By Noriko Ostroy
One day, Michael McGinn was painting octopuses on a canvas when his friend made an observation that stuck with him.
“You’re kind of like an octopus in the way that you live your life.” They said, “you’ve got your hands in a bunch of different things, but somehow keep it together.”
A multitasking artistic talent that built a successful career dabbling in traditional and innovative art techniques. McGinn has over 20 years experience balancing different creative worlds. As Co-founder and Vice President of Product Development at World of Dance, by day, and a local painter and digital creator by night, the Fullertonian’s career has been an ongoing evolution.
Raised in Whittier, California, McGinn pursued digital editing in Florida when the medium was still in its infancy, while also maintaining a love for hands-on art, like acrylic and oil painting. His early exposure to traditional art helped in the transition to digital media where he began his career documenting Southern California’s rave scene and car culture through film and photography.
“Having a hands-on more traditional art background helped me grasp terminologies in the digital world as we started converting over into digital,” McGinn said, “I think also just having the background in painting gets your really comfortable with colours and how they work together and just composition overall.”
In building his resume, McGinn found one of the keys to a thriving creative community was “just creating the right environment for people to feel like they can express themselves to the highest ability.”
That understanding helped shape his approach to World of Dance, which McGinn co-founded and launched in 2008, serving as the creative director, to transform their first local event in Pomona, into a global powerhouse for dancers and musicians.
“From the beginning, we kept it very open on the creative side,” McGinn said, in response to why he thinks the brand is so influential. “We are also known for a high caliber of dance, like the best of the best, so having that- I think it just set the bar pretty high.”
The international platform for dancers to compete and network with one another grabbed the attention of NBC, which turned World of Dance into a reality dance competition show in 2017, that ran for four seasons and featured dancers from all across the globe competing under celebrity judges Jennifer Lopez, Ne-Yo and Derek Hough, for a $1million dollar prize.
Continuing its expansion as a platform for emerging artists, at one point World of Dance was partnered with Empire records, merging dance and music. Though temporary, it was another step in demonstrating the brand’s ability to work with different artistic mediums while broadening opportunities for artists. Today, the brand boasts over 50 International partnerships and a massive social media presence, while continuing to seek creative opportunities and aid in artist development.
Along with facilitating self-expression, McGinn values the emotion and connection art evokes, believing it has the ability to bridge gaps between people, communities and cultures.
As a global brand, World of Dance gives artists from all over the world a platform to share their stories, some of which may celebrate cultural pride and others that bring the hardships within their countries to the stage, such as choreographed pieces inspired by the pandemic’s global impact.
“We’ve had ones where it’s like during the COVID times, like they were trying to reenact the circus and how that affected them.” McGinn said.
Outside of work, McGinn’s personal art remains an ongoing exploration of color, form and composition. While his professional life thrives on collaboration, his personal work is an independent escape.
“I do a lot of painting and try to stay creative throughout the month of have some kind of project going on,” McGinn said, “I’ve separated in my mind the work from the play in the art world. So my personal work is more playtime.”
His artistic inspirations range from Paul Gauguin’s bold colour palettes to Mark Carter’s realism but McGinn said his biggest supporter is his wife, Christina, an animator and medical illustrator he met in college.
“She’s a motivator, she’s always pushing me,” McGinn said, “she does a better job at promoting me than I do.”
Though he primarily paints for himself, the Fullertonian has showcased for local businesses and museums, participated in wall mural projects such as World Wide Walls in Hawaii and Long Ceach with artist Jasper Wong, and said in a previous intereview with XZBT that a dream of his would be to showcase at larger local events such as Laguna Beach’s art festivals.
McGinn’s commitment to art innovation has contributed in shaping the intersection of technology and performance, most notably with his “Front Row” filming format. “We created a format called the Front Row- now other competitions use it too,” McGinn said. “It’s just a slider and a camera, but it gives a good close up shot so you feel like you’re in the performance.”
The technique helped elevate both the competition, their brand and the art form itself, influencing the way people consumed it. Now, McGinn has his eyes set on several big projects including a new World of Dance Summit in July and a potential TV show reboot. “The summit is in LA, but we are also talking about trying to do it in another country,” McGinn said, mentioning Japan and Dubai as potential locations for it’s expansion.
From curating world class dance competitions to mentoring emerging artists to experimenting on canvases, murals and with VR. McGinn’s world is one of constant motion. And just like an octopus, each arm of his creativity reaches toward something new.
IG:
https://www.instagram.com/mcginnster
https://www.instagram.com/worldofdance
