The Man Who Gives San Antonio Politicians Their Groove

Michael Quintanilla is a former newspaper reporter and fashion writer who makes videos with usually serious government officials dancing with him to popular songs.

By Jack MorganOctober 18, 2019 11:52 am, , , ,

From Texas Public Radio:

Michael Quintanilla, a former newspaper reporter and fashion writer, has, for several years, contributed special videos to the annual Gridiron charity event. The videos show usually serious government officials dancing with him to popular songs. This year, Quintanilla took a break from Gridiron. But he knew how popular the videos have become, and he made sure the tradition continued.

He recalls the moment in 2013 when a friend first asked him to produce a video: “Nora Lopez, who’s an editor at the Express-News, came to me with this idea. Something she had seen on television,” he says. “Stephen Colbert on late-night TV was dancing with personalities and L.A. basketball players to a song that was popular at the time.”

Lopez asked him to produce a video to be played at that October’s Gridiron show, a local Saturday Night Live-esque stage show put on by media professionals to benefit the Society of Professional Journalists.

“And I said ‘okay’. And I thought, ‘Well, I’ll start with the mayor and with city council, and we’ll go from there,’ ” he says.

Quintanilla brought cameras to city hall and got the elected leaders to dance to the song “Blurred Lines.”

Former city council member Ron Nirenberg says, “Everything that Michael has proposed has been out of the box, a bit strange. But always in good fun.”

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