Vincent Paterson on Molding the Moves That Lifted Michael Jackson & Madonna to Their Higher Ground — Watch!

He also opens up about his journey as a gay man, including the senseless murder that led to his move to L.A. — which changed pop history

June 3, 2026

He’s good, he’s good — really, really good: Vincent with (L-R) choreographer Michael Peters and King of Pop Michael Jackson, and with Queen of Pop Madonna and designer Jean-Paul Gaultier (Images courtesy of Vincent Paterson & video still)

Because I have been adding interviews to my Encyclopedia Madonnica updates for the past 10 years, I had already had the great pleasure to speak with the legendary Vincent Paterson, the director-choreographer who has done, well, it all.

In a nutshell, this Tony nominee first made a name for himself dancing with Michael Jackson in “Beat It” ahead of choreographing “Smooth Criminal” with its iconic lean and directing his extraordinary Bad tour, among other King of Pop projects.

Choreographing Michael Jackson in “Smooth Criminal,” considered among the best music videos ever made (Image courtesy of Vincent Paterson)

Next, he was lured by Madonna, whom he’d helped with movement in her blinked-and-you-missed-it Pepsi ad and whose “Express Yourself” he’d choreographed, to salvage her Blond Ambition tour. The results of his work on that monumental piece speak for themselves — that tour became inarguably the blueprint for the modern pop concert.

And that’s not to mention his work with Shirley MacLaine, Olivia Newton-John, Björk and Chita Rivera, to name a few.

Vincent’s incredible memoir Icons & Instincts is a must-read and is available here. (Image via Rare Bird)

But while anyone who speaks with Vincent would have to hate music not to ask anything and everything about his accomplishments as a visionary movement maestro in that field just as it was becoming so dependent on visual expression, I also wanted to ask him about his journey as a gay man born in the ‘50s who came of age in the ‘60s and ‘70s and witnessed AIDS in the ‘80s. I think many will be shocked to learn of the senseless tragedy that was part of both his romantic life and his move to L.A., without which popular culture just wouldn’t be the same.

After all, while Madonna and Michael Jackson have been as successful without Vincent — their raw talent, creativity and ambition would have mandated it — their careers would not have been the same without him. His DNA is all over their career peaks, and those intensely creative collaborations in turn inform much of what we see in pop music visuals to this day.

Please read on for a lightly edited version of our chat, or listen to the full Boy Culture with Matthew Rettenmund podcast above …