Dancing on Both Coasts: AMDA’s Dual Presence in NYC and L.A. Prepares Students for Broadway and Commercial Dance

Whether AMDA students are attending school at its Los Angeles campus or its New York campus, they are immersed in each city’s performing arts industry from day one. The Los Angeles campus, based in Hollywood, sits directly across from the historic Capitol Records Building, while the New York City campus, located on Manhattan’s Upper West […]

a male dancer with his arms spread wide to the side while dancing in a room with other performers

Get to Know Commercial Dancer Will West, a “Once-in-a-Generation-Talent”

Featured in two of the past year’s most viral music videos—Jungle’s “Back On 74” and Ariana Grande’s “yes, and?”—Will West transitions seamlessly, sometimes instantly, from style to style. He can accelerate from total stillness to a full flare in a split second, then downshift to a Fosse frug before coolly strolling out of frame. The young Brit spoke with Dance Magazine while shooting a Verizon commercial in Mexico City before continuing south to another gig, in Santiago, Chile. Part of the live-action remake of Disney’s Alladin in 2019, West returns to the big screen this fall as a dancer and stunt performer in Wicked, which stars Grande as Glinda.

Kyle Hanagami looks curiously up at the camera as he climbs a white-painted fire escape, people and cars visible in the background far below.

Kyle Hanagami, A Viral Sensation Across Multiple Forms of Media, Has Built a Dance Empire From the Ground Up

Even a glance at Kyle Hanagami’s resumé is enough to leave you short of breath. The 37-year-old choreographer has worked with everyone from Jennifer Lopez to Alicia Keys to Ariana Grande to BLACKPINK. He created the dances for this year’s box-office smash “Mean Girls.” And he’s amassed nearly 8 million followers and more than a billion video views on his social media accounts.

a shirtless male dancer leaning backwards on a subway platform

Meet Rising Commercial Star, Jaxon Willard

When Jaxon Willard dances, he soars through the air and glides along the floor, and his transitions are equal parts surprising and seamless. Willard’s flexibility, strength, and raw passion allow him to layer a spectrum of aesthetics, from expansive and powerful to graceful and soft.

Ezra Sosa is a young man with a medium complexion, wearing a colorful vest with sparkle lapels, white sparkle pants and yellow sneakers. He leans toward the right and gestures to JoJo Siwa, who wears a rainbow sparkle crop top and miniskirt and sings into a microphone.

The Scoop on Backup Dancing: Four Dancers Dish on Tour Life

Touring with a major recording artist is at the top of most commercial dancers’ bucket lists. What could be more exciting than getting paid to dance, travel the world and work with mega-talented celebrity musicians? It looks glamorous, but most dancers don’t actually know what the job truly entails until they’ve booked it. Is it as […]

Three photos of JaQuel Knight dancing on a red background. He looks straight into the camera in each pose

JaQuel Knight: Changing the Game, From Choreography to Copyright

“Choreographers are really the bastard kids of the industry,” he says. “We don’t have the respect that should be on our names based on the value we bring to a project, especially those of us who are Black and brown.” Earning choreographers that respect, he realized, would require forcing the industry to recognize their work’s value. And copyright—the establishment of legal ownership—would be his crowbar. 

Janelle Ginestra Shares Her Grandma's Recipe for Enchilada Pie

Growing up, commercial dancer and choreographer Janelle Ginestra loved watching her Grandma Betty cook. “She’s a 4′ 11″, adorable little Mexican woman, and would always cook us tortas and Mexican food,” Ginestra says. Her favorite of her grandma’s dishes is enchilada pie. “I’m half Italian and half Latin, so I always loved that it was […]

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