From Classroom to Neverland: The Heart behind the Dance - with Christine Fossemalle

Christine Fossemalle owns and runs a dance school in Santa Ynez, California, in the same neighborhood that Michael Jackson called home at his Neverland Valley Ranch for 15 years. In the summer of 2003, Michael Jackson not only helped Christine with a fundraiser for her school, but also invited the entire school for a day at Neverland. In this episode, Christine tells us all about it.

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Transcript

Paul:

Hi, how you going?

Christine:

I'm doing wonderful, thank you.

Paul:

That's good. It's nice to see you. It's nice to connect.

Christine:

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Paul:

And you received my book okay?

Christine:

Yes, I did. I read the whole book.

Paul:

Oh, wow.

Christine:

I went on the YouTube, you know, you say at the end of the book to go and seas. So, I watched everything. I wanted to know everything about what you did. And I have to say that I was quite stunned with all the stories that you compiled because I had no idea of all the things that Michael Jackson had done. I know what he had done for us, but I had no idea the magnitude of things that he had done starting in such a young age. Okay.

Paul:

Were there any stories in the book that really touched you in particular?

Christine:

Well, everything he did for the kids who were ill. That part I had no idea. I mean, I heard little stories here and there, but I did not realize the magnitude of places that he went to. And when you mentioned about or they mentioned that he was doing as many concerts almost as visiting hospital or student, I mean, sick children, I was just really blown away. So, there was nothing in particular but the magnitude and desire to help so many people. And I think that should be pulled. Like you did.

Paul:

Yeah. And that's the reason I did the book and the documentary and the other podcast is because the general public don't know any of that. And for somebody whose life was all over the media and everybody thinks they know about Michael Jackson; they don't really know. So, I think it's unfair. And that's why I did the book and that's why I did the documentary. And I'm still doing the podcast because I think it's unjust. I think someone should be remembered for their character and their heart and the human being that they are. And I think all those stories about him being a humanitarian, a true testament to the person that he was, not just what you see in the media. And so, your story is not in the book. I didn't come across your story until after I'd published the book. So, I'm extra happy to be chatting to you because it's another story that I would like to get out there. It's a great story.

Christine:

I think. So, for us, it was very special, very rewarding, and we very much appreciate his kindness. And the whole thing was just totally not expected. I mean, we started out with a little endeavor and it just became way more than I personally expected. And of course, all the dancers that benefited to the trip at Neverland.

Paul:

Yeah. So, I suppose to start off, I was hoping you could introduce yourself to our listeners and tell us who you are and what you do for a living.

Christine:

Okay. So, my name is Christine Fossemalle, and I am the owner of the Fosamax Dance Studio and artistic director of the Santa Ynez Valley Performing Arts Company. And currently I am starting my 38th year of teaching the art of dance in San Diego, California.

Paul:

Wow. And Santiago. What's Santiag like? That's where Michael Jackson lives, right?

Christine:

Michael Jackson lives in Los Solivos, so it's about five, 6 miles from us. But of course, everybody at the time, because our event happened in 2003, everybody knew about Michael Jackson being at Neverland some of the time. So, he was a very big, of course, celebrity locally. I mean, people knew of him and all of that.

Paul:

Yeah. And you said 38th year dancing. So, you were dancing in the when Michael Jackson was at the peak of his popularity.

Christine:

Right.

Paul:

Was he a big influence of your dancing back then?

Christine:

Well, what it is is my background is classical ballet originally. Then I came to the United States to work jazz style. So I really can appreciate what Michael Jackson was doing with his art form and his dedication and his drive and mainly the enthusiasm that the students got from his music. So that was what enticed me to do a performance with his music because every year we were doing different pieces on our performance. And in 2003, because of that enthusiasm of the student, I decided to use a lot of his music. All the jazz piece we did in our Invitation to Dance, which is our title of the performance, was with Michael Jackson. So, it was bad. It was Smooth Criminal. It was Billy Jean. All the hits that I knew that the kids could identify to and then really enjoy doing it and brought joy and enthusiasm. So that's how it came about.

Paul:

And is that a large school? How many students are you talking about?

Christine:

At the time, it was about 60 students performing for that event.

Paul:

Okay. And so, you train and practice for months, I presume. Is that for one event at the end of the year?

Christine:

Right. So, we usually start in January. And then the idea was just originally to do basically a tribute or a showcase of Michael Jackson's piece. And then as we evolve in the year, we, of course, always have to fundraise to make the project happen. And so being 6 miles away from Los Olivos, I decided, well, I cannot take a chance of sending out a letter and see if I could get a little help from Michael Jackson. So, this is what I did, explaining basically what I told you. And to my amazement, because I certainly must be receiving a lot of letters, a week later, I got a call from a very nice lady who told me that Michael Jackson would be willing to help us out. And originally the plan was to provide us for our auction fedora hat orthograph and then furthermore, he would be very happy, being a local, to attend the performance.

Paul:

Wow.

Christine:

So that was just like, really exciting. And of course, as the week went by, I did not say anything about the hat because I just wanted to make sure I had it, that there was not going to be any mishap or anything. And effectively, a few weeks later, we got the hat and it was delivered and we made a special glass case because, of course, everybody wanted to touch it, so they just had to look at it. But the condition with all of that was that there was not going to be any media broadcasting or anything like that. He wanted to be for the community, whether I was going to bid on the hat to be local versus having people coming from other places. And I totally understood that that was totally fine. So, we were all excited. And of course, knowing that it would be coming to the performance added on my part a lot of, how can I say challenge for my girls to perform to the best of their ability.

Paul:

A lot of pressure.

Christine:

But they did not know that. I never said anything about him coming because I just didn't want to. Again, wanted it to be a surprise. And unfortunately, this was supposed to I need to look up the date. This was supposed to be July 3 in 2003. It was supposed to come to the Friday night performance. And again, I was told not to alert medias or anything like that. So, I follow along everything they asked me to do. And unfortunately, the day before, the lady told me that Michael Jackson had to fly to Florida so that he was very disappointed not to be able to attend. But in the same breath, in that same conversation, she said, and that's when I was just fully blown away that he had made a promise and as a compensation, he was inviting the whole school to a day at Neverland.

Paul:

Wow.

Christine:

And so, I was just like I could not believe what I was hearing. And effectively it happened. And two weeks later that was a week or so later, around July 1314, because I was to fly to France, which is where I'm originally from. And I was worried that the day would conflict with me leaving. But they said, no, you can pick a day. We caravan. We were I don't remember how many cars, but we had about 40 or 50 people caravanning to Los Olivos at the Netherlands Ranch. And the only again, condition, they asked us to leave our camera because, of course, everybody was hoping to take pictures and all of that. And we just totally understood. And it was just a day to remember for his kindness and his generosity and the way we were welcome. I know, I read your story, but the student did all the ride. They visited the zoo. I mean, they took us everywhere. We even went in the theater. And what touched me, I get very emotional when I say this is when I enter the theater. And I saw those two rooms on either side of the theater which are enclosed for the children that could not be surrounded with everybody else, and all the parents that were with me because of course, we had mainly kids, but we needed chaperone. All the parents were just totally blown away to see the compassion and the thoughtfulness, to be able to include everyone.

Paul:

Yeah, that's amazing. I can see why you get emotional. I want to go back to when you were writing a letter, which is just amazing in itself. What was in the letter that got his attention, do you think? And how did you know where to write to?

Christine:

Well, what it is is the fact that we are in a small community. I was able to find at the time the name and the address and all the information from local people that helped me with my cause. We did not know if we're going to make it, but they gave me the proper name of the proper gentleman and that's how it came about. But I wanted well, the fact that I have been a dance teacher for so many years and that was catering to children and that the children loved his music and that we were going to be using his music for the performance. And at the time, people knew me, they knew the quality of work that I was doing. I mean, I don't want to brag, but I'm sure there was part of it. And then you wanted to help the cause and knowing that I was just really asking for an auction item to make a little bit of money to be able to pay for the theater where we perform and give a chance to those kids to do this.

Paul:

Did you invite him to come to the performance in the letter?

Christine:

Yes, I did.

Paul:

So, when he came back and said that he would come, were you told that you had to keep that secret or were you allowed to tell the students?

Christine:

No, I was asked not to. It's like the hat, like what I was telling about the hat. I was asked to keep it private because then it would become too complicated for security reason and all of that. It was fine with me and I wanted to respect his privacy and what he wanted to be coming to the performance as normal a person as possible.

Paul:

Yeah. And do you remember how much the auction for the hat raised?

Christine:

Yeah, the auction, I believe it went for $1,500.

Paul:

Wow. So that helped.

Christine:

Yes, definitely.

Paul:

And so then comes time for you to take your students and their families, I suppose, to neverland I can only imagine everybody's parents and brothers and cousins and families all want to come. Did you have a cap of how many people you're allowed to take?

Christine:

Well, I don't quite remember that, but the invitation was students and so I wanted to respect that and only the student who had been performing in these pieces and enough chaperone to be able to do that. So unfortunately, yes, there was a lot of extra people that all of a sudden wanted to join, but I just wanted to be respectful to what I was offered because I felt that it was already over the top generous. So, I just wanted to respect respectful.

Paul:

Yeah. So how does a day like that begin? You've got a few carloads of people you drive down to Neverland. You haven't been there before?

Christine:

No.

Paul:

So how does that day start? You get to Neverland and what happens?

Christine:

We went to Neverland, it was about 09:00 in the morning. So, we met at the dance studio in San Diez and we caravan over there in Los Solivos and the guards the gates open and of course the guards expected us and some kids had cameras. So very nicely, everything was very elegant, very nice, but they took the camera and then we went in and like I say, we had free range the whole entire day. And also at one point, and I can't remember exactly, but I just remember it was a very lovely area with the beautiful oak trees that are in this property. And there were beautiful tables set up with linen, like white linen. Each table had flowers in the center and we were served with a crew of people, I can't remember exactly, but they all had white gloves and it was just like wow, beside anything I could have imagined to be welcome in that manner. And then, of course, the best part is as we were having lunch in this beautiful surrounding, Michael Jackson came on his wand, I think you call it like a three-wheeler or four-wheeler little device, like a motorcycle. And then he kind of stayed away because we were a lot of people and he waved, but at least everybody got really excited because we do not know whether he was there or not. And so effectively he was. And it was really a highlight for the kids, for me as well, of course, for the kids to know that we were acknowledged that way also. So that was really a lovely day and I think everybody remember fondly about that day.

Paul:

Yeah. And you're painting a beautiful picture of how it was with the staff that were looking after you. Was that for just your group or was there other groups of people there?

Christine:

No, we were the only one. We were the only one and there was a buffet line, but everything was just exquisite and everybody was so nice to us and I just can't say enough kind thing and generous for the kids to be happy. And all of us, I mean, even adults, I mean all the adults thoroughly enjoy and everybody left totally amazed by the way we had been welcome and fully unexpected.

Paul:

So, it was really and so you mentioned you got to see the theater and the zoo. Was there staff there to take you around and show you all the different places, or were you just let free?

Christine:

I don't remember. I know there were staff at the zoo because I remember there was an enclosed area where there were huge snakes, like really big snakes, and some of the kids had never seen this kind of snake anacondas or something, like really big snakes. So, I know there were people checking things there. And we remember feeding some of the animal. The kids could get food to feed the animals, and then the kids had popcorn on top of everything else we had for lunch. We had treats. And the kids play in the arcade.

Paul:

Yes.

Christine:

Video game or something, right?

Paul:

Yes. Do you remember what other animals you saw there?

Christine:

Giraffes. Because what really strike me, it was the first time, and I've not been to a lot of zoos, but I always remember seeing giraffes having to bend over to get the food from people hands. And in this case, they were baskets at a high level where the giraffe could directly eat. And I thought that's a very thoughtful thing to put the food for the giraffe at their level. So, I thought it was pretty cool.

Paul:

That's amazing. Did you spend the whole day there?

Christine:

Yes.

Paul:

Wow. How does that come to an end? That must be hard to say. Okay, it's time to go now.

Christine:

Well, I don't recall because this is kind of quite a long time ago, if we had a time frame originally or how it came about, but we ended up having to get back in the car and just leave and go back to Santiago.

Paul:

So, your visit to Neverland, this was after you put on your performance days, wasn't it?

Christine:

Yes.

Paul:

Okay. Wow, what an amazing experience. And I'm presuming that everybody enjoyed it. The kids loved it, and you were talking about it for days, weeks, very long time.

Christine:

And what we had done, because he could not attend the performance, a photographer had taken at the time, pictures. And we made a big, huge poster with all the different group of dancers that had performed, and they all because they all had been at Netherland, they ended up writing a message as a thank you for the visit, and I sent it off, and I hope it was received and passed on, because that was my wish.

Paul:

Did you hear back?

Christine:

No, I did not. But I was grateful for everything that we had.

Paul:

Yeah, it's an amazing experience, and I can only imagine inspiring for the kids. Unfortunately, time goes by and 2009 comes around and Michael Jackson passes away. I heard that you and your school put on a tribute concert to Michael. Can you tell me about that?

Christine:

What happened is I was in rehearsal in the theater because it was about, I believe it passed on June 25 or something like that. And so, I was in the theater rehearsing with the students and all of a sudden someone came in and told me what happened. And so, it was a shock for everybody and even though it had been a different group of kids because being in San Dies, once they were a certain age, they leave to go to college. So, by then I had a different group of kids, okay? But of course, they had heard what I had done and part of the song that we had used in 2003 was Heal the World. And so, when I got that news, I told myself I want to do something because of what I was given and it's very emotional for me to say this story. So, when I went home, I sent an email to the students and I told them we only had one week to go before the performance. And I said, Girls, you know the news. Whoever wants to be part of Heal the World, we have one week to get ready. So, I give you this time whoever shows up will be in it. So, for one week we work really hard because of course this was not planned and I wanted to include everyone and I watched it again before coming on this video. And every time I see it, I cry because it's just the word are so powerful and they are even more powerful because he's gone to me and the lady who bought the hat lended it to us. So, we had the hat in its case draped on the stage and we started with different section of his music. And I was talking after fading the music to tell people our story and we started dancing here the World. And from the oldest girl who are ballerinas so they have bally sense to the youngest one who wear in the chorus at the end you have about 45 or 50 kids on stage dancing to Heal the World. And at the end we exited all the kids and the parents. We had a line organized backstage where each student were getting a candle and they came on stage with a candle and you could see people walking but you had no idea what was going to happen. And on my signal, the kids, some stood up higher, some kneel, some did whatever we had planned and you could see M G with lights.

Paul:

That sounds amazing. I'm getting emotional just hearing it. You must get emotional talking about it. I can hear it in your voice.

Christine:

Yeah. And then people just clap like it was just amazing.

Paul:

I could imagine that would be connecting and that would be full of love and people could feel the love. That would be amazing to see. Were any of those students that were performing in the tribute, any of them the ones that went to Neverland? Or are they all.

Christine:

No. In this case, maybe just a few, but I don't think they were just student that knew what had happened and love his music and just wanted to be a part of the tribute.

Paul:

Yeah. Thank you so much for telling your story. I can really feel your story, and I really hope that these stories get out there because they're important to hear. And when I'm trying to track down people that have got these stories, unfortunately, because of the nature of Michael’s work and what he did in visiting children that were sick and some of them dying, a lot of these stories have gone away with those people that he helped. So, it's special to be able to still hear the stories from people that are around that were there, because it means a lot, and it means these stories won't die. But they're on paper, they're in print, they're on podcasts, and it's important, and it's appreciated. So, thank you.

Christine:

Thank you. Sure.

Paul:

Is there anything you wanted to tell us about the school? What's the name of the school again?

Christine:

It's my name for Fossemalle studio, and I'm in San Diego, and I've been there. Like I say, I'm starting my 38th year.

Paul:

Wow. And that's a small community school. Did you say you had about 50 or 60 students?

Christine:

Yes, it's about that. But like everybody else, we've been hit with COVID so we've been teaching outside in a parking lot for two years, so that was difficult. So, we are recovering from that and preparing for a new performance in June again.

Paul:

All right. And I'll put up some links. So, on the podcast, we have show notes that people can go to, and I'll put up the links because I believe you have a donate button on your website, so I'll make sure that we put that up and ask if people, local people especially, want to support you. We'll show them how and give them links to donate or help or support or come along and see your performance again. Thank you. Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. And I've really loved hearing your story. I can hear the emotion in your voice, and I love hearing it. So, thank you. I appreciate it, and I think our listeners Will appreciate it, too.

Christine:

Thank you so much.

Paul:

Thank you, Christine. Bye bye.

Christine:

You're welcome. Bye.