How Do You Help Nondancers Feel Comfortable Moving Onstage?

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. […]

Viral Video Maker Tanisha Scott Conjures Iconic Moves for Major Artists

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 […]

Why Do Commercial Choreographers Still Not Get the Credit They Deserve?

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 […]

Why Choreographer Jenn Freeman Makes a Point to Spend Time Outdoors

Jenn Freeman makes combining the worlds of contemporary and commercial look easy. Having danced in works by Sonya Tayeh, Mia Michaels and Kyle Abraham, Freeman has also appeared on the MTV Video Music Awards, performed as part of The Rolling Stones’ 50th-anniversary tour, and helped with the development of productions for the likes of Florence […]

Hip-Hop Dancer Rob Bynes Got His Start in Church and at Clubs

Rob Bynes ‘ formal dance training might not have begun until he joined Rutgers University’s Raps Dance Troupe in college, but the New Jersey native had already been dancing his whole life—both in church and at parties. Today, the professional hip-hop dancer’s career includes international touring, bicoastal teaching, and performing with artists like Kendrick Lamar, […]

Is the Line Between Concert and Commercial Dance Finally Fading?

Dancer Stephanie Crousillat has had the kind of career that would make most artists swoon: She’s worked with choreographers like Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Andrea Miller; performed in Sleep No More and on “Saturday Night Live”; been featured in a CoverGirl ad with Janelle Monáe; and danced in music videos for Paul McCartney, Alicia […]

My Experience Behind The Scenes on the New Thriller Shirley

In the new film Shirley, Elisabeth Moss stars as Shirley Jackson, the horror writer who rose to fame with her 1948 short story “The Lottery.” The controversial hit led to the most mail The New Yorker had ever received about a work of fiction. Jackson went on to write hundreds more short stories and numerous […]