Hi, I'm Stage in Stages, Lynn Manuel Miranda, and you're listening to The Hamelcast.

Boots and cuts and poots and cuts.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Hey friends, I'm Jillian.

Welcome back to the Hamillcast.

I'm wrapping up my conversation with Hamilton Broadway's Shanika Gooden.

Last week, Shanika talked about growing up in Atlanta and focusing on what was going to be a thriving modern dance career.

She was not interested in musical theater, not even a little bit, don't even mention it.

And she never saw herself as a triple threat, so musical theater, that wasn't going to work. But she is a triple threat, and thankfully, her teachers at Dancemakers of Atlanta made sure she

auditioned for Bring It On, which led to callbacks and work sessions with Alex Lacamoor and

Andy Blankabular. And this would be the start of a beautiful friendship with the cabinet.

Her Hamilton experience is super unique because Shanika worked with Andy during the pre-production days. You guys, this is so, so early on in Hamilton,

like before the workshops.

So she was one of the dancers,

Andy called in to help him visualize

what would end up being the choreography in the show,

which is huge.

She was like a muse for Andy Blankabular.

So you can imagine Andy's surprise

when Shinika was offered the role of a swing

for the Broadway transfer, and she said no. Nope, she wasn't going to do it. She loved the show too much and she wanted to do it every single night consistently.

So she passed.

...