P-Valley creator Katori Hall and star Nicco Annan on Uncle Clifford's moment on the pole
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Uncle Clifford did that!
On the latest episode of P-Valley, Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan) got on stage to show the audience what she can do on the pole. In an exciting moment for viewers, the boss herself swung around like her best dancers to get the show started before Whisper (Psalms Salazar) and Roulette (Gail Bean) hit the stage.
After missing the Pynk's re-opening for her birthday party, this was a celebration of Uncle Clifford's people getting to turn up at her club again. "It was exhilarating," says Annan about the gravity-defying sequence. "I knew when she got a chance to be up on the pole she would tear it up," adds P-Valley creator Katori Hall.
Curtis Baker/Starz
As a dancer and choreographer, Annan loves the opportunity to show how dance, which Uncle Clifford built her business around, is an outlet for her. While it hasn't been mentioned on the show, Uncle Clifford discusses the importance of dance in her life in Hall's play, Pussy Valley. She shares with Lil Murda that her father would take her to dance lessons to show she had that support in her past within her family. "That's a good backstory that doesn't exist currently in the TV versions of the show, but the idea that dance was an outlet and oftentimes is an outlet for Black queer men, particularly in the south. I wanted to showcase her skill and to make people understand why she is the mom-anger of the strip club," Hall says. The Pynk is a place of respite where people come to figure out who they are. "It is great to be able to see this non-binary person live in a space and be able to celebrate without needing permission from anyone," Annan explains.
To get ready for their dance scenes, the P-Valley cast starts bootcamp four months before shooting begins. Each routine takes about a week of straight rehearsals. JaQuel Knight choreographed Uncle Clifford's routine, which was that brought to life by Annan and his dance double, Bentley Rebel. "The gangster walking on the ceiling, I was like 'I'm gonna let you do that,'" Annan jokes.
Hall notes an episode 2 scene that helps set up Uncle Clifford's big moment on the pole. At her birthday, Uncle Clifford says to her friend that people don't want to see her on the pole because of "how they are." "Uncle Clifford knows it's the American south and most people have come to see the women up on the pole. But it's such a revolutionary act that she kind of plays with that expectation, subverts it, and empowers herself. And just shows as an individual that has got the goods as well," she says.
P-Valley airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on Starz.
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