MSA NY - CHOREOGRAPHY
Brian “BT” Thomas choreographed the October 1st episode of Sesame Street, and will soon be choreographing the National Tour of The Electric Company. Additionally, BT is the Artistic Director for a promotional event in Times Square for One Drop (a foundation dedicated to water preservation) and Cirque Du Soleil. The event features Al Gore, David Suzuki, Shakira, U2, along with many others.
Burn the Floor is quickly becoming one of Broadway's hottest tickets! Created, Directed, and Choreographed by new MSA Client Jason Gilkison, the show has been called "downright sexy" and a "polished production" by Entertainment Weekly! Bloomberg.com has called it "comic and dramatic, sensual and lyrical, acrobatic and romantic -- in short, utterly theatrical." The new sensation features award-winning dancers from all over the globe, including Australian Ballroom and World Latin American Champions. Additionally, Raj Kapoor is the Creative Consultant on the show, and MSA Dancers Pasha Kovalev, Anya Garnis, and Artem Chigvintsev (from FOX's hit show So You Think You Can Dance?) have recently been added to the cast. Check it out at the Longacre Theatre -- go to Broadway.com for a schedule and tickets!
Nickelodeon is turning their hit television show Yo Gabba Gabba into a live show. Congratulations to Whitney Crites who is the assistant choreographer of the tour.
Jaimie Hollmer is currently directing and choreographing the Thomas II show, touring in Australia.
Congratulations to AC Ciulla who choreographed the musical Vices: A Love Story which had a fabulous run this past summer in Boca Raton, Florida. AC will also work on a new video and promo tour for hit musical artist Alexis Houston.
Congratulations to Tricia Brouk! After all of her successful work on Erotic Broadway at the Triad Theater, producer Timothy Childs chose Tricia as the Development Director for his newest NYC show Eve’s Turn, scheduled to run in February. Lorin Lattaro also had her work shown at Erotic Broadway. Lorin is currently in Berkeley, California working on American Idiot, a new musical based on the music of Green Day.Julie Arenal will soon accept the 2009 Raúl Juliá HOLA Founders Award in recognition of her extraordinary talent, success in the arts, and ability to continue to grow as an artist. The HOLA awards will be held on Monday, October 26. Additionally, Austin McCormick recently won a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Best Choreography/Movement in an off off Broadway play for his work on The Judgement of Paris.
Following the huge success of Salsa Kingdom 2008, Maria Torres recently directed Salsa Kingdom 2009, the UK’s Ultimate Latin music and dance festival. Be sure to check out the website to get the Salsa fever: www.salsakingdom.co.uk/Congratulations to Brooke Wendle who has been working as the assistant choreographer on the new musical Lost and Found. The full cast and creative team was assembled in New York and will be performing the run in California’s Bay Area.
The Chase Brock Experience (CBE) opened their fall season this month at the Abrons Arts Center in Manhattan. This season features some of the company’s most popular works, as well as the world premiere of American Sadness. For more information on CBE, visit chasebrockexperience.com.Congrats to JaQuel Knight who recently created the “Do the Barbie” dance for Barbie’s 50th Anniversary. He has been busy doing promotional events all across the United States, including The Today Show, Mattel Headquarters, and the Teen Vogue runway for New York's Fashion Week, teaching everyone how to “Do the Barbie.” JaQuel will soon be heading off to Australia to judge and choreograph on So You Think You Can Dance.
And finally, congratulations to Kelly Peters who choreographed a Next Direct UK commercial, featuring MSA NY dancers Kyle Brooks and Aaron Bantum.
MSA NY - DANCE DEPARTMENT
Congratulations to Holly Taylor who is making her Broadway debut in Billy Elliot. Also making her Broadway debut is Samantha Sturm, dancing in The Adams Family, hitting New York this Spring. Other dancers on Broadway include: Danny Tidwell (Memphis), Hettie Barnhill and Nicole Chantel DeWeever (Fela), Jen Locke (In The Heights), and CJ Tyson (West Side Story).
Several MSA Dancers are performing in local theatres around NY: Bree Branker in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Walnut Street Theatre), Kylie Vaughn in On The Town (Papermill Playhouse), and Elliott Bradley in Meet Me In St. Louie (Theatre of the Stars). Outside of NY, Autumn Guzzardi is dancing in a new musical in China called Huairou, and Kristine Bendel and Heather Hamilton are dancing in Twyla Tharp's project in New Orleans called Come Fly With Me.
Congratulations to all our clients peforming in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, taking place in multiple cities: Nicole Baker, Torrie Bogda, Elliott Bradley, Trevor Downey, Sarah Grooms, Jenny LaRoche, Amanda Mondoro, Jessica Osborne, Alison Paterson, Gina Pero, Brandon Rubendall, and Stephen Williams.MSA NY has several clients performing in Wicked: Ronnie Todorowski and Mark Shunkey with the NY Cast; Al Blackstone and Courtney Jones with the 1st National Tour; Lindsay Wood and Casey Quinn with the 2nd National Tour.
Congratulations to all of our clients who are currently on tour: Dana Ingraham (The Color Purple), Ronnie Duncan (Dreamgirls Tour), Stephen Carrasco and Lawrence Alexander (Young Frankenstein), and Billy Griffin (White Christmas).
Grady Bowman and Derek Ferguson will be working with MSA client Marguerite Derricks on the new musical Wonderland.
At the MTV Video Music Awards this past September, NY dancers Sarah Grooms, Erynn Turkovich, and Maria Wada danced with Beyonce, while CJ Tyson and Matthew Serafini danced with Taylor Swift.
Dancer April Berry recently played a cheerleader on Ugly Betty, and performed with the Trans Siberian Orchestra. And dancer Emily Oldak was Shakira's dance double in a recent music video.
Congratulations to all of our MSA NY Clients!
