This is it, here I stand
I’m the light of the world, I feel grand
Got this love I can feel
And I know yes for sure it is real

And it feels as though I’ve seen your face a thousand times
And you said you really know me too yourself
And I know that you have got addicted with your eyes
But you say you gonna live it for yourself.

I never heard a single word about you
Falling in love wasn’t my plan
I never thught that I would be your lover
C’mon baby, just understand

This is it, I can say,
I’m the light of the world, run away
We can feel, this is real
Every time I’m in love that I feel

Michael Jackson “This Is It” Lyrics

And I feel as though I’ve known you since 1,000 years
And you tell me that you’ve seen my face before.
And you said to me you don’t wnat me hanging round
Many times, wanna do it here before

I never heard a single word about you
Falling in love wasn’t my plan
I never thught that I would be your lover
C’mon baby, just understand

This is it, I can feel
I’m the light of the world, this is real
Feel my song, we can say
And I tell you I feel that way

As I watched the movie, besides being impressed, I was utterly, utterly, moved.

I didn’t know what to expect from the film, but perhaps was thinking people might rain praises on the deceased, just because it was the right thing to do.

There were moments when I was moved beyond words. Perhaps, there was a magical feel to it, like having a voyeurism fetish fulfilled.

Maybe it was that curiosity, of getting to know an almost mystical persona on a deeper level, to be reminded of his talent, which was overshadowed by the relentless ridicules, speculations, sensationalisations, and physicians’ works.

Many people said they were surprised by how… normal he was.

I was just impressed by how…. devoted, sensual, and passionate he was. There was an surprise element of intimacy, which I believe wouldn’t be possible with just anyone.

It could be just because that, I was deeply moved by this man’s talent, this man’s passion which the world had long forgotten.

It could be just because that, at the back of my mind, I was reminded that I was watching a man’s journey to his end, as he inched towards his eventual untimely death.

And this documentary, was one set out to realise the unfulfilled dreams of not only Michael Jackson, but the bright-eyed folks who were one way or another, looking for their chances to shine.

“This is your chance to shine, go on! We’ll be right there with you,” encouraged the King of Pop, when he had finished his singing, and he went on to gave his suggestion on how the young girl with the guitar could go on improving.

Of course, if you are somewhat cynical, you can’t ignore the fact that it also realised the dream$ of the hungry vultures in the form of AEG Live. But hey, the film would be one the world would like to see, and I believe, MJ would have wanted it to be the final gift. And it was tastefully done to do somewhat some poetic justice.

There was appreciative claps at the end of the film, perhaps because, they saw the love, the passion in the perfectionist who was gone too soon.

I was truly, truly fascinated. It was almost like a trip to the Disneyland. I don’t know how to explain the feeling.

It would have been a magnificent show, and I was glad there were footages like these for us to use our imagination to paint the frills to the what could have beens.

I was just slightly disappointed without hearing Heal the World nor You are not alone.

There were moments.

Like whenever he sang LIVE and it just blew me away… I would have thought, most would be lip-synched, but this man is all about quality. I thought I would hear him panting away with his voice cracking in between breaths, and screaming for an oxygen mask or something for his age. No, his voice was bloody AMAZING.

From the smallest element of how each instrument should accompany him, he was there to give his gentle input.

He was there to have fun like a little kid when he was on the cherry picker.

And the part when I thought he was singing brilliantly and he was apologising he was conserving his voice, and asked for understanding.

And there was the part he told everyone not to “force” him to sing all out (cos he was conserving his voice). Though there weren’t audience, the crew were all engaged by his sheer talent, and he felt compelled to perform for them.

He was surprisingly engaging for someone who the world had assumed to be totally detached from reality.

That little smile when the lights faded out for “They don’t really care about us”.

And how the dancers put their hands in the air when he sang “I’ll be there”, it was almost irresistable for me to put my hand in the air to do so.

And his hands. I don’t know why, I was just drawn to watching his hands.

It was a group dream to be made into reality. If you just feel the team spirit, everyone’s heart and sweat in it… it is just a shame that the world had to miss it, but was lucky enough to catch a clear glimpse of it through This is it.

The moment he charmed everyone with his moment of Billy Jean.

I believe the moment he moonwalked while singing Billy Jean decades ago, was the moment he triggered the dream in every dancer-wannabe.

And there was magic in the air as the dancers watched him, even though they were not part of it, like they were in many other instances.

It was like watching their hero, and they all look like children… again.

An icon shining on the stage where he belonged.

Even though it was of his rehearsals, I believe his rehearsals’ quality blatantly outshine the quality Live concerts of artistes these days.

He didn’t even cut corners with his rehearsals, asking for repeats, saying that’s what rehearsals are for.

Music is truly in his blood and to see his creativity at work was intoxicating.

I can’t say amazing enough.

And oh man, those moves. I was prepared to feel uneasy with awkward moves, but I forgot to pick up my jaw with Billy Jean, which I believe those who were there would have felt the same way.

Of his passing, there were many reports, but here’s one from the dancer:

Dancer recalls Michael Jackson’s last day of life.

The pop legend that Daniel Celebre rehearsed with gave no hint that he’d be dead within a day

What was Michael Jackson’s state of mind 13 hours before he was pronounced dead?

“He was happy, he was smiling, he was laughing with us,” remembers Daniel Celebre, who was a principal dancer in the superstar’s This Is It comeback tour.

Celebre had been rehearsing with Jackson in Los Angeles “for three months, eight hours a day and he always danced full out. His energy was amazing, man.”

In fact, on June 24, the last day of Jackson’s life, director Kenny Ortega staged the show and “we ran through the whole thing and finished at about 1:30 in the morning,” Celebre, a dancer based in Toronto, recalled in an interview yesterday at the midtown BDX dance studio.

“The feeling was unbelievable. Michael was at the top of his game. People who had known him for years said he’d never danced better.

“We even ran `Thriller’ for the first time in costume and the people from wardrobe were in the audience crying. They told us `You guys don’t understand how amazing it looks.’”

When asked if Jackson seemed tired or under strain, Celebre shook his head emphatically. “Every day he looked fly, but that day, he was better than ever. He looked young, man. His form was so perfect.”

Every evening Jackson and the dancers would say goodnight to each other. That night was no exception. “We always hugged. I said `Hey Mikey, I love you,’ and he said, `I love you too, bro.’”

And that’s the last Celebre ever saw of Jackson.

The next day is a hard one for the 24-year-old to remember, because it ended a longtime dream.

Celebre was born in Nobleton, Ont., from “a large and close-knit Italian family.” His mother took him to jazz and tap lessons at the age of 4. Soon he was into hip hop, breakdancing and his favourite, electric boogaloo, “which I tried to do just like Michael Jackson.”

He did lots of club, promotional, TV and movie work, playing opposite Hilary Duff as the dance double for the male lead in the climactic scene of The Lizzie McGuire Movie when he was only 18.

But in 2007, “I stopped dancing, for personal reasons. I wanted to be the best dancer I could be and all people wanted were the stunts I could do. `Can this guy spin on his head? Can he do the flip?’ Of course I could, but I knew I could be so much more than that and so I just walked away.”

His father had taken over La Salumeria, the Italian deli on Yonge near Davisville, so Celebre joined him there. On April 10, he was “slicing some mortadella” when he got a call from his agent in California.

“I know you’ve been turning down every job I’ve offered you for two years, but you always said the only person you’d come back for is Michael Jackson. Well, you’ve got an audition for him tomorrow. Get out here.”

At first, Celebre resisted, but his father said, “Daniel, you’re going on the plane tomorrow. Hurry up.”

He was giddy with excitement, rather than nail-bitingly nervous.

“Everybody else on the line was stressing out. I just kept dancing. `What are you nervous about, people?’ I’d tell ‘em. `This is Michael. Let’s have fun.’”

They whittled the dancers from 500 to 250 and finally to 10. After he made the last cut, he met Jackson.

“I shook his hand. It was huge, man. He had the glasses, the hair, the black suit. We stood there and I thought, `You’re nothing but love, man.’”

Celebre loved the rehearsals and hard work that made everybody better and better. And then came June 25.

“We were all sitting in our dressing rooms, ready to start rehearsals. I was watching a clip of Mikey doing `Ease on Down the Road’ from The Wiz on my computer.

“We never had the TV on, but somebody had put it on ’cause Farrah Fawcett had just passed. Then we started to get the news about Mikey…. People were running down the halls screaming. Some fell to their knees. Everybody was crying. Everybody.”

The rehearsals were filmed and will now be released as the much-anticipated movie This Is It on Oct. 28, but Celebre hates recalling the funeral, the memorial, “all those things that rub my nose in the fact that he’s gone.”

Celebre prefers to recall the first day of rehearsal.

“He told us he was taking us on an awesome adventure … and he did.”

The energy came from passion, because I believe no amount of painkillers could fuel such… ironic as it sounds, life.

Alas, however big this film be, it could never be the epic the genius architect could well be accomplishing.

And try as you might, there will be moments you find yourself blowing away the sugar-coating, to see the reliance on the painkillers, the torment of pain and the constant need to fend off people out to exploit him, and living a life of never to be understood.