Choreographer

How the Stunt Coordinator of ‘GLOW’ Creates a Safe Space in the Wrestling Ring

What is one of the first things that comes to mind when performing stunts, tricks, or fight choreography? Maybe how cool it’ll look? How about how fast you can do your fight choreo? The correct answer is: SAFETY! The stunt coordinator for Netflix’s “GLOW”  series knows exactly how to create a safe space, both in the ring and within the cast. View Full Article via www.backstage.com

From Professional Dancer to Professor of Dance

via www.dancemagazine.com In the final years of her decade-long career with the Lewitzky Dance Company, University of Arizona Associate Professor Amy Ernst began to develop an interest in dance injury prevention. She remembers feeling an urge to widen her understanding of dance and the body. Soon after retirement from the Company, she was hired by the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Inglewood, California as a physical therapy assistant, where she worked for the next three and a half years. This work eventually led her to pursue an M.F.A. in dance at the University of Washington-Seattle. She remembers growing into the role of a professor during her time pursuing her degree. That incubation phase was critical. Ernst joined the faculty at the University of Arizona in 1995, and now as direct...

Recipients of the 2018 Chita Rivera Awards

BY: OLIVA CLEMENT via www.playbill.com Performers Ariana DeBose, who currently stars in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway, and Tony Yazbeck (Prince of Broadway) were among the winners at this evening’s 2018 Chita Rivera Awards in New York City. Tony Yazbeck in Prince of Broadway Ryoji Fukuoka Sergio Trujillo took home the award for Outstanding Choreography in a Broadway show for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical; and Carousel, which had the most nominations of the evening, tied with Mean Girls for Outstanding Ensemble in a Broadway Show. Off-Broadway, Zach Morris and Jennine Willet were honored for their choreography of Ghost Light; Monica Bill Barnes took home the award for Outstanding Female Dancer for her performance in the WP Theater production of One Night Only; and Ro...

Meet the Next Generation of Broadway Choreographers

BY SYLVIANE GOLD via www.dancemagazine.com DanceBreak came roaring back to life on Monday after seven years on hiatus, and six choreographers now have the opportunity to be the next Andy Blankenbuehler. Or Joshua Bergasse, Kelly Devine, Casey Nicholaw, Josh Prince or Josh Rhodes. These stellar Broadway choreographers all got their first big shows after Melinda Atwood’s musical-theater launching pad let them show the industry what they could do. Since 2002, DanceBreak has been a sort of “So You Think You Can Choreograph” for Broadway. Although not everyone goes straight there—Mandy Moore and Mia Michaels are alumni, too—the program is meant to funnel talented choreographers to the Broadway stage by providing a platform for their work. Prince, who introduced Atwood to the c...

Mandy Moore On How She Juggles Being One of the Busiest Choreographers in Hollywood

BY RACHEL ZAR via www.dancemagazine.com In the dance world, Mandy Moore has long been a go-to name, but in 2017, the success of her choreography for La La Land made the rest of the world stop and take notice. After whirlwind seasons as choreographer and producer on both “Dancing with the Stars” and “So You Think You Can Dance,” she capped off the year with two Emmy Award nominations—and her first win. You’ve come a long way on “So You Think You Can Dance”—from assistant to the choreographer (Season 1) to creative producer (Season 14). What keeps you returning to the show? “So You Think You Can Dance” was one of my first jobs, so it feels like home. I love the chaos of live television; as soon as one show is over you’re on to the n...

REGISTER NOW for the Best Practices: Inclusive and Accessible Theatre Symposium

It’s not too late to register for the Best Practices: Inclusive and Accessible Theatre Symposium! HOSTED BY: The American Alliance for Theatre & Education WHEN: February 2 – 4, 2018 WHERE: The Kentucky Center, 501 W Main St, Louisville, KY 40202 Join theatre educators, artists and scholars from near and far for this exciting gathering in downtown Louisville, KY. Hosted by the Kentucky Center for the Arts, one of the nation’s most accessible performing arts complexes, this weekend intensive will offer keynote speakers, hands-on workshops, and a sensory-friendly performance including a pre-show touch tour. Come explore one of the country’s most arts-rich communities, and leave with practical tools you can use at home: in your classroom, and your theatre! Keynote: Storyteller, Playw...

Dancers and the Impossible “Perfect”

BY: SILAS FARLEY via www.dancemagaine.com As dancers, we often talk about perfect feet, perfect turnout and the perfect execution of steps. We spend our days in diligent pursuit of the total mastery of our bodies. We seek to fully conquer space and time. We want our dance to be perfect, which is a powerful incarnation of our deeper human longing for personal perfection. But in dance, as in life itself, there is no perfection in the sense of a state of flawlessness at which we can arrive. Our humanity keeps us from that. However, there is always perfection in the sense of formation: the unending process of refinement. Incrementally progressing through sustained training and exploration is what gives the dance life its vitality. I believe that this process is for our good, because it provide...

Bring Original Broadway Choreography to Your Local Shows

BY: BWW News Desk via www.broadwayworld.com Music Theatre International (MTI) and Jerry Mitchell, choreographer for Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde, Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can and The Full Monty have partnered to revolutionize the way you choreograph your musicals with a new innovative resource: The Original Production (TOP). TOP has collaborated with Broadway’s best choreographers to create an easy-to-use online tool that enables you to learn original Broadway choreography from the actual creators and provides you with the rights to perform these iconic numbers in your musical production. This resource includes 3-4 hours of step-by-step video instruction, which you can then use as a guide to recreate numbers for your production. TOP is launching with two musical hits, Legally Blonde...