arts & life

on the cover

Hey, Paula!

Paula Abdul dishes

on dancing, kissing

Gene Kelly and her

life-changing visit to

Israel in a preview of

her upcoming talk in

Metro Detroit.

Lynne Konstantin
Arts & Life Editor

details

Paula Abdul will speak, followed
by a Q&A period moderated by
Emmy Award-winning FOX 2 news
anchor Sherry Margolis, at the Lois
Linden Nelson Woman’s World
at Congregation Shaarey Zedek
in Southfield Wednesday, May 4.
Boutique shopping begins at
9 a.m.; Patron Event is at
11 a.m.; presentations (honoring
philanthropist Henrietta Weisberg
followed by Abdul’s talk) begin at
11:45 a.m.; and luncheon and raffle
is at 1:30 p.m. Cost for Abdul’s talk
is $36; luncheon tickets start at $54.
Boutiques are free. For tickets and
information, call (248) 357-5544 or
visit llnwomansworld.org.

See a related story on
Henrietta Weisberg on page 18.

74 April 14 • 2016

S

he’s danced with Gene Kelly.
She’s choreographed for Janet
ackson.
Jackson.
She’s (lovingly) sparred with Simon
Cowell on American Idol.
She’s Jewish. (But most people don’t
hat.)
know that.)
And she’s coming to Metro Detroit to
out it all.
talk about
Paula a Abdul — award-winning dancer,
grapher, singer, reality star and
choreographer,
more — will be the featured speaker
ois Linden Nelson Woman’s
at the Lois
World Luncheon Wednesday, May
ngregation Shaarey Zedek in
4, at Congregation
eld.
Southfield.
n Abdul, 53, was 4, she saw her
When
GM musical, Singin’ in the Rain.
first MGM
“Gene Kelly turned my world upside-
down,” Abdul says. “And at 4 years old,
I fell in love with him. I remember sit-
th my family on the couch, and
ting with
I walked d up to the TV set and kissed it.
here], there was no turning back.”
[From there],
ural at putting on shows for fam-
A natural
ily and friends (and babysitter Michael
Bolton), , Abdul performed for her first
ce when she was 7 — “You’re A
audience
Grand Ole Flag.”
“Some e of my fondest memories are of
ming for my family,” she says. “I
performing
ntertaining my family and how
loved entertaining
hey looked. The fact that they were
happy they
enjoying g it made me love it even more.”
Later, , in college, she discovered a new
style of dance: breakdancing. “I went to
sin Tara’s house and told her, “I
my cousin
have to learn this. I have to be able to do
ot me!” Abdul says. “I dove to the
this. Spot
nd tried to spin in a headstand. I
floor and
think I scared her!”
ermined and focused multi-
A determined
talented d tour de force, Abdul has reinvent-
ed her career more times than Madonna

— each with enormous success. In 1981,
while studying radio and TV with hopes
of a career in sportscasting, Abdul tried
out to be a Laker Girl for the Los Angeles
Lakers — and won a coveted spot.
Halfway through her first season, she
became head Laker Girl and designer of
the cheerleaders’ routines. She later bor-
rowed from the street moves she incor-
porated into the Laker routines to create
Janet Jackson’s iconic dance style for the
videos from her Control album, including
“Nasty.”
“Choreographing ‘Nasty’ was an incred-
ible experience,” says Abdul, who was
told this would be an important album
for Jackson. “Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
wrote genius music and Janet had a really
important voice in it. You don’t hear
‘Nasty’ and say, ‘Oh, this is a dance jam.’
It was a very different kind of song, kind
of how ‘Straight Up’ was for me: This
could define an artist completely, and
I wanted to create something that
would not only be signature moves,
but that would also define her as
being in charge.”
Abdul soon released her own
album — with a catalogue of vid-
eos to accompany them. Songs like
“Straight Up” and “Cold Hearted”
blew up the charts. The latter was
set to a Bob Fosse-inspired video,
one of her favorites to make,
and was directed by David
Fincher (who directed
videos for Madonna,
Sting and the
Rolling Stones
and films Fight
Club and The
Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo). Back
then, Abdul says,