Ruben Chamorro
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If you're responsible for any of the 1.2 billion YouTube views on Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" music video, you've seen dancers Keone, 29, and Mariel (Mari) Madrid, 31, depict a romance gone bad in the best-performing single of 2016. As teens, the now-married Californians found dance, in their twenties, they found each other, and in 2015, they were featured in Bieber's 30-minute dance film, Purpose: The New Movement in 2015.
The talented duo, who have also choreographed routines for X-Factor, So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With the Stars, and Korean boy brand BTS, appear in the first season of NBC's World Of Dance, the world's largest dance competition show. They've already ~*waltzed*~ through qualifiers and won their first duel.
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Here, Keone and Mari reveal what's really like to star in Bieber's mesmerizing video, compete on World Of Dance,and work together.
How did you two meet?
Mari: Keone was subbing in for an instructor at a workshop I was teaching, and we met there in 2008. I wasn't very nice. We didn't hit it off right away.
Keone: I thought she was pretty and talented. When I went up to shake her hand and introduce myself, she was a little cold toward me. There definitely weren't fireworks or sparks.
After that, I reached out to Mari on MySpace when a junior dance team I was directing voted to have her come in as a guest choreographer. From MySpace, we connected on email, then began texting and calling each other until we began dating.
[Editor's Note: Keone and Mari began dating in April 2008 and got married on June 10, 2012.]
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How did you begin working together?
Mari: Three months into our relationship, an opportunity came up, we tried it, and it worked.
Keone: It's not like it's always been easy, though. We go through ups and downs, but when we get to that final result, it's always worth it.
You just celebrated your five-year wedding anniversary. What relationship advice would you give to couples?
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Mari: Communication is a never-ending learning process.
Keone: In relationships, people have expectations like, 'I'm never going to have to change the way I am,' or, 'This person's never going to change.' But every year is different — people grow, develop different interests, and get older. Couples need to be willing to accept these changes.
Although most couples have to schedule time to see each other, for us, it's the opposite — we have to schedule time to be apart. We also avoid working during dinnertime — just watch Netflix, eat, hang out with our dog, and clock out.
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For all the Beliebers, what was it like to create the "Love Yourself" video?
Keone: Parris Goebel [Bieber's longtime choreographer] approached us about choreographing "Love Yourself" ourselves about a week before the shoot date: She just said, "Do your thing. I was thinking it could be in a house somewhere." That week, we were so busy that we couldn't work on it until the day before filming.
Mari: We didn't see the house ahead of time — we just had to go in. Sometimes, when you have a lot of time you can overthink things. Short notice just forces you to trust yourself and make decisions.
Keone: When we saw the hallway, we knew we had to do something there. I filmed the scene on my phone to show the director of photography how we wanted to capture everything.
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That part where we have the phones dancing next to each other — that came from footage recorded on our phones.
I'd had someone come in the night before the official footage was shot to film and edit this part to play simultaneously.
What has it been like to work on the first season of World of Dance?
Keone: It's kind of surreal, almost out of body. There are lots of professional dancers who have had experience on other dance shows. It's like Justin Timberlake going up against Adele or another singer.
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Your choreography seems very personal. Do you draw from experiences you have together in your personal life?
Mari: All the time.
Keone: It's never really like, "Hey, we just had a fight so let's make something." It typically starts with the music. We build a story by saying, "Okay, how can we personally relate to this?" When you look back at our work, it embodies who we were at that moment in our lives.
As a couple, what is it like to revisit emotions you put into a dance?
Keone: It would be hard to relive them if we didn't heal or recover from them, but we've recovered and healed from everything we've gone through. We can look back in a healthy way.
Mari: Dance is part of the healing process as people, as a couple, and separately.
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Watch Keone and Mari compete on World of Dance Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Reporting by Madison Feller.
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