James Gray
Katy Tate
Laura Fremont
Marcea Lane
Richard Hinds
Sarah Burns
Spencer Jones
James Gray
James recently choreographed Annie! at the North Carolina Theatre starring Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba and Oliver! at the historic Goodspeed Opera House. He also choreographed the newly released movie Humor Me starring Elliot Gould, Annie Potts, Priscilla Lopez and Bebe Neuwirth
For Television he staged the Emmy Award Winning TV Special, Mel Brooks – The AFI Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, that aired on TCM Network.
James directed and choreographed the MITF hit Peg O’ My Heart, the Musical (Best Musical Award.)
For Susan Stroman, James has served as her longtime associate choreographer/director, resident director/choreographer on many projects including the Mel Brooksmusical The Producers and the world premiere of Young Frankenstein, the Musical, (recreating the direction/staging for the UK and US National Tours), the original Broadway production of Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway as well as the Mandy Patinkin/Taylor Mac two-hander The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville at the American Repertory Theater. He was the associate choreographer for FATWA: The Musical, the show-within-the-show starring Lin Manuel Miranda, F.Murray Abraham and Larry David for HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Working closely with legendary directors Harold Prince and Susan Stroman James was the associate/resident choreographer for the world premiere of Prince of Broadway inTokyo and the hit Broadway production of Prince of Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club, New York. James set the original choreography for TOHO Theatre Group’s brand new musical production of Bullets Over Broadway in Tokyo.
James was the associate choreographer on the original Broadway production of A Christmas Story, the Musical; working with Oscar, Tony and Grammy winning composer/lyricist team Pasek and Paul and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s Carousel starring Kelli O’Hara, Nathan Gunn and NYC Principle Ballet dancers Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild.
As a performer James was seen in the Broadway and London stage productions and Film version of the Mel Brooks musical The Producers with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. James was honored to play Carmen Ghiain the Royal Variety Performance of The Producers in the presence of HRH Prince Charles for UK Independent Television. The Original Broadway production of Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein the Musical (Igor), the U.S. First National Tour of 42nd Street and White Christmas at the Pantages Theatre, Hollywood. Jubilee! Las Vegas and dancing with the famous Bluebell Girls in Bravissimo & C’est Magique at the Lido De Paris andThe Sporting Club inMonte Carlo
James made his London West End debut aged 19 in the Stephen Fryand Mike Ockrent award winning musical Me and My Girl at the Adelphi Theatre. He also appeared in the original London cast productions of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, at the Dominion Theatreand Jerry Herman’s Mack and Mabel at the Piccadilly Theatre. A particular thrill was partnering Chita Rivera and Rita Moreno in The Styne Way Gala honoring Jule Styne and dancing with Broadway’s legendary Carol Channing in the Hello Dolly Gala both at The London Palladium.
James is the founder and creative director of Audition Truth, a workshop which helps prepare musical theater performers for the high-pressure world of Broadway auditions. He has taught in the UK and across America including, Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance Centre, The Luigi Jazz Centre and the Open Jar institute all in NYC
JamesGray.biz
Katy Tate
Katy Tate is a creative producer, choreographer and master teacher. Some credits include Bette Midler's The Showgirl Must Go On, Peepshow, Disney, Universal, Oprah, The View, Ellen, Dancing with the Stars, UNLV Artist in Residence, Life is Beautiful, Chicago and more. For 7 years she served as Dance Master at The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil as well as working on Mystere, Zumanity, O and La Nouba. Katy also co-created CIRQUEi.t., an immersive workshop for dancers to learn all the skills within the world of Cirque du Soleil. She is currently a choreography and creative associate on Team NappyTabs, with Tabitha and Napoleon Dumo on projects like World of Dance, MTV VMAS, Billboard Music Awards, Super Bowl, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, ABC Disney Holiday Celebration and more. She most recently worked as assistant director on Derek Hough’s 2019 tour and Jennifer Lopez’s “It’s My Party” tour. Her personal venture she is most proud of is the creation of her speaking series “HUMANN Movement”. A conversation about the growth of emotional intelligence and mental toughness in our next generation of industry professionals and humans in this life. She currently teaches contemporary on Nexus Dance Experience, formally The Pulse.
Laura Fremont
Laura Fremont’s industry career spans thirty-five years in film, television, stage, and concert as dancer, educator, choreographer, and producer. She is author of Dancing Ahead articles published on DancePlug.com.
Laura has worked with artists that includes Ryan Heffington, Mandy Moore, Michael Rooney, Eboni Nichols, Brian Friedman, Nicole Berger, Meagan Lawson, Brooke Lipton, and continue to be a source of family-in-dance. Her recent performances can be seen in VEEP, Jane the Virgin, and Casual supporting the works of Julia Dreyfus, Gina Rodriguez, and Kate Hudson in Sia’s soon-to-be-released, directorial debut, Music.
Laura’s choreography venues include new works for a cappella and women’s international barbershop quartets, as well as Disney, HBO, FOX, NETFLIX, HULU, NBC, CBS, stages at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Carmel Arts Festival, SAG Media Awards, and St Jude Children’s Hospital.
Laura is master educator and adjudicator having fostered three generations of industry talent and toured throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Marcea Lane
Marcea Lane is a wonderful example to all young dancers inspiring them to follow their dreams. Dance does not stop once you walk off the stage; it crosses over into many aspects. She is an inspiration to young and old, enterprising and progressive! She is now a Master Dance Instructor on Adrenaline and Revive Dance Convention and about to have the 3rd Annual Verve Dance Intensive. Marcea has also recently worked with Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader on their new television show on CMT network.
Marcea’s dance career started at a very young age of four years old. Starting off in the small Iowa dance school, she received basic training enough to know that she wanted to be a professional dancer. With a stroke of good luck, her family moved to California. There she was crowned 1976 Miss Hemet (California), a role that forced her to acclimate quickly to a very public life. Marcea took dance classes at her local junior college, but her heart was also set on doing jazz dance. She planned a two-hour drive to Los Angeles to take classes at Joe Tremaine’s studio in Hollywood. Classes there were packed with over 75 people in each class. For over five years Marcea took class with Tremaine whenever possible; “I set out to be in his face”, says Marcea. Whatever she learned at Tremaine’s she passed on to her students at her own studio. Finally her break came, at a convention in Las Vegas Marcea was called on stage to assist Joe Tremaine. She then became his teaching assistant, which was a position she held for 17 years. In addition to working side by side with one of the jazz greats, Marcea took the dance industry by storm with working with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars: Barbra Streisand, Sting, Janet Jackson, Natalie Cole, Prince and the king of pop himself, Michael Jackson. To date, working on Michael Jackson’s music video “Thriller” stands out as her most memorable projects. While living near Palm Springs, Marcea would drive two hours to rehearsal, after receiving a position in his music video, she was specifically asked by the choreographer Michael Peters to be in the video.
Barbra Streisand personally picked her for a position in her “Left In the Dark” video. On the choreography side of the dance floor, Marcea worked on projects for both Sting and Prince. Prince was her greatest challenge on “Bat Dance”. You had to be very professional with him and he was quite demanding. Marcea has worked on numbers for the Academy Awards and on the Emmys. These performances were very rewarding and exciting.
Her third career started somewhat unexpectedly. The beginning of Marcea Activewear began in 1988 and stood strong for 27 years. At one convention with dancewear exhibits a woman held up a leotard and asked Marcea if she liked it. Her reply was to make a few alterations here and there. The woman presented the leotard to her the next day, flattered by the gift, Marcea wore it and the dancers flocked to admire it. From that, the Marcea Active Wear line was born.
“I always knew I would be a businesswoman of some sort,” she declared. “I had started in business quite young, teaching dance classes in my parents garage. I owned my own dance school right out of high school. When I started the business, I was still on the convention circuit, working as a professional dancer and teaching master classes. Once production was booming, Marcea was forced to learn the manufacturing business. She started from the beginning and learned about fabrics and patterns and managing a large business.
Marcea has become a role model to tens of thousands throughout the nation. “I love working with the kids…teaching them Jazz dance and inspiring them to follow their dreams!!” Yes, I’ve achieved success but money comes and money goes. Watching children grow and prosper is the true success in this field. I want to instill in them a sense of confidence and achievement and to inspire them.” Marcea is a true idol. She has done such an amazing job dancing and has gone on to do other things. It’s good to let kids know that there is life after dance, it will always stay with you, but you can achieve amazing things when it’s in your heart.
Richard Hinds
Broadway: Come From Away (Associate Chor.), Disney’s Newsies (Associate Dir.), Jekyll & Hyde (Associate Dir./Chor.), Il Divo: A Musical Affair (Assistant Dir.). Off Broadway: Here Lies Love (Associate Dir./Chor.), Frankenstein (Assistant Dir.). National Tour: 9 to 5 (Associate Dir.), Disney’s High School Musical (Associate Chor.). Regional: La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Paper Mill Playhouse, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Flat Rock Playhouse, Ogunquit Playhouse, Gateway Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle 5th Ave. Theatre. Television: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, America’s Got Talent, The Bethenny Show, Bring It. Richard is proudly represented by bloc Talent Agency.
www.richardjhinds.com
Sarah Burns
Sarah Alice Burns is a professional dancer, model, pilates instructor and artist development coach.
Born and raised in Perth, Australia, Sarah moved to Los Angeles 9 years ago, hitting the ground running, most of those years have been spent working side-by-side with Beyoncé. During her four year time with the Beyoncé camp, Sarah’s high level performance talent spanned multiple Award Winnings Shows, Super Bowl, Feature Films, multiple World tours, music videos, and the Worldwide IVY PARK campaign, where she appeared as a fitness model.
Sarah also worked with a wide variety of today’s stars including performances with Drake, JLO, Pitbull, Janelle Monoe, Kelly Rowland, Brandy, Usher, Neyo and Hailee Steinfeld to just name a few.
Sarah’s experience and passion, combined with her ability to create and refine artists as they develop into professional singers has proven valuable in creating the confidence necessary for professionals in the Dance and Music industry.
This year, Sarah is also launching her first dance program, a bridging program for Australian dancers hoping to pursue a dance career in the United States. She’s teaming up with Australia’s amazing choreographer and instructor Marko Panzic.
Spencer Jones
Spencer hails from Massachusetts where he started dancing at the age of 16! After seeing his first Broadway show later that year, he was so moved and inspired that he moved to NYC in hopes of “making it to Broadway” and was lucky enough to work in some of the best shows with the best people, travelling the world dancing! Credits include the European Tour of “Grease The Musical”, National tours of “A Chorus Line”, “Footloose”, “Susan Stroman’s The Music Man”. He also danced in the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” with the World Famous Rockettes. Most recently, he served as the Dance Captain for the First National Tour and the Broadway Company of “Wicked The Musical” for the last 12 years!!! He is so excited to be a part of the judging panel for the Industry Dance Awards and looks forward to seeing all of the amazing talent!