On Thursday night, I attended the inaugural Choreography Media Honors at the Director’s Guild of America. The entire extravaganza was presented in association with the Dance Camera West Film Festival. Hopefully, the night’s event will mark the first of many more to come.
It’s purpose: To honor the craft of choreography in and on the film media. As eloquently stated in the evening’s program of events, “Tonight we come together to celebrate the legacy of dance in media over the past two years–dance in all its various forms of expression. We have dance created to sell products, dance to tell stories, dance to make us laugh, dance to make us cry, dance created for no reason beyond that of pure self expression and artistry, exploring its relationship to film and video.”
So, continuing the work of the American Choreography Awards, the event honoured two year’s worth of choreography featured in commercials, television episodes, television variety shoes, music videos, short films, documentaries and feature films. About two hundred stand-out works created from 2004 to 2006 were nominated for recognition. Over the course of the evening, sixty-six of those nominees were revealed as the cream of the crop. Among them were some very familiar names: Fatima Robinson (”Dreamgirls“), Michael Rooney (”Jackass Number 2 Unrated,” “Think,” a Halifax commercial, “Saving Celebration,” a Target commercial, and “Flawless,” a George Michael music video), Marty Kudelka (Justin Timberlake at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, “Transformer,” a Citroen C4 commercial, and “My Love,” a Justin Timberlake music video), Kenny Ortega (”High School Musical“), Mia Michaels (”Calling You,” from So You Think You Can Dance), Tyce Diorio (”Cell Block Tango,” from So You Think You Can Dance), Shane Sparks (”Tranjie,” from So You Think You Can Dance, and “Push It To The Limit,” a Corbin Bleu music video), Wade Robson (”Ramalama,” from So You Think You Can Dance), John DeLuca (”Tony Bennett: An American Classic“), Rob Marshall (”Tony Bennett: An American Classic“), Travis Payne (”Product People,” a Target commercial, and “Commercial Break,” from Suite Life of Zack & Cody), Robin Antin (”Buttons,” a Pussycat Dolls music video) and Michael Minden (”Buttons“). A full list of all honorees is available below.
My favourite clip of the evening was a Nike commercial, choreographed by Luther Brown and Teresa Espinosa.
I couldn’t help but notice that almost every genre of dance but mine own dominated the ninety minute film presentation. Of those ninety minutes, perhaps thirty or forty-five seconds featured ballet, when “Ballet Russe” received an honorable mention under the documentary category. Even now, many days after the function, the thoughts inside my head are unsettled and my mind has yet to be made up as to how I feel about this. In the meantime, I’d love to hear–er, read–what anyone else might think…
For me, the best part of the entire evening had to do with the format of its presentation. The night’s honorees were not asked to approach the stage one at a time, but were asked to stand and be recognized at the beginning and end of the viewing. Adam Shankman, one of the evening’s speakers, said it best: “This is a true celebration. None of us are here to compete with anyone else to win a specific award. We’re all here to simply honor–and, celebrate–the work of all the honorees here today. (Isn’t this so much better than sitting at home in front of the television, patting ourselves on the back while watching our best works on repeat? It’s so much more fun to do it together in this theatre and cheer for each other, instead.)”
Of course, the night was even more noteworthy because I was sitting in the company of celebrities, some of whom have very recognizable names in the Hollywood community. After the special film presentation, the “real” celebration began and I met and schmoozed with Paula Abdul, Carrie Ann Inaba and Dan Karaty, along with the evening’s honorees.
Good thing I don’t get star struck!
Here is a full list of all the 2004-2006 Honorees:
For work in feature films:
- Troy Christian (Adam & Steve)
- Fatima Robinson, Aakomon Jones, Joel Pizzi (Dreamgirls)
- Kelley Abbey (Happy Feet)
- Hinton Battle (Idlewild)
- Michael Rooney (Jackass Number 2 Unrated)
- Marguerite Derricks (Little Miss Sunshine)
- John DeLuca (Memoirs of a Geisha)
- Peggy Holmes, Cecile Stuart (Michey’s Twice Upon A Christmas)
- Keith Young (Rent)
- Anne Fletcher, Rosero McCoy, Jamal Sims (Step Up)
- JoAnn Jansen, Richmond & Tone Talauega (Take The Lead)
- John Carrafa (The Polar Express)
For work in a television variety or special:
- Marty Kudelka (2006 MTV Video Music Awards / Justin Timberlake)
- Alex Magno (Benise “Nights of Fire” / PBS)
- Trey Knight (Cirque de Soleil: Solstrom)
- Kenny Ortega, Charles “Chucky” Klapow, Bonnie Story (High School Musical)
- Monie Adamson (MAD TV “Regional Hamlet Champs”)
- Jamie King, Stephanie Roos, Richmond & Tone Talauega, R.J. Durell, Liz Imperio, Fred Tallaksen, Ralph “Doctor Plik Plok” Montego, Boppendre, Gabriel Castillo, Steve Nestar & Williams Charlemoine (Madonna Confessions Tour)
- Mary Ann Kellogg (Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical)
- Mia Michaels (So You Think You Can Dance “Calling You”)
- Tyce Diorio (So You Think You Can Dance “Cell Block Tango”)
- Shane Sparks (So You Think You Can Dance “Tranjie”)
- Wade Robson (So You Think You Can Dance “Ramalama”)
- Hi Hat (The 48th Annual Grammy Awards / Kanye West & Jamie Foxx)
- John DeLuca & Rob Marshall (Tony Bennett: An American Classic)
For work in a short film:
- Wim Vandekeybus (Blush)
- Shona McCullagh (Break)
- Naomi Stikeman (Coldspot)
- Lloyd Newson (Cost of Living)
- Peter Chin (No Man’s Land)
- Corrie Befort (ROTA)
For work in a commercial:
- Lance Macdonald (Campbell’s Select “Tomato”)
- Marty Kudelka (Citroen C4 “Transformer”)
- Michael Rooney (Halifax “Think”)
- Vincent Patterson (Hummer “Chairs”)
- Hi Hat (iPod “Rollerskating”)
- Hi Hat (JC Penney “Back to School/Control Freak”)
- LaVelle Smith (Malta)
- Luther Brown, Teresa Espinosa (Nike “Not An Athlete”/Sofia)
- Richmond & Tone Talauega (Pepsi “DanceTron”)
- Janet Roston (San Miguel Beer “Spain”)
- Michelle Johnston (Shoesical)
- Kishaya Dudley (Starbucks)
- Travis Payne (Target “Product People”)
- Michael Rooney (Target “Saving Celebration”)
For work in a television episode:
- Fred Tallaksen (Malcome in the Middle “Bomb Shelter”)
- Lance Macdonald (Scrubs “My Malpractical Decision”)
- Travis Payne (Suite Life of Zack & Cody “Commercial Break”)
- Keith Young (Yes Dear “Quitters Never Dance”)
For work in a music video:
- Jeri Slaughter (Christina Aguilera “Ain’t No Other Man”)
- Shane Sparks (Corbin Bleu “Push It To The Limit”)
- Michael Rooney (George Michael “Flawless”)
- Marty Kudelka (Justin Timberlake “My Love”)
- Victor Quijada (K-OS “Man Used To Be”)
- Hi Hat (Missy Elliott “Lose Control”)
- Michael Rooney (My Chemical Romance “Helena”)
- Robin Antin, Michael Minden (Pussycat Dolls “Buttons”)
