Broadway
Jerry Mitchell
Dance Training: Pursued his acting, dancing, and directing in his High School Theater Class. He graduated from the Fine Arts College at Webster University in St. Louis. He was also a Broadway dancer in the musical "The Will Rogers Follies, Brigadoon and On Your Toes.
Professional Career: Theater Director and Choreographer. He was hired as an associate choreographer by Micheal Bennett for the musical Scandal.
Genre
#5 Globalization
Theatre helps us understand people from cultures other than our own. We can learn a lot about people from cultures all around the world by studying their performance traditions. In doing so, we can learn to be less ethnocentric, and more accepting of others.
#4 Self-Empowerment
Performance permeates every aspect of our everyday lives. Power relationships are constructed through performances. Understanding how performances unfold around us can help us to recognize and take control of the power dynamics that affect us.
#3 Social Change
Theatre is a cultural space where society examines itself in a mirror. Theatre has long been looked at as a laboratory in which we can study the problems that confront society and attempt to solve those problems.
#2 Education
Theatre is a great way to learn. Going to the theatre teaches us about people, places, and ideas to which we would not otherwise be exposed. Learning in a theatrical setting makes learning fun.
#1 Creativity
Theatre helps us to develop our creativity. As our education system increasingly puts an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math, we cannot forget the importance of art. Let’s put the “STE(A)M” back in “STEM!”
Broadway's top instructors
Bob Avian
A frequent collaborator of Michael Bennett’s, Avian began his career as a dancer in shows like “West Side Story” and “Funny Girl,” and later became a choreographer, producer, and director in his own right. He shared 1976 and 1979 Tony Awards with Bennett for their work on “A Chorus Line” and “Ballroom,” respectively, and was nominated for his solo choreography in “Miss Saigon” (1991) and “Sunset Boulevard” (1994).
Michael Bennett
This great choreographer debuted on Broadway with (very) short-lived musicals “A Joyful Noise” in 1966 and “Henry, Sweet Henry” in 1967, before hitting it big with the Jerry Orbach-starring “Promises, Promises” in 1968. He partnered with Stephen Sondheim in the early 1970s for “Company” and “Follies,” and made an indelible mark with 1975’s “A Chorus Line” (co-choreographed with Avian) and 1981’s “Dreamgirls.” His work was character driven, plot-focused, and theatrically tailored.
George Faison
This Tony Award-winning choreographer began his career as a dancer with the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York, before making his Broadway debut (and starting his own company) in the early 1970s. He choreographed 1972’s “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” along with several other musicals, and made history with “The Wiz” in 1975 and “Porgy and Bess” in 1983. Today, Faison continues to spread his evocative yet universal movement style at the Faison Firehouse Theatre in Harlem.