within the diversity.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 And this movie by the way, there&#8217;s representation with LGBTQIA community.\u00a0 There&#8217;s&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Age.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 In age, in differently abled.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 And our writer, one of our co-writing team, you know, Brian Herzlinger but majority of the heavy lifting on the writing was Megan Henry Herzlinger.\u00a0 We have a female writer.\u00a0 Yeah, right?<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 It&#8217;s so good.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 So really, I mean, all that is there but again, what&#8217;s so amazing and so important to me about this film is that all of that goes unsaid.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Mm-hm.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 To me, for what I grew up watching, the stuff that I &#8212; you know, I grew up watching all of the MGM classic musicals and never really getting a chance to see representation of myself in that character.\u00a0 And most of the time growing up, if I was watching someone of color, then it was the token.\u00a0 And usually the phrases that were coming out of that person&#8217;s mouth or the kind of demeanor of a certain &#8212; it always was a very specific category.\u00a0 Or they were there because the driving force of their storyline was because they&#8217;re Black.\u00a0 It has to do with their struggle.\u00a0 It has to do with the fact that they&#8217;re not represented.\u00a0 And we have romance stories, too.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 We have positivity without the struggle, as well.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n<p>CORBIN BLEU:\u00a0 That&#8217;s always there.\u00a0 That struggle is always there because we aren&#8217;t represented in that way, but we will only see that struggle and only see that representation if those are the only stories that we continue to tell.\u00a0 So that&#8217;s why this really to me was such a beautiful, beautiful experience and really important.\u00a0 And I want to see more of it and Mo and I need to do more of that together.<\/p>\n<p>MONIQUE COLEMAN:\u00a0 Yes!<\/p>\n<p>MODERATOR:\u00a0 Awesome.\u00a0 Well, thank you both so much for participating today.\u00a0 We all love that you&#8217;re here together and reunited.\u00a0 So be sure everyone to tune in to &#8220;A Christmas Dance Reunion&#8221; on Friday, December 3rd, at 8\/7 Central only on Lifetime.<\/p>\n<p>MORE INFO:<\/p>\n<div class=\"show-header\">\n<div class=\"show-header__title\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-21042 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/christmasdance2.jpg\" alt=\"Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman of &quot;Christmas Dance Reunion&quot; 12\/3 on Lifetime\" width=\"254\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/christmasdance2.jpg 304w, https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/christmasdance2-300x296.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px\" \/>A Christmas Dance Reunion<\/div>\n<div class=\"show-header__description\">Friday, December 3 at 8pm \/ 7c<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"text-component-item-f0164b83-6b88-11ec-9368-d719b7afd404\" class=\"text-component-item body-copy sanitize-html\" role=\"region\">\n<p>Successful attorney Lucy Mortimer (Monique Coleman), along with her mother Virginia (Kim Roberts) returns to the Winterleigh Resort to help celebrate the hotel\u2019s final Christmas season. Once there, Lucy is reunited with the owner\u2019s nephew and her childhood Christmas Dance partner, Barrett Brewster (Corbin Bleu). Though the resort has fallen on hard times and has stopped most holiday events, Lucy leads the charge in recreating the beloved Christmas traditions, including the popular Christmas Dance, to bring together new families and new hope to the resort. Now, Lucy must decide if she\u2019s willing to take a risk on love and partner up once more with Barrett for what could be the last Christmas Dance.<\/p>\n<p><em>A<\/em>\u00a0<em>Christmas<\/em>\u00a0<em>Dance<\/em>\u00a0<em>Reunion<\/em>\u00a0is produced by Off Camera\u00a0Entertainment\u00a0and Brain Power Studio with Stephanie Slack, Margret H. Huddleston\u00a0and Beth Stevenson\u00a0as Executive Producers. Megan Henry Herzlinger\u00a0and Brian Herzlinger serve\u00a0as writers. Brian Herzlinger\u00a0also directs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Proofread and Edited by <a href=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/20\/biobrenda\/\">Brenda<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/interviews\/\">Back to the Primetime Articles and Interviews Page<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-21043\" src=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/christmasdance1.jpg\" alt=\"Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman of &quot;Christmas Dance Reunion&quot; 12\/3 on Lifetime\" width=\"394\" height=\"222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/christmasdance1.jpg 533w, https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/christmasdance1-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 394px) 100vw, 394px\" \/><\/p>\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- TVMEGBODY -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1056557952271337\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"8801203268\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TV Interview! Interview with Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman of &#8220;Christmas Dance Reunion&#8221; on Lifetime by Suzanne 11\/8\/21 This was part of a Lifetime Christmas press panel. I really enjoyed seeing the movies and speaking everyone. What made this movie so special is all of the great dancing. It was nice to chat with these [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,7],"tags":[978,79,87,979,346,478,250,127,46],"class_list":["post-21044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-primetime","tag-a-christmas-dance-reunion","tag-article","tag-christmas","tag-dancing","tag-interview","tag-lifetime","tag-music","tag-qa","tag-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21044"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21046,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21044\/revisions\/21046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvmeg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}