SEATTLE — Sam "Too Much" Picart surprised the crowd at 2019's Mariner's home opener during the jumbotron "Usher Dance Off." There's a very quick look at the performance on the Mariner's recap video on Twitter, but that's not the first time Sam has "wowed" at a Dance Off.
A track called "Baby Girl" starts with what sounds like a video game. Dancer Sam "Too Much" Picart lets the electronic beats crawl inside his body, which becomes a pulsing, robotic flurry of body and mind-bending moves that don't seem possible.
"I'm creating things you don't think should happen," Sam says.
This Seattle dancer was spotted by "The Ellen Show" after he submitted a 30-second video in the show's "Dance Off" contest.
He won.
"I was living with two roommates at the time. I was couch-surfing cuz I didn't really have a place to live. I was very broke."
But a giant trophy and ten thousand dollars later (the prize he won in the contest), offers to dance and teach poured in. He says he got three thousand emails.
"I had a lot more confidence than I ever had in my life."
Now he regularly teaches dance and is venturing into choreography. He caught dance fever at an early age.
"I saw my brother dance for a talent show back when I was in first grade. And I just saw how everyone reacted to him being on stage. They would just scream for no reason. He would just do one thing. And the people would scream. I was like, I want that in my life."
He discovered ballet in his late teens when he even trained with the famed Joffrey Ballet in New York. But he always returns to his hip-hop roots.
He says early influences were Michael Jackson, Prince and actor Jim Carrey for his body and face manipulation.
"His physical presence I just happened to really identify with."
There's a very quick look at Sam's performance at 1:18 of the Mariner's recap video below.,
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