Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival 2009

Yesterday, the DancePlug Team attended the Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert.  Terri Best, one of our faculty members had two finalist pieces "Duet" and "Recollected" with Anh Dillon performing in both.

The show portrayed strong technical talents in ballet, modern, contemporary and flamenco works from the 10 amazing Division I finalist choreographers: Terri Best, Marie de La Palme, Mike Esperanza, Bernard H Gaddis, Jamel Gaines, Nicole Haskins, Karen Rubio Lugo & Defne Enç Luján, Daniel Marshall, Sophie Monat, and Kenji Yamaguchi.

Our congratulations to:

• the Grand Prize winner Creative Outlet Dance Theatre of Brooklyn, with choreographer Jamel Gaines, who performed "Forces" a very strong, energetic piece which moved the audience through a series of creative moods;
• Second Place Mike Esperanza and BARE Dance Company's Leann Alduenda and Patrick Damon Rago for their highly creative duet "Silk or Cotton" which included daring strength, flirtatious moments and a hint of comedy;
• Marie de la Palme and her amazing soloist Fabienne Levenson in "The Barre", demonstrating a lethal focus, who received the Dance Under The Stars Paid Engagement Award;
• and to all the choreographers and performers who did a fantastic job last night.

The evening also presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Nigel Lythgoe, creator of the world-renowned TV show So You Think You Can Dance and co-founder of the new Dizzy Feet Foundation. The latter was created in 2009 - along with director/choreographer Adam Shankman, "Dancing with the Stars" judge Carrie-Ann Ibana, and actress Katie Holmes - to support unprivileged young dancers to pursue their dreams and expand access to dance education throughout the United States.


Terri Best, Nigel Lythgoe and Anh Dillon


Terri Best Dance

The DancePlug Team