Harry Styles
(Picture: AP)Harry Styles’ Grammys performance was thrown into chaos after the turntable stage rotated in the wrong direction, one of his backup dancers has revealed.
The hitmaker, 29, sang As It Was at the star-studded ceremony, but his performance left many noting online that something seemed “off” – and now, it would seem their assumptions were correct.
On Monday (February 6), one of Styles’ backup dancers, Dexter Da Rocha, revealed that the turntable the dancers and Styles all rehearsed on for 10 days turned the wrong way on the night.
Sharing the story in a now-deleted TikTok, Da Rocha began: “Yoann Bourgeois and his associate Kerem made this beautiful, beautiful piece on a moving turntable, so there are 12 of us, we’re all on the turntable and we rehearsed for 10 days getting down these beautiful formations and sliding off the turntable…
“And Harry did such a good job integrating into it and had a beautiful duet and just making this incredible morphine cool artistic s**t. This whole time we’re practising with the turntable counterclockwise.
“We did it loads of times and got it down to the point where we were at dress rehearsal, it was spotless and beautiful. It was different [from] anything most of us had ever done before.
“It was frustrating, and it was difficult and making those patterns while something is moving and having all this spatial awareness and working with people you’ve never met before, like it was a wild challenge.
“So yesterday at dress rehearsal, it was gorgeous, it was amazing. We get on stage for the performance, the performance starts, and the turntable starts going the wrong way.”
The dancer said that those on stage immediately tried to, “get the attention of the technician” but it was live TV so they “couldn’t yell”, leaving the technician unable to hear them.
She continued: “So, to switch all those patterns on the spot, having not even walked in that direction... like it sounds it’d be easy to walk, it’s like a treadmill, but I swear to God, since it’s circular, it pulls you in different directions and it’s such a special type of balance.
“So, we got accustomed to one way, and it was the opposite way, so luckily we worked together and did our best and got to one cool formation in time for the overhead shot but had to kind of change the rest.”
Da Rocha went on to praised Styles and his professionalism to keep the show on the road, insisting he “did his best to be able to walk and reverse everything while he was singing and reverse his entire duet, which was incredible.”
She continued: “Unfortunately, news outlets didn’t know that’s what was happening, so they called it lethargic or boring or whatever, but it really was, we were just trying to stay f***ing standing.
“So, unfortunately the world didn’t get to see the beautiful work of Yoann Bourgeois or all of our dancers work and Harry’s beautiful f***ing job, but he won Album of the Year, which is incredible, and we all have a story to tell.
“It was still such a f***ing incredible experience. He’s so nice and cool and hardworking and just made the rehearsal process so beautiful so what a f***ing wild ride.”
Another one of Styles’ dancers, Brandon Mathis, also hinted at “technical difficulties” during the performance on Instagram.
At one point of his caption, Mathis praised choreographer, Yoann Bourgeois, and also notably referenced the issues they faced during the live performance, writing: “And I am so grateful to you for your trust, your compassion, and your willingness to play and stay soft through it all.
“Even ridiculous technical difficulties that none of us could have prepared for. I’m honored to know you and to now call you a friend.”
Aside from technical issues, Styles picked up the coveted Album of the Year award at the star-studded event.
