The Next Step stars Lamar Johnson and Trevor Tordjman talk Season 2

By Tribute on March 6, 2014 | 5 Comments

The Family Channel’s hit series The Next Step is currently gearing up for its Season Two premiere on March 7, and Tribute had the opportunity to talk to two of the show’s cast members: Lamar Johnson (West) and Trevor Tordjman (James). This dance-filled drama follows the lives of an elite group of young dancers who train at The Next Step Studio, and the show chronicles their rise to the top of the dance game.

The show’s brilliant cast brings together a group of phenomenal young dancers. Both Lamar and Trevor have had their own share of TV success: Lamar appeared in the feature film Honey and on shows like Degrassi: The Next Generation, and Trevor has danced in music videos alongside Victoria Duffield and Shawn Desman. Season One ended on a high note, with The Next step winning regionals. Season Two will pick up following the studio’s big win, where tensions start to rise in preparation for nationals.

Last season, the team won regionals, but now with nationals coming up how do your characters deal with the new pressure?
Lamar: My character, West, is always trying to better himself. He’s always trying to learn more and more, especially through dance. I think probably the new thing about West this season is just bettering himself. I think that’s the biggest thing for West for sure.

Trevor: James obviously usually throws off stuff and he’s so laid back and he’s a very chill guy. Regionals was very big for us, it was kind of an unexpected thing for The Next Step dancers, but nationals is a much bigger deal. So as you’ll see, it is a lot of pressure put on us, so frustration happens even more, and James starts to realize a lot more of stuff going on with him and it’s not as easy to be as laid back and chill all the time.

Can you tell us about any upcoming surprises or plot twists?
Lamar: Just more dancing and more drama. Expect some crazy stuff.

Trevor: Season 2, there’s a lot more. Season 1 was unreal and Season 2 is even better. So all we can really say is that it’s going to be so great.

What is it like being able to do what you’re most passionate about and actually having that as a career with acting as well?
Lamar: Honestly, it’s the best thing that could probably ever happen to us. Especially with us being dancers and that being our passion from a very young age. The fact that we can do that and on this platform and as well acting and really showcasing our talents, it’s honestly amazing.

Trevor: As you know, being a dancer and an actor is one of the most competitive industries out, so to be a part of something like this and to have this a as a career, I couldn’t be more grateful.

Is it more luck or hard work or a combination of both to be able to get where you’ve gotten so far?
Lamar: I don’t necessarily believe in luck. I would more say it’s the hard work and it’s the opportunities that you take advantage of. I think that’s probably the best thing. Just the opportunities that are presented in front of you and taking full advantage of those. And also just working your butt off.

Trevor: I totally agree. I definitely think a big part of it was timing. Like we were in the right place at the right time. But we were in that place at that time because of all the hard work that we did. So we were constantly out auditioning and out in the industry trying our hardest, putting in all this hard work that allowed us to be there for this opportunity because if we weren’t working this hard we might have missed out on this opportunity.

Being on The Next Step, you’re not only acting but you’re also dancing, so do you have to put in double the hours and effort that maybe someone else on another show would have to put in?
Lamar: We pretty much have two jobs. We have the jobs as actors and then we have the jobs as dancers. I mean, there will be times where we’re just dong a scene and so we’re just actors. And then there we would be a time where we’re dancing so then we’re dancing. And then there would be a certain time where we’re acting and we’re dancing at the same time, so it’s like, we kind of just have to juggle the two and be aware of what we’re doing and always be on top of it.

Trevor: Totally, I think it’s just about balancing the two. Personally I was full dance before acting so acting definitely I have to put a lot of focus towards because it was fairly new to me but I love it so much, doing both. Usually, you’re acting or you’re just dancing and to do both is a lot of work and a lot of effort to put forth but because I love it so much, it doesn’t feel like working.

Lamar: It’s just what we love to do. On set, it never feels like were working. It feels like we’re just having fun.

What’s your favorite part about being on the show?
Lamar: Just being able to showcase my talents. And also the cast. I think we all made close, tight-knit relationships throughout the entire process. I think that’s probably one of the best things.

Trevor: Definitely, the opportunity of being able to act and dance is amazing, I definitely love that. But also, the people we work with couldn’t be cooler.

Lamar: Great cast for sure.

The show is filmed like it’s a reality show. Is that challenging for you to act as if it’s like a reality show?
Lamar: Yes and no. Yes just because of it being reality. But no because since it’s reality, there’s not really much effort that has to be put towards it. Everything is very organic, it’s not too forced or anything like that. And also they got our characters pretty spot on. We are kind of our characters. Our characters were made from us in a sense.

Trevor: There’s a lot of improv involved, like he said. We can connect to our characters very well and also it’s just about being natural, right? That’s why I wouldn’t say that having a reality show is harder or anything.

Tell us a little bit about what you do outside of the show, how do you juggle your outside commitments?
Lamar: I don’t really like to focus my time on too many things because it gets too hectic and I’m not putting forth my best work. So right now if I’m dancing, that’s what I’m going to focus on. Or if I’ve got an audition, I’m going to focus on that. I also like to design, I’m very artistic, so that’s also what I do on the side.

Trevor: Because we’ve been given such a good opportunity to be part of this show, my other commitments all kind of cater towards this show, so mostly it’s just training and stuff. Since acting is fairly new for me, I’m trying to get more into that really, I’m just focusing and training on that. But also dancing, I’ll never stop dancing. I love to dance and I’m always teaching or choreographing or dancing. Most of it is training, so if something work wise comes up I can always set aside the training for now and come back to it.

What is it like meeting kids who are big fans of the show?
Lamar: Every single time someone mentions fans, there’s one thing that comes to my mind and it’s the mall tour. I think that’s probably the most unreal experience for all of us just to really be able to see our fans firsthand and interact with them. I think that’s probably the best thing that could have really ever happened to us. It’s great to see how the fans take the show. They’re very, very loving and passionate and we honestly love all of our fans.

Trevor: Honestly, I really, really enjoy to meet the fans because they’re all very unique. Some of them will be going crazy and freaking out and can’t even talk and some of them are very chill and they’re talking to you, but I love it because my favorite part about it is how much something so little on our part  can make their day. Literally just a small conversation and even just a couple words back and forth can make their day.

In a nutshell, what was the audition process like to get on The Next Step?
Lamar: The audition process was fairly long. We had one audition and then we had a callback, and then we had another callback after that so the third callback was the last callback, but that was at the National Ballet and then from there we pretty much all had to wait about three months to hear anything. There was a lot of anticipation.

Trevor: It was pretty nerve-wracking. I would say it was a very long process. I was actually involved in the pilot before the show had even been picked up by any network so there was even more time added onto it. And basically like Lamar said there was a long time in between, but hearing the news about being on it was amazing.

Lamar: Especially since you got so far to the third callback it was like hey I got here! And then you had to wait.

Trevor: And the amount of people auditioning get smaller. So there was a big group and then it gets smaller and smaller and the competition gets weeded out. It was definitely nerve-wracking.

Lamar: Honestly, it was a lot of fun.

Trevor: It was an experience. Auditioning is all part of the job, so I loved it.

Last question, what are your future goals?
Lamar: I have a lot of future goals. I’m kind of a futurist, I like to think about the future a lot and what I’m going to do, what’s my next move, what’s my next step – pun intended! Pretty much like I said before, I’m very artistic and I like to design, so maybe eventually I would like to come up with a clothing line or something. I definitely want to start choreographing. And also just dancing, I want to maybe go on like a world tour with an artist or something just for the experience, I want to just experience everything.

Trevor: For me, traveling is definitely a part of it. If I can travel while doing my career that would be amazing. Right now I feel like we’re in such an amazing position with this show. My ultimate goal would be to be an actor, but to continue dancing as well. I would never want to give up dancing to just pursue acting. I always want to be able to do both.

The hit Canadian series will be returning to Family Channel on Friday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT. ~Yara Matar

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1. Rafi • July 4, 2015 @ 11:24 AM

   Hi just wanted to say your my inspiration so is Riley I love you guys❤️❤️❤️❤️

2. Fiska • July 9, 2015 @ 6:34 PM

   I love Brittany who plays Riley and I love Trevor and Lamar.

3. Abdu • October 27, 2015 @ 3:08 PM

   I like all the dancers in the next step, especially Trevor,Lamar and Isaac

4. trevorlover • November 7, 2015 @ 12:07 PM

   whoa your amazing Trevor love you

5. Anna.M • January 31, 2016 @ 5:32 AM

   cool i love u Michelle

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