Native El Pasoan takes big career step dancing with The Weeknd at Super Bowl

Hours after the Super Bowl, native El Pasoan Donovan Gibbs still was feeling euphoric from performing with The Weeknd at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

"I am feeling on Cloud 9. It's hard to describe. It's just so cool to see the years of training paying off in a big way," said Gibbs, who now lives in Los Angeles. It's there that he is living his dream of being a contemporary and hip-hop dancer while working hard to be a choreographer in the entertainment industry.

"The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages you could be on," he said Monday, in between flights heading home to the West Coast.

Since he moved to Los Angeles six years ago, Gibbs said he has experienced some great opportunities, including dancing for Janet Jackson at the Billboard Awards in 2018, touring 15 countries with singer Becky G and working with J Balvin and Camila Cabello.

In 2013, he competed in "So You Think You Can Dance" on the Fox network.

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He also co-owns his own company, The Bridge Training Program Faculty, working with other emerging dancers.

Performing at Super Bowl 55, however, might be the biggest highlight so far for the 26-year-old.

At first, Gibbs did not know much about the actual gig. His agency forwarded him an email about choreographer Charm La'donna looking for local dancers in Atlanta or Tampa for a project.

"She's an iconic choreographer that I hadn't worked with before and I'm really big on taking leaps of faith. So, I was willing to take the sacrifice (of paying for his own flights and hotel) to be able to work with such an icon in my industry," he said.

Once he got the job, he learned he was going to dance at the Super Bowl — and his flights and stay for one week would all be covered.

"It was truly worth the risk. It's one thing I wish more people would do because you never know what's going to be on the other side of that mountain," he said.

Gibbs, who grew up in his family's Desert Eagle Productions Dance Studio on the East Side, said the coronavirus greatly affected how they rehearsed for the show.

"For challenges, I would say the first rehearsal for the 14-minute show in four hours over Zoom with an unstable connection was kind of difficult to remember everything," he said.

About a week before the big game, he and 74 other dancers arrived in Tampa to rehearse Monday through Thursday and then again on Saturday.

"We probably rehearsed no more than 32 hours and truly put together the Super Bowl show in the shortest amount of time because of COVID," he said. 

Though hard to detect among other identically clad dancers wearing red jackets and a white headpiece, Gibbs said he started off in the choir cast in the stands and then had to do a costume change in about 35 seconds before hitting the field.

"I was actually in the start all the way to the finish. It was about 14 minutes and I was in all but about two songs," he said.

Gibbs said he didn't get too much time around the Canadian performer, whose name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, but there was a moment that he cherishes.

"On our last rehearsal, he looked up to where we were on the risers and said, 'Thank you, guys, for being here, and flying down here because we couldn't have done it without you.' 

"It was really cool because a lot of times artists don't take the time to really acknowledge the talent that's around them. And you could really tell he cares about the full picture. And I really respect that."

More:El Paso native Hannah Bassham will broadcast in Spanish from Super Bowl sidelines

María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; mcortes@elpasotimes.com; @EPTMaria on Twitter.