Lesley Nicole, who used to dance backup for Aaliyah, recalls feeling uneasy about flying to the Bahamas before the singer’s tragic death.
During a recent chat on Shawn Stockman’s On That Note podcast, the Brooklyn-raised dancer explained how Fatima Robinson, who was Aaliyah’s head choreographer at the time, brought her onboard for two of the R&B icon’s music videos.
About five minutes into the video linked above, Nicole mentioned that she shot the visuals for “More Than a Woman” in Miami before she and Aaliyah’s team headed to the Bahamas to film “Rock the Boat.”
“We [the dancers] were like, ‘All of this for an eight-count?’ The planes seemed sketchy because they were these tiny little aircraft,” Nicole said about the 15-passenger plane heading to the Bahamas. “Walking across the tarmac to these small planes to get us to [the] Bahamas, something just felt, like, mmm. And I’m not scared of flying at all, I’m not one of those ‘I’m nervous to fly’ people, so I definitely felt weird because the plane was like, ‘Whoa, this is a small, small plane.'”
“But I said my prayers, I think I had a stuffed animal with me as a good luck charm. And we made it there with no issues, so it was great and we were just thrilled to be there,” she continued.
After arriving in the Bahamas, Nicole described the team practicing and getting ready for the shoot before a 4 a.m. call time the next day. Aaliyah and the dancers spent the video shoot performing on a moving catamaran in extreme heat with their feet raw from the experience.
After finishing the video, Nicole mentioned director Hype Williams suggested staying an extra night to chill, but Aaliyah was “adamant” about getting back to New York.
Nicole and others, including Robinson, stayed behind and shared a moment that they now see as a tribute to the singer.
“While we’re on the boat, usually when you hear a song a million times on a video, you’re sick of it. You don’t want to hear it again. Crew played [‘Rock the Boat’] again. And we all got up and we danced, like really danced,” Nicole remembered. “Not even just the routines, we also played this Brazilian song and we were just—it almost felt like a tribute.”
She went on, “And if the timing of that is right, I almost feel like that’s when she might have been passing. Because we had a journey to get back to this dock and… there’s no more skin on the bottom of my feet and I’m still dancing. We were just so proud of the work that everybody had put in, the crew members, everybody was amazing.”
When the remaining team members got back to their hotel after a long drive, they were hit with heartbreaking news.
“As we pull up to the hotel, people are running out and they’re crying and they’re like, ‘What happened?’ They’re bawling, dropping down to the floor,” she recalled.
“We’re like, ‘Wait, did we miss something?’ And they were like, ‘Aaliyah’s plane crashed.’ Like, ‘What are you talking about? That’s impossible. We just left her.’ And they explained what had happened and we were just devastated. Completely devastated. The world was devastated,” she added.
Nicole then shared that Robinson had to identify Aaliyah’s body, while the rest of the crew was stuck at the hotel and scared to fly back on the small aircraft.
Thankfully, Lenny Kravitz, who was close with Robinson, stepped in to help.
“Thank you, Lenny Kravitz. I’ve never gotten a chance to personally thank him,” said Nicole. “He’s friends with Fatima, and he actually lent his jet—or he had access to a private plane, and he sent his private plane to get us back.”
Aaliyah and eight others died on Aug. 25, 2001 after their charter plane crashed shortly after taking off from Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas to the Miami suburb of Opa-locka, according to Billboard. Aaliyah was just 22 years old when she died.
“Aaliyah’s temperament was always super chill, cool. She just felt like a sister. She was never pretentious, ever. Like, no matter what kind of stress she was under, she was the coolest. Always down, crack a joke—she was silly,” Nicole said.
“She was an angel, an angel on earth. She really was. She had a different energy than most. And you definitely felt safe and you felt a lot of love when you were around her,” she added.
