2016 World Choreography Awards – Recap & Celebrity Interviews

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The 2016 World Choreography Awards were held in Hollywood last night and MIH was on the red carpet! The event honors the best in media choreography. When I was in high school, I used to choreograph cheerleading routines and it was the best thing happening in my life. And that was on such a small scale, I can’t imagine choreographing huge routines for commercials, films and televisions.

But that’s what these dancers were being honored for last night at The Montalban Theater in Hollywood. Choreographers were nominated for Motion Picture Television Episodic, Commercials, Television Reality Show/Competition, Music Videos, Television Award Show/Special, Digital Content, Digital Content Independent, Live Stage Performance.

I interviewed nominee Allison Holker and her husband Stephen “Twitch” Boss about the digital commercial she choreographed and starred in for HP. She tells me she worked hard to translate their idea into a dance on camera.

I also spoke to Christina Applegate about her love of dance and why she was at the awards last night. She was presenting the In Memoriam for choreography legend Doug Caldwell who passed away in August. Christina told me about the powerful effect he had on her life as a choreographer, and friend. In fact, dance has been such a huge part of her life since she was a young girl and she was very emotional when telling me about Doug’s role in her journey.

One of my favorite moments of the night was interviewing world-renowned choreographer Anita Mann. She’s an Emmy-award winning choreographer, as well as a dancer and actress. Her choreography credits include 5 seasons on the 1980s pop dance television show, Solid Gold, for which she was nominated twice for a Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Choreography, “The Muppets Go Hollywood” for which she was nominated for her first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography. She shared a story with me about getting her start in the industry working as a background dancer with Elvis Presley. yes, THAT Elvis!  It’s such a delight to hear her talk about her work with Elvis!

The show featured live performances by choreographers Liz Imperio, “Kida”, Paul Becker, The Joe Tremanie Faculty and Dancers, Anthony W. Johnson, Amari Marshall, Johanna Sapakiie, Daniel Ezralow and Riker Lynch, who also hosted the show.

Here’s a list of the winners! Congrats to everyone involved!

2016 World Choreography Award Winners

DIGITAL CONTENT
DESI JEVON & Associate Choreographer ZUZANA LOVA — Date Night
JASON CELAYA — High School Dance Battle
ALLISON HOLKER — HP Envy
DESI JEVON & Associate Choreographer ZUZANA LOVA — Dancing King
*WINNER – JASON CELAYA — Old West Dance Battle

DIGITAL CONTENT INDEPENDENT
*WINNER – RENEE KESTER & PHILLIP CHBEEB — SLIP
KEONE & MARI MADRID — Time For Love
CHLOE ARNOLD & SHERYL MURAKAMI — My Love
JILLIAN MEYERS, MEGAN LAWSON & DANA WILSON — Seaweed Sisters
JANELLE GINESTRA — IDFWU

COMMERCIALS
LISA EATON — MoneySuperMarket Builder
MICHAEL ROONEY — LG
*WINNER – DANIEL “CLOUD” CAMPOS — McDonald’s
MANDY MOORE — Amazon
LINDSEY & CRAIG — Move Your Lee Men

TELEVISION REALITY SHOW/COMPETITION
QUEST CREW — America’s Best Dance Crew, Bang! Bang!
TRAVIS WALL — So You Think You Can Dance, Beautiful Friends
QUEST CREW — America’s Best Dance Crew, Take U There
*WINNER – KRNFX x KINJAZ — America’s Best Dance Crew, The Dancebox
TESSANDRA CHAVEZ, DEREK HOUGH & JULIANNE HOUGH — Dancing With The Stars, Sia

MUSIC VIDEO
HI-HAT — Missy Elliot, “WTF”
RYAN HEFFINGTON — Will Butler, “Anna”
TONY TESTA — SHINee, “Married To The Music”
BEAU SMART & KEVIN MAHER — Natalie La Rose, “Around The World”
*WINNER – BOBBY NEWBERRY & YANIS MARSHALL — Bobby Newberry, “Flight To Paris”

TELEVISION EPISODIC
*WINNER – KATHRYN BURNS — Key & Peele, Negrotown
CHRIS DOWNEY — The Fosters, Over/Under
MICHAEL ROONEY — Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, West Covina
CHRIS DOWNEY — The Fosters, The End Of The Beginning
KATHRYN BURNS — Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Settle For Me

LIVE STAGE PERFORMANCE
KEONE & MARI MADRID — Brother
PARRIS GOEBEL — Royal Family
*WINNER – QUEST CREW — Hit The Floor
TRAVIS WALL — Shaping Sound
KEONE & MARI MADRID — Gravity

TEVEVISION AWARD SHOW/SPECIAL
ALEXANDRE MAGNO — Benise, PBS Special
*WINNER – JERI SLAUGHTER & PAUL MORENTE — Christina Aguilera, NBC All-Star Game
NICK FLOREZ & RJ DURELL — Lindsey Sterling, CMA
CHRISTOPHER SCOTT & MELISSA GARCIA — Selena Gomez, AMA
FATIMA ROBINSON — The Wiz

MOTION PICTURE
*WINNER – ROB ASHFORD — Ted 2
PARRIS GOEBEL — Born To Dance
PAUL BECKER & KENNY ORTEGA — Descendants
JEFFERY HORNADAY & CHRISTOPHER SCOTT — Teen Beach 2
ALISON FAULK, TERESA ESPINOSA & LUKE BROADLICK — Magic Mike XXL

See you on the next red carpet!