Michael Jackson’s dancer details ‘out of body experience’ shortly before singer’s death

EXCLUSIVE: Dondraico Johnson has worked with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Madonna and Janet Jackson but one of his career highlights was working with Michael Jackson

Dondraico Johnson has opened up

Michael Jackson sadly never got to do his This Is It concert residency as the singer tragically died just 18 days before the first slated performance.

The Thriller hitmaker, who died from cardiac arrest caused by an overdose, worked hard in preparation for the tour, rehearsing six days a week from April to June 2009. On one day, the singer even rehearsed until nearly midnight.

Choreographer Dondraico Johnson was one of the people working on the This Is It residency. Looking back at his time with Michael, Dondraico described it as “an experience” in an exclusive interview with The Mirror US.

He told us, “MJ was an experience for me. My dear friend Travis Payne was the choreographer and he called me in to work with them on a few things and I couldn’t even put it into words.

Michael Jackson had been rehearsing for his tour when he died(Image: Getty Images)

“I think I had a whole out of body experience lol! I’ve never seen anyone that knew every sound, every light que, every dance number and the mic was always on for him to hit the notes. He’s the Greatest of all time.”

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While Dondraico didn’t spend much time with Michael outside of rehearsals, he described the singer as “nice and kind.” The dancer added, “He was a perfectionist and I can appreciate that.”

Following Michael’s death at the age of 50, the This Is It concert residency was canceled. Instead, AEG Live said they had “more than 100 hours of footage of preparations and rehearsals for the shows” to be released.

Dondraico Johnson worked with the singer(Image: Variety via Getty Images)

In August that year, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff approved a deal between AEG and film distributor Columbia Pictures for Columbia to purchase and distribute the rehearsal footage in a film.

Columbia paid $60 million for the rights to the rehearsal footage, with Michael’s estate taking home 90% of the profits from the film’s revenue. AEG Live received the remaining 10%.

The documentary, titled Michael Jackson’s This Is It, was directed by Kenny Ortega who was also the director of the live shows. The movie was released on October 28, with an accompanying compilation album also released.

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