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Matt Williams

Most recently, Matt Williams received the New York Musical Theater Award for best choreography for his work in Platforms starring Ted Levy (Jelly's Last Jam) and Deborah Yates (Contact). Matt is the resident choreographer for the New England Tour of Circus Smirkus and is also a resident co-producer for the Broadway choreographic showcase, “Dancebreak,” in which he was also a choreographer in 2004. In 2006, Matt’s choreography debuted at the Tony-Award winning Alley Theatre in Scott Schwartz’s production of Much Ado About Nothing. He has also worked with Mr. Schwartz on the world premier of Rooms at the New York Musical Theatre Festival.

On Broadway, Matt interned for and assisted Jerry Mitchell on the revival of Gypsy. Matt’s choreography has also appeared at Lincoln Center, Irish Reparatory Theatre, La Mama, The Rubicon Theatre, and the Stamford Center for the Arts. Matt holds a BFA in choreography from UC Irvine and currently has the title of “Big Piano Choreographer” at FAO Schwarz Toy Store in New York City where he continually recreates and reinvents the world famous piano dancing scene from the hit film Big.

Class Description
Matt's theater dance class starts with a basic series of plies, port de bras, and torso engaging stretches. Matt then leads the class through a ballet progression that includes tendus, degages, passes, and developes infused with yoga postures and torso/limb isolations. The warm-up is capped of with a hearty portion of abdominal exercises, push ups, jumping jacks, and botmas.

Matt teaches a different "across the floor" sequence each week. These dance phrases are influenced by styles such as ballroom, jazz, rhythm tap, and ballet. Matt will coach the students on proper, alignment, body placement, and precision of timing. The second half of class consists of a musical theater combination of Matt's original choreography set to classic American musical theater music. Matt emphasizes the importance of story telling through movement combined with dynamic dance technique. "Sweating and having fun" are also what you can expect from Matt's class.

Check Matt out online at www.MattWilliamsChoreographer.com