Nine years ago, Del Mak decided he was done performing for artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and One Direction. “I’d done everything I wanted to, and I was tired of the rat race,” he says. “My body was starting to hurt.” The next obvious step? Choreography. Though “obvious” doesn’t mean “easy.” For commercial dancers looking […]

For choreographer and director Paul Becker, the pandemic has had one major upside: extra time with his 18-year-old daughter, Marlee. “The toughest part of being a parent in the dance industry is making your family a priority,” says Becker, who recently shared the 2021 MTV Award for “Best Musical Number” with Kenny Ortega for their […]

In Washington Heights, if Usnavi is to be believed, the streets are made of music. In the opening moments of the film version of In the Heights, the lead character, played by Anthony Ramos, lightly drums a clave beat. The rhythm is taken over by a pair of keys, a gate, a hose, before scratch—Usnavi […]

Mark Kanemura had his sights set on dance from the moment he discovered the world of music videos as a kid. “I had very vivid dreams of touring with an artist,” recalls Kanemura, a Hawaiian native who grew up idolizing Janet Jackson, Madonna, Prince and Paula Abdul. “My sisters and I would always be dancing […]

When Alessandra Stenta put aspirations of pursuing a professional dance career behind her to study biochemistry in college, she had no idea that one day, her dance and science worlds would merge. After growing up dancing in her mom’s studio, Stenta worked towards dentistry school as an undergrad, and spent her summers traveling as a […]

Too many people are told early on in their lives that they “can’t dance.” It’s something that can stick with them into adulthood. Commercial choreographers all too often encounter the detrimental effects of this myth when they’re paired with actors, musicians or models who’ve taken these words to heart and ended up afraid of dancing. […]

If choreographer/creative director/movement director Tanisha Scott has any one specialty, it’s making dance moments that stay memorable long after going viral. Award-winning videos like Drake’s “Hotline Bling,” Cardi B’s “Money” and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” came to life under her watch. “You don’t know how many times I’ve tried to explain what we […]

When I was pregnant with my now-2-year-old daughter, I went through a pretty obsessive movie-musical phase. I vividly remember curling up at the Regal Battery Park theater in downtown Manhattan for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. I laughed, I cried, and by the time the cast broke into “Dancing Queen,” I found myself doing […]